W 23rd St - Every Photo Graph Is In Visible, Mostly Red & Tyson Reeder

Hooray! It is officially summer! So what’s trending this season? Locavore popsicles. Straw fedoras. Anything with stripes. Honestly, there are so many striped tees and maxi dresses parading around, they’re like the new neutral. They blend. Thankfully, though, there is Frank Badur’s work at Margaret Thatcher Projects to remind us of their subtle, simplistic beauty. Badur’s minimalist canvases celebrate the vibrant, focused energy that richly layered lines of varying widths and textures can create. Soak it in and carry it with you through the rest of your day!

Down the block at Daniel Reich, Tyson Reeder’s paintings are a nice contrast. Where Badur deliberately presents the paintings devoid of subjects, Reeder gives you dreamlike portraits and landscapes with fluid brush strokes, which seem to tell fantastical tales stemming from his own stream of consciousness. I am particularly drawn to this mixed media portrait. It’s “Untitled,” so, you know, it’s open for interpretation…

Around the corner Churnerand Churner presents Every Photo Graph Is In Visible, a group photography show that challenges all the things you probably assumed were the fundamentals of photography. Letha Wilson cuts, folds, paints and projects onto her prints. Christine Nguyen grows salt crystals on her paper and then prints her shots on the volatile surface. Matthew Brandt connects his images to their places of origin by using site-specific raw materials in the development process.  My favorite is Brandt’s Long Beach CA / Long Beach NY, in which he presents a photo of a life guard station on Long Beach, CA printed with salt water from the Pacific Ocean next to a photo of a life guard station on Long Beach, NY printed with salt water from the Atlantic. So cool! 

I hope you have time to stop and sit down for a little lunch in the neighborhood, because the Empire Diner has been resurrected! Thanks to the folks who bring us Coffee Shop in Union Square, this former landmark of a diner is now The Highliner. It’s a classic American diner with a spotlight on soul food. If you’re feeling adventurous, opt for the sweetbreads and waffles. If not, they have amazing blueberry pancakes! 

Ingredients:

Venues: Margaret Thatcher Projects; Daniel Reich Gallery; Churner and Churner

Artists: Frank Badur; Tyson Reeder; Matthew Brandt; Christine Nguyen; Letha Wilson

Streets: W 23^rd St & 10^th Ave

Eats: The Highliner

Map: