Last Chance To Check Out Brent Birnbaum "Voyeur Voyager Forager Forester" @ Denny Gallery in New York

Voyeur Voyager Forager Forester is a continuation of Birnbaum’s practice of collecting obsolescent objects and repurposing these collections with whimsy and aesthetic rigor. The installation comprises more than forty used, wood-paneled mini-refrigerators stacked in totems of varied height, which will be positioned close together filling the main space of the gallery. The interiors of the fridges house micro-worlds of color-coordinated elements from Birnbaum’s collections and miniature objects he has fabricated. The viewer will be able to explore the interiors of the fridges, inviting an experience of voyeurism and discovery. The fridges will be plugged in and humming, moving the air in the space, so that the experience of the exhibition will not only be visual and tactile, but also aural and olfactory. Many of Birnbaum’s projects have featured domestic objects, and are thus informed by Birnbaum’s interests in design, consumer culture, and notions of private and public space. Birnbaum’s work engages with the legacy of Duchamp in his use of the readymade object, humor, and voyeurism, as well as Minimalism in his use of everyday materials, shifts in scale, and formal concerns. Voyeur Voyager Forager Forester will be on view until August 26, 2016 at Denny Gallery, 261 Broome Street, New York

Judy Blame "Never Again" @ The Institute Of Contemporary Art In London

The first major solo exhibition by accessories designer, art director and fashion stylist Judy Blame. Safety pins, buttons, badges, pearls, bottle tops, cutlery, plastic bags, toy soldiers and keys form an inventory of objects that Blame has adapted to create his trademark jewelry and other accessories. Judy Blame "Never Again" will be on view until September 4, 2016 at the ICA, 12 Carlton House Terrace London

Deviant Funnies: Read Audra Wist's Postcoital Interview Of Cartoonist and Hip Hop Historian Ed Piskor →

Something about returning to my hometown of Pittsburgh always makes me really horny. One night, after Tinder-ing for awhile I came across a dude named Ed - profile picture was slick and mysterious, black and white, him in a Gucci bucket hat, sunglasses, and a Public Enemy hoodie. Swiped right. This was not a typical Pittsburgh guy. Why not? The mystery man with great style turned out to be Ed Piskor. We matched and met up that night. Click here to read more. 

“The Beat Goes On" Curated by Derrick Adams @ SVA Chelsea Gallery in New York

SVA’s fall 2016 art programming launches with “The Beat Goes On,” an exhibition featuring work by Elia Alba, Kevin Beasley, Paul D. Miller, a.k.a., D.J. Spooky, and Tameka Norris, a.k.a. Meka Jean, and curated by visual artist Derrick Adams. For “The Beat Goes On,” the SVA Chelsea Gallery has been transformed into four distinct listening rooms, each presenting a solo show by one of the featured artists. Encompassing photography, sculpture, installation, performance and video works, each room takes music and the history of recorded and transmitted sound as its inspiration. “The Beat Goes On" Curated by Derrick Adam will be on view until September 17, 2016 at SVA Chelsea Gallery, 601 West 26th Street, New York. Photographs by Adam Lehrer

Martin Creed's Neon "Understanding" Sculpture at The Brooklyn Bridge Park In New York

Times Square marquees, roadside signs, and advertising logos are the stock-in-trade for giant neon signs. Martin Creed has adapted the medium for his own colossal sign, proclaiming a word rather than selling a product. His chosen word, “understanding,” is fundamental to communication between people. Spelled out in ten-foot-tall letters mounted on a 50-foot-long steel I-beam, Understanding rotates 360 degrees, constantly shifting our perspective on the work. The beam spins at varying speeds, the rhythm determined by a computerized program designed by the artist. Developed by former Public Art Fund Curator Andria Hickey, Understanding can be viewed until October 23, 2016 at Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York. 

Marguerite Humeau "FOXP2" @ Palais de Tokyo in Paris

Palais de Tokyo has invited Marguerite Humeau for her first major solo exhibition. The artist has produced an entire series of new work for the project; a physical and sensory experience at the crossroads between research and fiction. Myths, speculations and fantasies are at the heart of Marguerite Humeau’s artwork. The development of each project includes a phase of extensive research and collaboration with numerous specialists and scientists. At Palais de Tokyo, Marguerite Humeau re-enacts the origin of life and the development of conscious life forms in an ominous atmosphere. Marguerite Humeau "FOXP2" will be open until September 11, 2016 at Palais de Tokyo in Paris. 

Ron Arad's "Curtain Call" With A Live performance By Lail Arad And Visuals by Flo Kohl and Ellis Pendens @ The Roundhouse In London

Singer-songwriter Lail Arad reunites with photographer/filmmaker Flo Kohl and filmmaker and editor Ellis Pendens for a remarkable video and live music event. This collaborative performance piece has been composed for the second series of Ron Arad's groundbreaking Curtain Call, an immersive 360° video experience at the Roundhouse in London. This piece submerges the viewers in a virtual undersea environment, and invites them to dive in to Arad's playfully poetic lyrics and flowing melodies. Shot in six locations in four countries, the video is a celebration of Arad's second album, The Onion, released by The Vinyl Factory in April 2016. Flo Kohl co-directs the video with his longtime collaborator, Ellis Pendens. Drawing visual inspiration from their shared early-childhood fascination with fountain pens and inks, they have crafted an aquatic kaleidoscope of in-camera effects, bringing movement to Kohl's acclaimed stills. As Arad's lyrics flicker across the enormous screen of flexible silicon rods, they dissolve in tides and rapids, are swept away by waterfalls and float through inky seascapes. Ron Arad's "Curtain Call" will be open, on and off as a canvas for other live performances and happenings, until August 29, 2016 at in the mainspace at Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, London. photographs by Flo Kohl

Omul Negru Group Show @ Nicodim Gallery in Los Angeles

Spanning forty artworks, Omul Negru is an anthropological occurrence, one comprised of both cultural enactment and ritual embodiment, invoked to explore the varied notions of the Boogeyman. It is a celebration of civilization’s most important character, a figure that has transcended in the 21st Century into a monster of ever-expanding applications. This spectrum of visual culture’s darkest corner is traced through artists, martyrs, serial killers, madmen, and monsters; to explore the many faces as well as the facelessness of the Boogeyman. It traverses the origins, stereotypologies and embodiments of the Boogeyman through contemporary, historical, and archetypal lenses - staging an ominous atmosphere of summoning and possession. Omul Negru will be on view until August 20, 2016 at Nicodim Gallery in Los Angeles. photographs by Sara Clarken

Joan Jonas "From Away" @ DHC/ART In Montréal, Canada

From Away is the first retrospective in Canada devoted to the American multi-media artist Joan Jonas (b. 1936). It will give insight into the artist’s œuvre, spanning over five decades. It begins with her early choreographic works and pioneering video performances, such as the Organic Honey series, and culminates with her most recent piece They Come to Us without a Word, which was presented in 2015 at the Pavilion of the United States for the 56th edition of the Venice Biennale, and will premiere in North America at DHC/ART. The multimedia installation and performance They Come to Us without a Word is emblematic of the artist’s long-term interest in environmental politics, the landscape and ghost stories of Nova Scotia as well as the writing of the Icelandic author Halldór Laxness. Joan Jonas "From Away" will be on view until September 18, 2016 at DHC/ART 451 & 465, St-Jean Street Montréal, Québec.

Modes Of Conduction Group Show Presented by Overnight Projects @ The Moran Plant in Burlington, Vermont

Overnight Projects presents the group exhibition Modes of Conduction, which invites Germany-based artists Vesko Goesel, Peter Miller, and Viktoria Strecker to create site-responsive, installation-based works in the abandoned Moran Plant on Burlington, Vermont's waterfront. The Moran Plant functioned as a generator of energy. A machine whose massive turbine generators and switchgear assemblies were activated by workers-like-conductors to set off a daily assemblage of sounds. The machine, a monstrous skeleton of steel wrapped in skin of cinderblock, emitted a cacophony of industry: harmony, rhythm, and melody, the chorus of grinding gears and humming motors. Each day, workers-like-spectators witnessed the light moving across Moran's vast interiors, changing its colors from blue to amber, signaling the end of the day, the end of the concert. In this exhibition, Goesel, Miller, and Strecker will reactivate the machine that is Moran, and conduct through material interventions, a series of sounds, sights, and phenomena: Goesel through large, reflective fabrics, Miller through works imbued with uncanny sensations, and Strecker with automatic musical instruments and sounds created with rainwater collected in the building's inner troughs. Modes of Conduction is on view now by appointment only – there will be an artist lecture at Burlington City Arts on Thursday, August 11th at 6pm, and a closing event at Moran on Sunday, August 28th from 5-8pm. photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper

Shaky Towns Group Show Organized By The Battery Art Program @ The Alter Space Gallery In San Francisco

Alter Space presents Shaky Towns, an exhibition in two parts. Featuring work by fourteen artists currently living and working in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Shaky Towns will be held in two parts simultaneously at Alter Space and The Battery. Conceived and co-organized in conjunction with The Battery Art Program, the exhibition functions as a visual dialogue between the two cities, while concurrently addressing their divergent attributes. Thematic for its emphasis on work produced by a selection of contemporary artists working in California, Shaky Towns is uniquely attuned to the variant of the two physical spaces, reflected in the selection of work. Shaky Towns will be on view until September 17, 2016 at Alter Space Gallery in San Francisco. photographs by Bradley Golden

Ed Ruscha Books & Co. @ Gagosian Gallery In Los Angeles

Gagosian Gallery presents “Ed Ruscha Books & Co.,” an exhibition of artists' books by and after Ed Ruscha. The exhibition is organized by Gagosian director Bob Monk. In the 1960s, Ruscha was credited with reinventing the artist's book, producing and self-publishing a series of slim volumes of photography and text. By turning away from the craftsmanship and luxury status that typified the livre d'artiste in favor of the artistic idea or concept, expressed simply and in editions that were unsigned and inexpensively printed, Ruscha opened the genre to the possibilities of mass-production and distribution. “Ed Ruscha Books & Co.” presents Ruscha's iconic books together with those of more than one hundred artists from all over the world—from Russia to Japan to the Netherlands—who have responded directly and diversely to his lead. Many books are installed so that viewers can browse their pages. After presentations in New York, Munich and Paris (2013–15) the exhibition run will conclude in Ruscha's home city of Los Angeles. The exhibition will be presented in conjunction with “Ed Ruscha Prints and Photographs.” Ed Ruscha Books & Co. will be on view until September 9, 2016 at Gagosian Gallery, 456 North Camden Drive

"Lifeforce" Group Show Curated by Kelsey and Rémy Bennett @ The Untitled Space In New York

The Untitled Space and Indira Cesarine present LIFEFORCE, an all female group show that explores the feminine in the context of a genderless future curated by sisters Kelsey and Rémy Bennett. Inspired by Donna Haraway’s essay, A Cyborg Manifesto, the feminist science fiction and Afrofurturists of the 1970s, the exhibit will feature performance, sculpture, painting, comics, and photography that aim to re code normative expectations celebrating the LIFEFORCE that is beyond human matter and closer to it’s essence. The work focuses on the all encompassing power of “the female” on both physical and metaphysical levels – transcending constructs of race and gender, reclaiming representation, & exploring intersections with science & technology. Lifeforce will be on view until August 6, 2016 at The Untitled Space in New York

An Exclusive Sneak Peek At "Piston Head II – Artists Engage The Automobile" Opening This Weekend @ Venus Los Angeles Gallery

Venus Gallery in Los Angeles presents Piston Head II, an exhibition which explores the relationship and parallels between art and the automobile, featuring new works in which the car is considered as both a cultural icon and sculptural form. The exhibition includes works by César, Katherine Bernhardt, Will Boone, Keith Haring, Matthew Day Jackson, Olivier Mosset, Richard Prince, Sterling Ruby, Peter Shire, Lawrence Weiner, and Jonas Wood. Additionally, VENUS is delighted that Garage Italia Customs, the creative hub founded by Lapo Elkann and dedicated to tailor-made customizations, will personalize a selection of vehicles exclusively for the exhibition. As the quintessential machine of modern life, the car has both shaped human experience and inspired countless artists over the years. With the power to convey status and identity, the automobile reflects the desires and dreams of its owners. The artists included in the exhibition have approached the car as both object and subject in numerous ways—from Olivier Mosset’s bikes recontextualized in the gallery space to Sterling Ruby’s caged-in bus to a quintessential Richard Prince muscle car. In a collision between the automobile and contemporary art, the exhibition explores the tensions between aesthetics and utility. Piston Head II will open July 30 and run until September 30, at Venus LA, 601 South Anderson Street, Los Angeles, CA