School's out in the New York, and last night's gallery openings, many of which were the customary summer group shows, seemed like a Can't Hardly Wait-style graduation party for the art world. Artists, gallerists and art groupies alike gathered to say their goodbyes before running off to the Hamptons, or Europe, or whatever art camp it is that takes New Yorkers away and leaves the city an empty sweat box in the summer.
Raymond Pettibon at Gladstone GalleryThe popular kids convened at the event of the evening, a group show that spanned between both Gladstone gallery locations, bringing together a multi-generational group of artists to paint directly onto the gallery walls. Sol LeWitt, Kara Walker, Raymond Pettibon, Lawrence Weiner, Jeff Elrod -- the roster was as impressive as the turn out, most of us lurking around the large scale works trying to fit in, hoping no one noticed we felt like crashers.
Kara Walker at Gladstone GalleryAt Feuer Mesler, the new cross-breed gallery between Zach Feuer and Joel Mesler of Untitled Gallery, we felt at ease with paintings and installations from Jane Corrigan, Dasha Shishkin, Meredith James and Gloria Maximo. The works had a cheeky humor, with semi-crude but beautifully executed surrealist paintings of naked creatures and farting ladies by Shishkin and James' tiny room built into the wall with a running faucet.
B. Thom Stevenson at Louis B James GalleryThe group moved down the street to Louis B James for a multi-level group show titled Colors, an ode to the brightness and bleakness of summer. On the top floor, black, white and grey works, like paintings from B.Thom Stevenson and Bret Slater, cooled us off from the encroaching season, while the bottom level was a carnival style color explosion of radiant works, like Andrea McGinty's sweater wearing humidifiers. We realized, as the night drew to a close and this would be about the time that a '90s pop punk song about "our generation" started playing in the movie credits, that we don't have to say goodbye for summer, because we actually have nowhere else to go.
