Today is the last day to check out SPRING/BREAK Art Show in Times Square! Don’t miss our pick of standout booths at the fair.
“Secret Gay Box,” Curated by John Wolf
As a child, John Wolf hid a box full of items that would identify him as gay underneath his bed. His special project at this year’s SPRING/BREAK, “Secret Gay Box,” takes a look back at his evangelical upbringing and presents works embodying queerness that he would proudly display in his room now, including pieces by Wolfgang Tillmans, Jack Pierson, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Mapplethorpe and more.
“Society of 23’s Locker Dressing Room,” Curated by Marly Hammer and John Richey
Artist Jeffrey Augustine Songco established the Society of 23 in 2008 as a multi-media narrative that documented a brotherhood of 23 men, all played by Songco himself. One of the Society’s projects, “Locker Dressing Room,” is an immersive installation inspired by both sports team locker rooms and the dressing room depicted in reality television show “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” a program that has become deeply ingrained in gay culture. Hooded rainbow robes stand alongside headlines from politics and pop culture reporting the current state of gay rights, and a side table juxtaposes condoms with a copy of the Bible.
“When Darkness Loves Us,” Curated by Kelsey and Rémy Bennett
“When Darkness Loves Us” is a graveyard of sorts, covered in works by artists such as Julia Fox, Parker Day and Maggie Dunlap taking a satirical and meditative look at the taboo yet universally-shared end we all face: death. With its incorporation of ephemera such as dolls, fake flowers and trinkets one might find at a flea market, the installation also recalls nostalgia—for youth, for a time when death didn’t seem inevitable.
Jeanette Hayes, “J fast, J furious,” Curated by Castor Gallery
A series of new paintings by Jeanette Hayes, “J fast, J furious” features the artist’s iconic anime girls as defiant female bikers. Her cohorts of women atop motorcycles look the viewer in the eye, flaunting their independence and sexuality.
Onyedika Chuke, “The_Untitled/Circa_1968_Part 1,” Curated by Dustin Yellin
Sculptor Onyedika Chuke presented an installation of his works, curated by Dustin Yellin. His large-scale pieces include a pair of monumental feet clad in Greek sandals and a broken Statue of Liberty, both recalling the golden ages of once-exemplary societies.
Anne Spalter, “Meet Me in the Sun,” Curated by Natalie White
Digital mixed media artist Anne Spalter celebrates the sun’s symbolic role as a “beacon of unity” with her immersive installation, “Meet Me in the Sun.” Footage from NASA’s heliophysics database is combined with video Spalter herself recorded of beachgoers in Martinique. The sunset light casts each figure into an indistinguishable silhouette, an equalizing choice Spalter made to unite viewers in “a joyous experience created by a science fiction-style incarnation of the sun as a planetary life-giving orb. In this mythical space, all are welcomed, and those who wish to do so are invited to take part in a meditative moment of healing.”
“(Hotel) XX,” Curated by Indira Cesarine for The Untitled Space
“(Hotel) XX,” a syntactical play on the female chromosomes, is an immersive installation featuring the work of 24 female-identifying artists exploring sexuality, fantasy and fear. Cesarine outfitted her space as a retro hotel room, a roadside stay where travelers, lovers and drifters have left behind fragments of their history in the form of photographs, paintings, sculpture and more.
