FAMILY STYLE COLLECTIVE curated by Julie Torres
Second Family @2 Rivington St
2 Rivington Street (btwn Bowery/Chrystie)
Opening: Wednesday, September 24, 6-9pm
On view for 1 week only! There’s a long list of artists in the show but some highlights are Liz Ainslie, Polly Shindler, and Will Hutnick.
–

Printed Matter, Inc. presents
THE NY ART BOOK FAIR
MoMA PS1, Long Island City, Queens
Opening Preview: Thursday, September 25, 6-9pm
A MUST. The NY Art Book Fair is open all weekend with tons of events and everyone from zinesters and publishers representing.
–

ARIEL DILL, MAX WARSH and SARAH CHACICH
Coup de Foudre @ Orgy Park
237 Jefferson Street 1B, Bushwick
Opening: Friday, September 26, 6-10pm
–

DUMBO ARTS FESTIVAL
Open Studios @ Smack Mellon
Friday, September 26, 6-9pm
Saturday, September 27 – Sunday, 12-9pm
Sunday, September 28, 12-6pm
To add to the list of jam-packed art events happening this weekend, check out Dumbo Arts Festival. There will be tons of galleries and studios open to the public at every corner. Our recommendation is Esteban del Valle’s studio at Smack Mellon.
–

LISA BECK
You Are Here @ 33 Orchard
September 27 – November 2, 2014
Opening: Saturday, September 27, 6 – 8pm
–

CHRISTINE HEINDL and ALEXANDRA PHILLIPS
@ Songs for Presidents
1673 Gates avenue, Ridgewood, basement
Opening: Saturday, September 27 6-9 pm
Trek over to Ridgewood to see Christine Heindl and Alexandra Phillips’ 2 woman show. Also, in the next few days, look for a new interview/studio visit post with Alexandra Phillips for a preview of her work.

F: Describe your process.

LA: I have certain rituals, if you will, and one would be to lay down a bright pink under ground and thats going to start to dictate the palette. And then, if I like something I saw that I did in an earlier painting, I tend to keep doing that. I create my own rules over time, based on what I did before.

I want to shy away from perfecting my system too much, then it becomes about something totally different. I don’t want everything to be too involved. I like a little bit of chance and intuitive play.

F: One thing I noticed, is that this feels like an under coat, and its coming through versus this [thickly applied oil paint] being painted over. Does that have something to do with the space or is it a conscientious decision?

LA: That can be this strange battle that I have where if something is too much on top, then I don’t like that. So then I will paint another layer next to it, to put it further back and then, maybe scrape it away if it comes too forward, or it goes back too much. Its this constant ‘drawing the line, removing the line.’ So sometimes, I scratch this [the paint] away and that sort of underpainting looks great and makes this whole form kind of sit further back and that works.

F: Do you look at the architecture of spaces when you’re painting or are you looking strictly at the palette and the canvas?

LA: Im pretty invested in just the palette of the canvas and my sort of structure that I’ve developed but I do think that my memory of images of things i see is definitely forming my painting.

F: Do you ever find that once you’ve painted something, you’ve realized where its coming from?

LA: Yeah, especially with color. I look at some things, i think “that’s my toys when i was 10″ or “that’s this furniture that I liked in a catalog.” It could be anything but it usually tends to be beautiful things…something that strikes me, either beautiful or strange. A lot of the times, strange.

F: Do you title your paintings?

LA: Lately, I’ve been choosing a group name. The ones with the lines are the ‘Stick Lines.’ The ones like that, with the box shapes are ‘Slices’.

You can find more of Liz Ainsley’s work at http://lizainslie.com/.