FALL SEASON ART PREVIEW: GALLERIES EMBRACE BY-APPOINTMENT VIEWING
By SHANA NYS DAMBROT
Erin Riley, Reflections 4, 2019, wool, cotton, 59 x 48 inches
September is typically a pretty big month in the art world, with a roster of high-profile gallery exhibitions that is both exciting and overwhelming, and a cluster of Saturday evening destinations with a sprawling simultaneity that defies the laws of time and space. But not this year — at least not the 6-8pm wine and cheese crosstown amazing race part. With pandemic disruptions pushing a lot of gallery content to the online space and forcing the open IRL venues to institute strict safety measures, this season, it’s all about embracing the concept of by-appointment gallery-going. Most open places have easy-to-navigate online booking akin to restaurant reservation apps, and what’s missing in terms of the social scene is replaced with the chance for a more profound, mindful engagement with the work — which you will, wonderfully, have all to yourself. A person could get used to this.
myselves at Kohn Gallery
A group exhibition curated by Joshua Friedman, myselves brings together 27 artists who investigate ideas about the fluidity of identity by deconstructing the conventions of their mediums. Examining the interlaced spheres of race, gender, sexuality, and heritage across painting, collage, sculpture, and mixed media, this anticipated exhibition offers not only a look at new art-making modalities, but at a generation of rising stars whose works, “confront the myth of selfhood’s unchanging rigidity and turn instead to its fertile nebulousness.”