ArtBeat: What To See

Graham Parker: The Confidence Man @ EMPAC, Troy. New York-based artist Graham Parker has long been interested in spectrality—the concealing of one set of operations behind the appearance of another. His 2009 book Fair Use (Notes from Spam) explored spam emails as the latest manifestation of a longstanding mode of deception that has accompanied nearly all new developments in human transport and communication networks (the book touched on such phenomena as Nigerian spam, 19th century railroad cons and medieval beggar gangs). The Confidence Man features work that has grown out of that research—including hacked ATM machines, rogue WIFI networks, monologues drawn from spam emails, and a tribute to the 1973 film The Sting.

For three weeks starting on Monday, March 21, the artist will be working in the space for a few hours each day, using the exhibition as a studio and making ongoing alterations to the installation. Parker will be available for conversations with the public on a drop-in basis if he is onsite. To book or confirm a tour or conversation with the artist, please call the EMPAC box office at 518.276.3291.

BULL’S-EYE: New Photographs by Martin Benjamin @ Mandeville Gallery, Union College, Schenctady. Opens March 24. New works by noted area photographer Martin Benjamin that explore his experience as an artist living locally and abroad in Italy and Vietnam, evoking both nostalgic and emotional responses to the people and environments he encounters. Opens March 24. Artist’s Reception and gallery talk: Thursday, April 7, 5-7pm. (Through May 22)

Susan Klein @ Courthouse Gallery, Glens Falls. Susan Klein examines the intersection between painting, sculpture, collage and photography. Through a succession of experimentation and recycling, new work is created from old work, which may later become the source for future work. The exhibit will feature recent work in various media that combines both the contradictions and relationships between abstraction and representation, 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional, and what is “temporary” vs. “permanent”. Opening reception: Saturday, March 19, 4-6pm. (Through April 22)

1911 Capitol Fire @ The New York State Museum, Albany. In the early morning hours of March 29, 1911, a fire broke out in the northwest corner of the New York State Capitol. The fast-moving flames claimed the life of an elderly night watchman and destroyed much of the State Library and irreplaceable collections of the State Museum. The 100th anniversary of the Great Fire of 1911 is commemorated through historic photographs, dramatic eyewitness accounts, and important objects that survived the inferno. (Through June 18)

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Plexus @ Esther Massry Gallery, College of Saint Rose, Albany. Master printmaker Rob Swainston explores the limit of printmaking techniques. (Through March 20)

Eng Tay @ The Harrison Gallery, Williamstown. Portraiture in etchings, paintings and sculpture. (Through March 20)

Vignette @ The Arts Center, Troy. A group show presenting different approaches to narrative painting ranging from abstraction to realism. Artists include Joel Griffith, Ingrid Ludt, GG Roberts, Ann Wolf and Rebecca Shepard. Reception: Friday, January 28, 2011 (Through March 20)

A Walk Into the Huyck Preserve: Our Lasting Impressions @ Davey Jones Gallery, Albany. A group show featuring 10 artists from The NorthEast Feltmakers Guild including Linda Van Alstyne, Joei Bassett, Diane Christian, Sharon Costello, Marianne Dubois, Carol Ingram, Sharon Janda, Renate Moskowitz, Lynn Ocone and Kirsti Sandoy. (Through March 23)

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Troy Works: Large & Small @ Clement Art Gallery, Troy. New works featuring historic paintings of Troy by regionalist painter John Connors. (Through March 24)

John R. G. Roth: Figment Transport @ The Arts Center, Saratoga Spring. Sculptural works that explore the anthropomorphic aspects of machinery, vehicles and buildings. (Through March 26)

A Lot Of Possibilities @ MCLA Gallery 51, North Adams. Billed as “a social strategy for art, activism and urban farming,” the exhibition is named after “A Lot of Possibilities,” a project by artist Anna Lise Jensen that belongs to a practice of contemporary art that reflects the concept of artwork as communal and participatory. Artists include Alumbrados, Norbert Francis Attard, Suzanne Broughel, Alyssa Casey, Lisbeth Langkjaer, Caroline Parks, John Tursi, Petra Valentova, Jonathan Velardi and Virginia Vergara as well a winter garden created by Maria Mazzocco. (Through March 27)

Eye to Eye: European Portraits 1450–1850 @ The Clark, Williamstown. Representing the range of styles and themes in Old Master portraiture as practiced in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, England, and France from the late fifteenth century through the early nineteenth century, the twenty-nine paintings and one sculpture in the exhibition include works by Memling, Cranach, Parmigianino, Ribera, Rubens, Van Dyck, Greuze, and David as well as other extraordinary works by lesser-known painters. (Through March 27)

Barry Bartlett @ John Davis Gallery, Hudson. Ceramic works created using a vast array of kitchy ceramic hobby moulds. (Through March 27)

Made In Woodstock V @ Center For Photography at Woodstock. The fifth installment of the CPW series featuring work created by recent participants of WOODSTOCK A-I-R, a residency program for artists of color working in the photographic arts. Artists include William Cordova, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Tia-Simone Gardner, Lawrence Getubig, Daniel Handal, Wayne Hodge, Jeannette Louie, Hee Jin Hang, Tarrah Krajnak & Wilka Roig, Emily Hanako Momohara, Ricardo Morales-Harnandez, Dawit L. Petros, Tim Portlock, Justine Reyes, Kanako Sasaki, Lupita Murillo Tinnen and Donna J. Wan. (Through March 27)

Henry Klimowicz: Constructs @ The Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield. Henry Klimowicz, currently exhibiting his “Paper and Light” site-specific installation in the Wider Window Gallery, now expands into the Crane Room with “Constructs,” centered around another enormous, site-specific installation created from cardboard. (Through March 27)

In a Labyrinth: The Dance of Butoh @ The National Museum of Dance, Saratoga Springs. Photographer Michael Manheim’s exhibition of professional Butoh dancers – a dance genre stemming from post-war Japan. (Through March)

Lorraine Chesin @ Sand Lake Center For The Arts, Averill Park. Lorraine Chesin’s acrylic paintings focus on color and shape, highlighting domestic scenes. Artist reception: Sunday, February 20, 1-3pm. (Through March 31)

Christian Graupner: MindBox @ EMPAC, Troy. Using a modified one-armed bandit slot machine, MindBox is a viewer-driven dance video and music triptych. Insert a coin, work the machine’s lever and buttons, and directly remix the moves of the beatboxing man on three screens. Media artist Christian Graupner and choreographer Roberto Zappalà teamed up to make a vocabulary of sounds and movements that take beatboxing—a vocal percussion style that comes out of hip-hop—into the realm of interactive media.(Through April 2)

Eunjung Hwang: Three Thousand Revisits and Ati Maier: Event Horizon @ University Art Museum, UAlbany. Eunjung Hwang’s drawings, animations, video projections, and inflated sculptures of quasi-figurative characters take over the main gallery. The second floor is given over to Ati Maier’s drawings and paintings of hybrid landscapes. (Through April 2)

If Truth Be Told @ Martinez Gallery, Troy. A group show featruing Mary Pat Wager and Anthony Garner (sculpture); Elaine Mokhtefi and Stephen Tyson (painting) and Clara Tomaz (electronic arts). (Through April 4)

Sebastien Barre @ Spectrum 8 Theatres, Albany. New photographs from Sebastien Barre’s ongoing series of urban explorations. (Through April 5)

Peter Liepke: Cityscapes @ Carrie Haddad Photographs, Hudson. Moody, atmospheric large-format photographs shot with a Graflex Super D. Also on exhibit: works by Ida Weygandt. (Through April 10)

Forty Shades of Green @ Lichenstein Center for the Arts, Pittsfield. Named after a song written by Johnny Cash after a visit to Ireland, this large group exhibition brings together over forty artists from Berkshire County and the surrounding region for a show of works inspired by Ireland and Irish culture. (Through April 12)

Paula Hayes: Understory @ The Tang Teaching Museum, Saratoga Springs. Paula Hayes has transformed the Tang’s Payne Room into an immersive environment brimming with life, including a forest of large silicone planters housing small trees, a series of her hand-blown grass terrariums and new custom-designed wallpaper and dinnerware. (Through April 17)

Marion Vinot: Interrupting the Game and Harry Orlyk: Winter Landscapes @ Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson. Two noted Hudson Valley painters, portraitist Marion Vinot and landscape artist Harry Orlyck, pair up for what should be masterful show. (Through April 17)

Objects of Wonder and Delight: Four Centuries of Still Life from the Norton Museum of Art @ The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls. Comprised of 51 works in a variety of media from the collection of the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, the exhibition features some of the most famous artists in Western art history such as Gustave Courbet, William Harnett, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Georgia O’Keeffe, Edward Steichen, Robert Mapplethorpe and Andy Warhol. (Through April 21)

Charles Steckler: Sketcher Recalls/Concerning the Art of Drawing @ The Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy. A selection of pen and ink drawings from his series Per Passa il Tempo. Derived from a daily practice, the abstract markings in these experimental works suggest imaginary landscapes and fresh botanical inventions. Reception: Friday, March 25, 5-9pm (Troy Night Out). (Through April 22)

Recent Work: Aida Laleian and Steve Levin @ William College Museum of Art, Williamstown. Recent works by two studio art faculty members: Aida Laleian’s embroidered digital prints and Steven Levin’s oil paintings. (Through April 24)

Truro Light @ The Photography Center of the Capital District, Troy. Eric Lindbloom (working in traditional black and white prints) and Joseph Schuyler (working in color digital inkjet prints) exhibit their photographs of the town of Truro, Massachusetts, a summer vacation community on Cape Cod. Opens March 11. Opening Reception: Friday, March 25, 5-9pm (Troy Night Out)(Through April 25)

The Art and Animations of Elwood H. Smith @ The Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge. Enter the wild and wonderful world of illustrator Elwood Smith, with a look at his 40-year career producing energetic illustrations for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Time, and such favorite children’s books as “Hot Diggity Dog” and “Stalling.” Opening reception/book signing: Saturday, February 19, 4-7pm, free for members or with museum admission. (Through May 15)

M.C. Escher: Seeing The Unseen @ The Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield. Wrap your brain around one of the 20th century’s most popular artists including an up-close look at several rarely displayed original woodblocks, watercolors, drawings and prints. (Through May 22)

Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney @ Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge. Opening Saturday, November 13, the first major retrospective exhibition of the award-winning children’s book illustrator and designer will feature more than 140 watercolor illustrations spanning his 50-year career, touching on such personal and cultural themes as the African-American experience, the wonders of classic literature and the wisdom in well-loved folk tales. (Through May 30)

Travels With Norman @ The Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge. Between 1962 and 1975, Norman and Molly Rockwell traveled together to twenty-eight countries, including the U.S.S.R., India, Columbia, and Mexico. Molly’s slides documenting their travels are shared publicly for the first time in this exhibition, displayed alongside the related work of her husband. (Through June 19)

David Hinchen: Cityscapes @ The Stockade Inn, Schenectady. David Hinchen’s colorful paintings, mostly of Albany, focus squarely on buildings, skylines and architectural details. Opening Reception: Sunday, March 13, 2:30-4:30pm. (Through June 30)

Environment and Object: Recent African Art @ The Tang, Saratoga Springs. A show of recent African art that examines the impact of the environment on contemporary African life as well as the use of found objects and appropriated materials as a recurring presence in current African art. Artists include El Anatsui, Zwelethu Mthethwa and Yinka Shonibare as well as emerging artists such as Bright Ugochukwu Eke, George Osodi, and Nnenna Okore, among others. (Through July 31)

Katharina Grosse: One Floor Up More Highly @ MASS MoCA, North Adams. Katharina Grosse’s new installation fills with massive Building 5 gallery with her largest commission to date. Cool video here showing the ingenious way the MASS MoCA folks managed to get 700 cubic yards of soil into Building 5. (Through October 30)