Emily Mae Smith, The Studio (Science Fiction) (2015), all photos via Osman Can Yerebakan for Art Observed

An eccentric addition to this summer’s calendar of group shows is I Dropped the Lemon Tart, on view at Lower East Side gallery Lisa Cooley. As its title implies, the exhibition articulates human failure as an aggravating force for pushing and breaking barriers.  The title, having both literal and metaphorical connotations, refers to an actual case, in which a sous-chef at a famed restaurant drops one of the last two lemon tarts en route to customers’ table.  Instead of admitting defeat, the chef decides to serve the damaged tart under a fresh name and new arrangement. The show finds its inspiration in this incident, setting an example for the inevitability of human error, while embracing the subsequent stages of coping and acceptance of error as crucially generative. (more…)

Akio Suzuki, Ku (detail) (2012), via Lisa Cooley

The field of sound art, as trumpeted by the New York Times and the Museum of Modern Art, is currently emerging into the mainstream dialogues of the high art world, exposing what was once seen as a relatively underground practice to the milling crowds of major museums.  Even so, with that sort of focus placed on the medium, a new level of critique, or rather, a reassessment of the techniques, practices and processes inherent in the creation of sound art.

The String and The Mirror (Installation View), via Lisa Cooley (more…)

Air de Pied-à-terre (Installation View), via Lisa Cooley

Walking into  Air de Pied-à-terre, the newest show on display at artist Lisa Cooley’s gallery, one is reminded of an otherworldly hotel lobby. With the help of fellow artist and curator Alan Reid, Cooley has created an “Air de-Pied-à-Terre” (an alternative living space, located away from one’s home). The gallery has numerous articles that evoke a nostalgic atmosphere within the show – mobiles that dance around the room, paintings that mimic children’s creations, and homely looking text juxtaposed against more classical looking portraiture. The entirety of the show is punctuated by stereotypically domestic constituents such as chairs and potted plants that engulf the viewer and invite them to make themselves at home. (more…)

Art Fag City describes how Lower East Side Galleries are expanding, but not as a result of an art market bubble. Reasonable rent due to the economy, bargain-hunting collectors, and the bohemian sensibility of the LES may be together be creating a sustainable market for gallerists in the area.

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All photos on site for Art Observed by Samuel Sveen.

Lisa Cooley‘s new Lower East Side space opened Friday night, March 16, 2012 at 107 Suffolk St after four years on Orchard Street. The inaugural show is titled Today—after the Frank O’Hara poem at the top of the press release—and promotes a participatory and communal feeling as Cooley’s full roster of artists is on display in the 4,800 sq ft, one story space. Guests were invited to sign a white canvas ‘guestbook,’ adding an additional dimension to the exchange between artist and participant. The exhibition features works from Michael Bauer, Alice Channer, Andy Coolquitt, Cynthia Daignault, Josh Faught, Frank Haines, Alex Olson, John Pestoni, Alan Reid, Erin Shirreff and J. Parker Valentine, and runs through March 25th.

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‪‬W Magazine profiles ‘The New Female Gallerists,’ Kathy Grayson, Amy Greenspon, Jane Hait and Janine Foeller, Emily Sundblad, and Lisa Cooley [AO Newslink]

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All photos on site for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse and Samuel Sveen

The New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) art fair explores “new or underexposed art that is not typical of the ‘art establishment.'” Posting up nearly 50 blocks north of the main fair—Art Basel Miami Beach—the satellite fair moved to its Deauville Beach Resort location in 2009 to cut costs, making it a more affordable venture for the younger galleries while remaining a non-profit organization. Since first launching in 2003, the fair has clearly demonstrated the demand for emerging artists and their work, many of the galleries consistently selling out their booths within the first few days of the fair, if not hours. And despite this year’s questionable global economic environment, the fair proved a success once again, with galleries like Lisa Cooley, Kate Werble Gallery, The Hole, The Journal Gallery, Leo Koenig Inc., and White Columns all pleased with the results, prices topping out around $50,000. Also at the fair, multimedia artist Jayson Musson A.K.A. Hennessy Youngman lectured/performed “His History of Art” Thursday evening.

Kate Werble Gallery

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