Editors’ Picks: 7 Things for Your Art Calendar This Week, From a Ruth Asawa-Inspired Workshop to an Outdoor Photo Show

Gallery exhibitions are largely open in New York by appointment only—but there are plenty of other activities available 24/7 online.

Artnet News, August 17, 2020

Each week, we search New York City for the most exciting and thought-provoking shows, screenings, and events. In light of the global health situation, we are currently highlighting digital events, as well as in-person exhibitions open in the New York area. (Times are all EST unless otherwise noted.)

Through Friday, August 21

5. “Sean Fader: Thirst/Trap” at Denny Dimin Gallery, New York

Sean Fader, @gogo_gemini #gaylife #gaybeard #femme #masc from the series “Best Lives” (2019–20).

Photographer Sean Fader presents two series inspired by the ways that LGBTQ+ culture in the US has evolved over the past 20 years. Presented in ornate gilded frames, “Best Lives” features heroic portraits of members of the queer community. The artist built a custom app to aggregate the posts to queer hashtags such as #instagay, #nonbinary, and #genderfluid, and then reached out to potential subjects on Instagram to arrange a photoshoot. The second body of work, “Insufficient Memory,” is inspired by the introduction of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 1999, a bill that took 10 years to pass. In photographs of homes, fields, and other innocuous-looking scenes, Fader documents the sites of 80 murders committed against LGBTQ+ individuals. He drove 15,000 miles to complete the series, which he shot with a low-resolution digital camera. The graininess of the large-scale images is a nod to how quickly these crimes were forgotten, and the difficulty Fader had in researching them, since they are often overlooked by local news outlets.

Location: Denny Dimin Gallery, 39 Lispenard Street, New York
Price: Free
Time: By appointment

—Sarah Cascone