The New School Part-time Faculty Strike Update

DART has been covering the strike by part-time faculty at The New School, which includes Parsons School of Design, since the Union representing faculty, Act UAW 7902, voted to strike, on December 6th. Yesterday, Ben Davis, National Art Critic for artnet news, updated the situation with a look at the support by prominent artists, writers and academics who, he says, “have also signed an open letter saying they would boycott the school’s programming until the strike ended. 

“Signatories included Tauba Auerbach, Judith Butler, Camille Henrot, Matt Keegan, Naomi Klein, Park McArthur, Fred Moten, Cameron Rowland, Sable Elyse Smith, Barbara Smith, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and many others."

“The labor negotiations at the New School are now being overseen by a federal mediator, and are at a pivotal juncture, given that both grades and tuition for next semester are soon due. The school will start withholding wages from strikers starting tomorrow."

“The administration claims that it cannot afford the union’s big demands. The New School has long been financially troubled, with a 2020 report in the New York Times, describing it as having reached 'the point of existential crisis.'"

"The union, meanwhile, criticizes administrative bloat and poor management. It says that members must see greater improvement in salaries and benefits for a deal to work. A report today in the New York Times described how one Parsons part-time faculty member survives only due to food stamps and other assistance.” Read the entire article Photo courtesy of part-time faculty member Dr. Anastasia Aukeman

Wednesday, December 7, 6-8 pm: Matt Kinney | Anim: Ink, Oil at Robin Rice

“Anim”, the Latin root word of animal, means life, soul or breath. This exhibition features monochromatic oil paintings on stretched canvas and wood panels—a departure for this artist who is mainly known for his work in assemblages and sculpture. On view as well are works on paper with Japanese Sumi Ink [right], which inspired the oil paintings. Kinney has been looking at pre-historic cave paintings as well as animals depicted therein, such as the Chavet caves in Nice, Southern France.

Emerging from the inextricable interplay of light and dark, Kinney’s black and white ink paintings capture the ever-shifting subjectivity shaped by shadow. A variety of hand-torn, heavy weight papers add textural dimension to marks and brush strokes, further emphasizing the spirit of figures--bothhuman and animal--in motion.

Robin Rice Gallery, 325 West 11th Street, New York, NY Info

Thursday, December 8, 6-8 pm: Artist talk and opening reception | Jess Dugan: Look at me like you love me at Clamp

The exhibition includes self-portraits, portraits of individuals and couples, and still lifes that collectively form a poetic representation of contemporary life through Dugan’s eyes, and as also presented in a book of the same title published by MACK.

Dugan aims to explore how relationships and intimacy shape one’s identity. The individuals depicted in Dugan’s images vary in class, race, age, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Some are depicted alone, others with their loved ones, always seen by the photographer with a direct and honest perspective. By capturing individuals in a matter-of-fact way, Dugan creates space for the sitter’s complex internal life, leaving viewers with enough unsaid to encourage contemplation. In addition to portraits and self-portraits, Dugan captures still lifes, which help to set the mood of the project, and punctuate the portraiture with moments of stillness and reflection.

Dugan’s work is also currently on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in a series of 20 x 24 Polaroid portraits of queer couples made between 2006-2008. Info

Clamp, 247 West 29^th Street, New York, NY Info

 Saturday, December 10, 11am-5 pm: Risograph Holiday Market at Printed Matter

On Saturday, December 10, dieFirma will have a one-day holiday market in collaboration with Printed Matter / St Marks, offering a wide range of Risograph publications and prints by more than 250 artists, including a collection of limited-edition prints made exclusively for this show, all using the Riso printing process.The market will take place on the ground floor of 32 Cooper Square. 

Printing the Future conveys the explosive nature of this trend with works that are both open and limited-edition prints, as well as zines, books, and installations. The exhibition [above] features over 300 works, creating an immersive experience that showcases the many ways in which the Riso process is used by makers from around the world. 

The dieFirma Riso Studio, 32 Cooper Square, New York, NY Info

Save the date: Workshop: Printing the Future: Intro to Risograph, Saturday, December 17, 11am–3pm.

This hands-on workshop taught by exhibition curator and artist Panayiotis Terzis will introduce participants to the basics of the Risograph printing process as used by artists and designers in the exhibition. Terzis will guide the class through a variety of print design techniques by scanning collage materials in various media. Each participant will leave the session with a small edition of 10-20 prints of their own creation. The session will include a guided tour of the exhibition led by Terzis, as well as a short talk about his practice.

The dieFirma Riso Studio, 32 Cooper Square, FL 2, New York, NY Register

Continuing through December 23: Sophia-Yemisi Adeyemo | Earth & Iron: Archival Visions of Land29th  and Struggle at BRIC

Sophia-Yemisi Adeyemo presents the colonized memory as a fractional space, using a cut-up method to accentuate the gaps. Based on 20th-century photography from West Africa and the Caribbean, Adeyemo’s sparse paintings and sculptures render scenes of subjection into fragments of guerrilla fugitivity. Machetes and assault rifles are camouflaged by flora and fauna, punctuated with portraits of Black and Indigenous families staring directly at the viewer. Against the sterile white walls, Adeyemo presents a salon of insurrection that meets the colonial gaze head-on.

BRIC, 647 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn Info

Continuing through January 23: Grace Nikem | Images Will Talk at Gallery Particulier

Grace Nkem’s vigorous compositions present a culture in flux. Ancient artifacts and human remains are depicted within European cloisters, hinting at repatriation. Meanwhile, a White man displaying a Black woman’s portrait as a “trophy” signals legacies of colonialism at a time of heightened repatriation. Yet the ghosts and skeletons that appear throughout stand as dutiful watchers from beyond the grave. Presented in a Flatbush townhouse, Images Will Talk intimately redirects surrealism toward its roots in the Global South.

Gallery Particulier, 281 Maple Street, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn Info