Wednesday, June 12: Last chance for Transparent Shades | Elizabeth Murray at Gladstone

Elizabeth Murray: Drawings (1974-2006) presents over sixty rarely seen works, curated by Kathy Halbreich, who co-organized the first retrospective of her work, Elizabeth Murray: Paintings and Drawings in 1987, which originated at the Dallas Museum of Art and traveled to major institutions nationally. Halbreich once again contributes to shaping Murray’s legacy as an inventive painter whose drawings provide insight into her drive to blur traditional distinctions between abstraction and figuration in order to make work that was both intimate and formally muscular. This exhibition expands understanding of how Murray used drawing as a critical tool. It also highlights how her hybrid experimentation laid the foundation for innovative artists working today, particularly those who embrace and portray the tensions of everyday life.

Elizabeth Murray’s expressive and often poignant work unites carefully crafted three-dimensional structures and layered surfaces that appear to be found through an almost jazz-like improvisation. Her works are starkly contrarian, avoiding easy categorization and resisting association with a singular historical movement or style. Undeterred by the rise of conceptual art in New York in the 1960s and the growing popularity of video and performance art in the 70s, Murray challenged the prevailing belief that painting was a less innovative and timely medium with her irregularly shaped and often monumental canvases, destabilized and surreal interiors, and biomorphic often cartoon-like forms.

Gladstone Gallery, 130 East 64^th Street, New York, NY Info

June 7-August 17: The Odd Couple | American Art Furniture

Founding director of Superhouse, Stephen Markos says: Art furniture is a central component of Superhouse’s programming. While the gallery has a global view, this show narrows its focus to the US, exploring a group of 18 transgenerational American artists’ diverse tendencies, philosophies, narratives, and perspectives over the past four decades using furniture as a central component of their practices. 

The installation, designed by New York architect Andre Bahremand combines rare, historical pieces from the functional art movement of the 1980s, the studio craft movement spanning the 1980s through the 2000s, and contemporary sculpture.  Scroll down here for essay by Glenn Adamson  

Superhouse Gallery, 120 Walker Street, 6R, New York, NY Info

Friday, June 14, 4-5pm: Artists on the Bowery | Neighborhood tour with New Museum

Back by popular demand! Discover the artistic soul of the Lower East Side on a walking tour through the Bowery. Go back in time with us as we explore this fabled street’s history from the 1960s on—featuring stops outside the homes, studios, and havens of artists such as Lynda Benglis, Bob Thompson, Eva Hesse, and Adrian Piper. Don’t miss this chance to explore the Bowery's heritage—rain or shine!

This tour will use voice amplification, accessed via mobile phone. To access this feature, please bring a charged, internet-enabled phone and headphones.

Meet at New Museum, 235 Bowery, New York, NY Tickets

Friday, June 14-Saturday, June 15: Typographics 2024 Main Stage talks at Cooper Union

The annual festival on the contemporary use of type organized by The Cooper Union’s Type@Cooper and the Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography celebrates a decade this summer. The 2024 Festival features Main Stage talks on June 14 and 15. More programs and workshops here

The Cooper Union, The Great Hall, in the Foundation Building, 7 East 7th Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues, New York NY Tickets

Saturday, June 15, 11am-7pm: East Village Zine Fair at Printed Matter

Printed Matter / St Marks and 8-Ball Community will showcase artists, independent publishers, and collectives from NYC to our fourth annual EVZF, celebrating the neighborhood’s history of underground print culture past and present. Workshops, demonstrations and special edition presentations continue throughout the day. Free and open to the public. Above: Iman Raad, The World is Ugly and The People Are Sad, Risograph diptych, Edition of 100

You can also get (impermanenly) inked with this year's EVZF temporary tattoos, featuring flash by artists and tattooers Nadair Asghari, Heather Benjamin, Noel Garcia, and J Ma.

Printed Matter St Marks, 36 St Marks Place, New York, NY Info In case of rain, the East Village Zine Fair will take place on the same day, at the same time, at The Aula, 268 Mulberry St. 

Saturday, June 15, 11am-6pm: Schomberg Center Literary Festival

2024 marks its sixth year and will reconvene communities of book lovers to interact with their favorite authors in Harlem, USA. The festival hosts a marketplace of local organizations and vendors, NYPL mobile library, and programs for all ages. Readings, panel discussions, and workshops at the event range from prose to poetry, comic books to young adult novels, fiction and nonfiction. Free and open to the public.

Join in to celebrate authors of African descent and literacy and books across genres to amplify Black history and culture, with award-winning author and journalist Donovan X Ramsey— along with book talks and workshops featuring Diane Richardson, Elizabeth Acevedo, Vinson Cunningham, B. Michael, Jonell Joshua, The Moth, and more. programming features some of the most talented writers and influential figures in culture today. The festival is built on the foundation created by Arturo Schomburg–encouraging freedom of thought, the relentless pursuit of Black history, and the engagement of our imagination towards our collective freedom.

NYPL Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY Scroll down for schedule

Planning ahead

ICON12 The Illustration Conference

ICON The Illustration Conference is a 4-day event for illustrators, graphic artists, and image makers. Being held this year at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the conference features an education symposium, workshops led by and for illustrators, a marketplace, an exhibition for attendees, a juried animation screening, and two full days of presentations on the main stage where illustrators tell their stories.

Get the most out of ICON12. Sign up for an á la carte portfolio review to meet industry-leading art directors and creatives. The review panel includes art directors of all industries, from editorial to entertainment. Whether you're early in your career and seeking valuable advice, or just want fresh eyes on your work, this opportunity is not to be missed. Tickets and Info

As a nonprofit, ICON is committed to bringing programming to the community that is affordable. The revenue will cover a portion of the rental fee at the museum. ICON will match participants to reviewers; participants will not be able to request specific reviewers. 

More information and tickets here