Category: Projects

Showroom Cinema at 707 Cookman Avenue, Asbury Park, New Jersey
July 17 to July 27, 2025

Salvador Dalí and Jonas Mekas, C. 1964, NYC. Courtesy of Sebastian Mekas.

Jonas Mekas Film Festival in Asbury Park, New Jersey will be held at the Showroom Cinema at 707 Cookman Avenue, just one block from the train station. The Film Festival will run from July 17 to July 27, 2025. The Film Festival is in conjunction with OUTPOST NYC DCG. Additionally, Parlor Gallery at 717 Cookman Avenue will be exhibiting Jonas Mekas still-framed photographs and will host a reception on the opening evening of the Film Festival. 

Jonas Mekas (1922–2019) was born in a farming village in Lithuania and moved to New York City in 1949 as a war refugee. A pioneering figure in American avant-garde cinema, he co-founded Film Culture magazine with his brother in 1954 and became a film columnist for The Village Voice in 1958. In the early 1960s, he founded the Film-Makers’ Cooperative and the Film-Makers’ Cinematheque, which evolved into Anthology Film Archives, one of the world’s largest repositories of avant-garde film. He published over thirty books of prose and poetry and taught at institutions such as the New School, Cooper Union, NYU, and MIT. His work influenced generations of filmmakers and artists, such as Jim Jarmusch, John Waters, and Chantal Akerman. His films and installations have been exhibited at major institutions worldwide, including the Venice Biennale, Tate Modern, Serpentine Gallery, Whitney Museum, MoMA, and Centre Pompidou.

A selection of films tracing Jonas Mekas’s lifelong engagement with cinema as a form of personal and poetic expression. This retrospective follows his evolution from Guns of the Trees (1961), a politically charged early work, to Walden (1969), which pioneered his diary filmmaking. Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1972) and Lost Lost Lost (1976) reflect on exile and belonging, while his portraits of Andy Warhol and Martin Scorsese offer rare insights into their creative processes. The series concludes with As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000), a nearly five-hour compilation of Mekas’s home movies spanning three decades, described by The New York Times as “a first—the home movie as epic,” and Sleepless Nights Stories (2011), a film of late-night musings and unguarded moments with Yoko Ono, Björk, Marina Abramović, and other longtime friends. Sebastian Mekas, the son of Jonas Mekas, will be in attendance and will give introductory remarks several evenings.  

The programing schedule for the Film Festival is as follows:

Thursday, July 17
Guns of the Trees (1961) – 86 min.

Friday, July 18
Walden (Diaries, Notes, and Sketches) (1968-69) – 180 min.

Saturday, July 19
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1972) – 82 min.

Sunday, July 20
Lost Lost Lost (1976) – 178 min.

Thursday, July 24
Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol (1990) – 35 min.
Happy Birthday to John (1996) – 24 min.
Zefiro Torna (1992) – 34 min.

Friday, July 25
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000) – 228 min.

Saturday, July 26
Notes on an American Film Director at Work – Martin Scorsese (2005) – 103 min.

Sunday, July 27
Sleepless Nights Stories (2011) – 114 min.

Showroom Cinema is a small independent theatre that features high-quality first run films, documentaries, Oscar Shorts, classics, and hosts live comedy and musical performances. In a small intimate setting, they are known for providing a variety of entertainment to the art-conscious community. 

OUTPOST NYC DCG was established in 2009 as part of Deborah Colton Gallery (DCG). It aims to show new and newly rediscovered films, video and installation art, photography, painting, performance art and drawing and sculpture. OUTPOST NYC DCG is a platform for developing new experimental programing, often in collaboration with existing art venues and organizations, mainly in New York, but also nationally and internationally.

Since 2009, Parlor Gallery has been the heart of artistic and cultural renaissance and revival in Asbury Park, redefining the gallery experience through diverse and thought-provoking exhibitions which combine contemporary urban art with coastal charm. Featuring both emerging and internationally recognized artists, the gallery fosters artistic growth by providing a platform to educate and inspire, and to also bring art outside to public spaces through their collaborative art initiatives like the Wooden Walls Art Project.

Jonas Mekas Still-Framed artworks will be available during all evenings of the Film Festival and also through www.outpostnycdcg.com

The Ukrainian Museum, New York, NY
September 26, 2024 to December 31, 2024

Asser Levy Park, Brighton Beach, NY
October 7, 2024 to December 31, 2024

Installation Series: reclaimed wood, concrete, glass, plaster, ground marble

Installation of UKR|RUS at The Ukrainian Museum, New York

Installation of UKR|RUS at Asser Levy Park, Brighton Beach.

UKR|RUS invites us to question the devastating human cost and destruction caused by aggressive imperialism, and to celebrate the resilience of Ukrainians, their rich cultural history, and the future that so many are fighting to defend. Taking the shape of the Ukraine-Russian border as it is defined by Ukraine and recognized by international law, the work draws parallels between physical and metaphorical boundaries, explores the complex dynamics that exist around borders, and provides a space to center and reflect upon the ongoing struggle of Ukraine and its people.

(The decision to use ‘RUS’ in the title “UKR|RUS” is to identify Russia as the aggressor responsible for the war and devastation inflicted upon Ukraine and its people. The title is not to imply any connection or conflation between the two countries but rather to draw a clear line between them, emphasizing Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence. The intention is to acknowledge the Ukrainian people, their country, and their fight against Russian aggression.)

Sharp angles define the sculpture’s linear form, with sections varying in length (from 4 to 10 feet) and height (14 to 28 inches). Constructed using an assemblage of reclaimed wood, rubble, and various types of ground surface materials including marble, UKR|RUS recognizes the scars of conflict while simultaneously suggesting the possibility of rebuilding and healing. In the wake of major geopolitical events and the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Gochman’s sculptures serve as a stark reminder of the human cost of conflict and the suffering of those caught in the crosshairs of imperialism.

UKR|RUS underscores that borders are more than mere cartographic lines; they are tangible divisions that shape communities and lives. In the face of Russian aggression, the Ukrainian border is a manifestation of and container for the unique Ukrainian identity, culture, and history, and a reflection of its sovereignty. By positioning parts of the bench in historically Ukrainian communities across New York City, UKR|RUS will be paired with programming with cultural institutions and organizations that support and exemplify Ukrainian culture.

Amidst the noise that often drowns out the reality of Ukraine’s struggle, UKR|RUS invites pause, reflection, and a deeper engagement with the celebration of Ukrainian identity and culture. Most importantly, it serves as a poignant reminder of the shattered lives and communities left in the wake of territorial aggression, urging viewers to stand in solidarity with those impacted.

Daniel Johnston, Attention Sir All is Ready, 2005, Ink on Paper, 11 x 8.5 inches

Parlor Gallery proudly presents Story of an Artist, an exhibition celebrating the life and work of Daniel Johnston, running from July 27 to August 27, 2024. Located in the vibrant “Arts Bloc” of Asbury Park, this exhibition pays homage to the prolific, enigmatic American singer-songwriter and artist, who would have turned 63 this year.

Johnston, renowned for his self-released music cassettes and comic-book drawings, gained cult popularity and was endorsed by numerous music celebrities, including Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, who famously wore Johnston’s “Hi, How Are You” T-shirt, featuring his iconic artwork “Jeremiah the Innocent.” Johnston also performed with David Bowie and received support from Tom Waits, Sonic Youth, and Sparklehorse, among others.

His artworks have been highly respected, selected for inclusion in the 2006 Whitney Biennial, exhibited in museums, and collected worldwide. The exhibition will feature a combination of the best drawings from two recent national exhibitions of Johnston’s works, I Am A Baby in My Universe and Duck Wars, showcasing his unique characters, dialogue bubbles, and insightful philosophy.

Opening Weekend Activities:

– Special T-shirts, posters, CDs, and books will be available throughout the exhibition.

– The exhibition is in conjunction with OUTPOST NYC DCG, a virtual arts initiative that collaborates with the art estate of Daniel Johnston through his sister, Marjory Johnston. 

– Marjory Johnston will attend activities during the opening weekend, available for questions and to provide information about her brother.

– Deborah Colton, Co-Founder of OUTPOST NYC DCG, will also attend.

Johnston’s characters, especially his ever-present ducks, embody his fun-loving, adventurous spirit and his desire to help the world by challenging the forces of evil. These ducks appear in various forms, from cowboys and ancient warriors to superheroes and space travelers. Notably, the ducks as military personnel reflect Johnston’s admiration for his father, William Johnston, a Flying Tiger pilot in World War II.

The Duck Wars exhibition highlights the military adventures of Johnston’s ducks and resonates with current world events. With quirky humor and thought-provoking insights into the nature of war, Johnston’s drawings address its horrors, origins in greed, and its damage to humanity.

Johnston’s work continues to captivate with its childlike wisdom, winning fans and followers globally. His influence extended to popular culture, featuring in The Cutting Edge MTV special about the Austin music scene and attracting the attention of Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, who invited Johnston to perform at his parties in California.

Join us at Parlor Gallery for a heartfelt celebration of Daniel Johnston’s extraordinary artistry and enduring legacy.

Parlor Gallery, located in the heart of Asbury Park’s vibrant “Arts Bloc,” is dedicated to showcasing contemporary art from emerging and established artists. Since its inception, Parlor Gallery has become a cornerstone of the local art scene, providing a platform for artists to present innovative and thought-provoking works. The gallery’s commitment to fostering creativity and artistic expression has made it a beloved destination for art enthusiasts and collectors alike. With a diverse roster of exhibitions and events, Parlor Gallery continues to push the boundaries of contemporary art, inviting visitors to explore new perspectives and engage with the art community.

Artist and songwriter Daniel Johnston created his own imaginary cartoon universe in drawings, which were complete with dialog bubbles and his own uniquely honest and insightful philosophy. Among his cast of created characters are the ever-present ducks. They are the fun-loving good guys who are on the look-out for adventure and ways to help the world. They are always ready to help humanity by challenging the forces of evil and thus protecting love, peace, and especially hope.

The ducks in Johnston’s earliest drawings had wings and webbed feet. As he created more adventures for the ducks they evolved human-like arms and legs. The ducks found their way into Johnston’s drawings as cowboys, ancient warriors, superheroes and even space travelers. The role that was Johnston’s favorite (by far) was ducks as military personnel, complete with uniforms, weapons, and war vehicles of all types. Johnston’s love of all things related to World War II reflects his admiration for his father, William Johnston, who was a Flying Tiger pilot in the war.

The ” Ducks Wars” exhibit is a celebration of the military adventures of the ducks, but it also rings with uncanny relevance considering current world events. Daniel infuses the drawings with quirky humor, but also with thought provoking insights into the nature of war…. its horror, its origins in greed, and its sad results.

Visit Deborah Colton Gallery – Duck Wars to see more works.

In Support of The Jonas Mekas Centennial Program – Mekas 100!

“Jonas Mekas – Images are Real”
November 9, 2022 to February 26, 2023
Mattatoio Museum
Rome, Italy

Jonas Mekas 100! – the international program of exhibitions and events
celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Lithuanian-born filmmaker’s birth –
comes to Italy with “Images are Real”, an exhibition and series of events
curated by the duo Francesco Urbano Ragazzi, who have accompanied Mekas on a
number of art projects from Venice to New York, Seoul and Reykjavik.

Promoted by Roma Culture and the Azienda Speciale Palaexpo in partnership
with the Lithuanian Cultural Institute, “Images are Real” is on display in
Pavilion 9b at the Mattatoio di Roma.  The exhibition takes a retrospective
look at the sixty year artistic career of Jonas Mekas (born 1922 – 2019)
within a beyond the history of avant-garde cinema.  Presenting a broad
selection of works ranging from the 1960’s to the late 2010’s, the project
sets out to explore the Lithuanian filmmaker’s work as a form of resistance
to human brutality, a quest of happiness through which to cope with the
uncertainty of the present.  

The title of the exhibition is a quote from the film “Out-takes from the
Life of a Happy Man” in which the artist’s off-screen voice reflects:
“Memory is gone, but the images are here, and the images are real!”.
Celebrating Jonas Mekas’s centenary, therefore, does not just mean
celebrating the memory of a figure who has inspired three generations of
artists and filmmakers, it means also, indeed above all, keeping alive the
perpetual present of a filmmaking practice that is at once both individual
and political.

www.jonasmekas100.com

Mary Beth Edelson: Humor is the Best Game in Town
Kathleen Wentrack, Ph.D.

New York-based artist, Mary Beth Edelson, is recognized internationally for her break-through art works in far ranging mediums and her contributions to the feminist revolution. Since the 1960s Edelson has been impacting art making and activism while challenging the entrenched cultural dogmas of the day.

On view at the MAC in Dallas from November 6th until December 11th is a select group of 24 painted drawings from 1981–97. Curated by Liutauras Psibilskis, Deborah Colton, and Liliana Bloch, this series is titled There is Never Only One Game in Town. Equally strong, the historically significant large-scale wall collages will be on view as well as the premiere of the video ” Making Eye Contact” conceptualized by Edelson with video production by Gregory Wendt. This exhibition is in conjunction with OUTPOST NYC DCG.

Thematically, the exhibited body of work celebrates a variety of characters such as the femme fatale, the trickster, movie stars, and the mythological folk figures of Baubo and Sheela-na-gig. Diverse as these female types appear, they are connected through the trope of humor as Edelson states:

Humor is a mode of speech that is indirect and ambiguous and, therefore, can have multiple interpretations. It can potentially disrupt dominant meanings and the social order while protecting the joker from consequences that might occur if the same message were delivered in a serious mode. Humor sabotages critics, for unlike spoken language, laughter does not belong to a linguistic code and, therefore, has the possibility of creatively breaking that mold while taking advantage of humor’s natural attraction.

Humor is a political devise in the series There is Never Only One Game in Town. Many of the drawings use a variety of materials including silkscreen, ink, acrylic, and fabric on jute tag to form pictures based on Edelson’s desire to “re-script Hollywood” as it relates to the construction of women in their films. Edelson’s research of movies from the 1920s until the present day inspired her to be especially curious about films that place a gun in a woman’s hand—the ultimate symbol of male power—and how that representation changed over time according to women’s status and the circumstances of that time span.

She appropriated images of women played by movie stars including Marilyn Monroe, Gena Rowlands, Marlene Dietrich, Lynda Carter, Angelica Houston, Judy Garland, and Mae West whose sultry quote “there is never only one game in town” was borrowed for the title of this series. The artist then gave the characters a new identity as she describes:

My intention was to isolate these images from their original context in the film to project my own story on these subjects as self-defining agents that defy the production of Hollywood stereotyping.

Bursting with irony and humor, these drawings engage the viewer by way of the unexpected text and titles that accompany their forthright images. Several works are based on a silk-screened photograph of a sassy, young Judy Garland who asks questions that speak directly to the viewer. Other images draw on cross-cultural traditions for alternative spiritual histories as in the multi-armed Marilyn Monroe as the Hindu Goddess Kali.

Accompanying the painted drawing series are a selection of Edelson’s wall collages installed on a large scale for the first time in the United States. The wall collages developed concurrent with the artist’s well-known collage posters of the 1970s in which reproductions of historical paintings by male artists are parodied by pasting photographs of female artists’ faces over the male actors’ images. For example, Some Living American Women Artists/Last Supper (1971-72) is the first of the five collage posters in which the artist insisted on an alternative vision of society that included women in positions of power. For this first poster Edelson collected photographs of women artists and collaged their faces over those of Jesus and his disciples on a reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper (1498). All five posters in the series—recently acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York for their permanent collection —make use of appropriation in an effort to critique existing institutional structures and the history of western art. While these posters continue the social commentary of collage initiated by Dada artists almost a century ago, it is Edelson’s wall collages that make her contribution unique to the history of collage art and feminist art history.

The genesis of the wall collages, unlike the posters, was one of happenstance and playfulness, evolving from scraps leftover from the laborious pre-computer process of making the posters. These works celebrate women’s art collectives such as A.I.R. and Heresies, while others are cameos devoted to a specific artist and the women in her milieu. Each of the wall collages presents different subjects, stories, and themes while they all share a rambling unique vine or web-like structure. For example, Web Works/Heresies (1976) is built through a repetition of individual faces that creates the appearance of animation as in Good Meeting, (1976) sourced from the Death of the Patriarchy/A.I.R. Anatomy Lessons poster. At first glance Good Meeting appears to be a dragonfly but on closer inspection it is composed of a set of wings and the faces of several women. The dragonfly’s head begins with the image of Rachel bas-Cohain, then Ana Mendieta and Edelson, and concludes with ten prints of Nancy Spero’s face, diminishing in scale to form the tail. This collage provides an excellent example of how her repetitious progression creates a sense of movement influenced by the structural duplication of , in this case, Spero’s face.

Alongside, and often in conjunction with, the portrait-based wall collages, several themes reoccur in Edelson’s wall collages including Medusa, the Bird and the Snake Goddess of Egypt, Venus, Sheela-na-Gig, and Baubo. Laughing Medusa (1976) was made in a similar manner from remnants of poster pictures and other photographs of fellow A.I.R. members that the artist often took. The central face in this work is of Anne Healy with her head tilted back slightly holding a wide-mouthed laugh and framed by the smaller heads of A.I.R. members. Eight strands of wildly protruding hair—each strand repeating a separate individual’s head—moves with twists and turns like a snake, as if it were Medusa’s own hair.

The artist has frequently employed the figures of the Sheela-na-gig and Baubo in diverse mediums since the early 1970s, a moment when feminists sought out sources of power and spirituality that reflected not only an alternative to western religious structures but also spiritual histories in which women held significant positions and power. Found on the British Isles, especially in Ireland, the Sheela-na-gig is a female figure, crouching with legs splayed open exposing her genitalia. Dating back at least to the Middles Ages, these crudely shaped Sheela’s have been found near churches, bridges, and castles, and are generally regarded as folk deities imbued with powers of renewal, birth, and death according to the scholar Barbara Freitag in Sheela-Na-Gigs: Unraveling an Enigma (2004). Edelson combines the Sheela imagery with faces of women she wishes to acknowledge ultimately imbuing the figures with life-giving power as in Buffy Sheela (1976) that is composed of the heads of fellow artists Buffy Johnson, Michele Stewart, Betye Saer and Yoko Ono.

The web-like structure was expanded for the cameo series that focuses on and celebrates individual women. The format for each cameo is to collage the artists image on a reproduction of a bold self-assured nude, and it is from this central body that the web expands and unfolds to include the images of artists who may have mutually influenced each other, engaged in dialogue and thus created a circuit of people and ideas all active and supportive within this web. In the center of Cameo: Nancy (1979), a web presents the many faces of women associated with Nancy Spero with a special emphasis on her long alliance with the women of A.I.R. Gallery.

Many of the wall collages record women active in feminist art groups, but they also function as historical documents that describe the organizational and the working processes of a community in the process of implementing a revolution. The web-like shapes in the wall collages break from the confines of framing to visualize the collective and collaborative structures of these groups who are not represented in rows but are connected to each woman through the next. In Edelson’s hands, the portrait then becomes a living document in stark contrast to the western tradition of portraiture or historical painting.

MAC’s exhibition of Mary Beth Edelson’s art, presents a rich selection rarely seen together in the U.S. that delves into the artist’s deep oeuvre. Edelson remains one of the key feminist artists active and influential today, and the work in this exhibition gives testimony to its expansive relevancy.

Suzanne Anker: While Darkness Sleeps
McKinney Avenue Contemporary (the MAC)
3120 McKinney Avenue
Dallas, Texas 75204

January 11 – March 1, 2014
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 11, 2014, 6 – 8 PM
Artist’s Talk: Saturday, January 11, 2014, 4:30 – 5:30 PM
The MAC is open Wednesday through Saturday, 11 AM – 9 PM