Faction Art Projects opens its doors to Andrew Thiele: Moral Compass, a four-day solo exhibition of new urban, mixed media collage works. The exhibition of the Harlem-based artist will feature over twenty new large-scale artworks. Throughout the show, there will be a calendar of events including a workshop, a jazz performance and a book signing of Thiele’s newest publication.
Filipe Branquinho, Jorge Macate, Padeiro (Jorge Macate, Baker), 2011. Courtesy the artist.
After the End: Timing Socialism in Contemporary African Artpresents a selection of works engaging with the history of African socialisms. It features artists looking at countries including Angola, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique. The exhibition is the first in North America to explore aesthetic responses to African socialisms and their aftermath.
The much anticipated renovation of Settepani Harlem is complete, with a soft opening that packed the tables. The new concept has all the bells and whistles from their signature breads and gorgeous deserts to salads, pizza and panini’s ~ along with a full bar.
The Annual Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association (MMPCIA)House Touris set for Sunday, June 9th. This year, the tour’s theme, Harlem Nights, is in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance.
They’re back! Remember the eleven Harlem students who created murals inside the new Shake Shack on 125th Street? Once again, partnering with Creative Art Works, the young artists completed the exterior work on the facade, which includes Fifth Avenue and 125th Street.
In celebration of the completed installation, Creative Art Works invites the Community to an official dedication of the exterior art on Thursday, May 23rd at 4:30pm. In addition, 25% of all proceeds on any purchase at Shake Shack that entire day will be donated to Creative Art Works IF the buyer mentions Creative Art Works (or CAW) at the register.
The artists Ektoras Binikos and Simon Jutras have merged their diverse artistic styles to create a sophisticated new mixology cocktail bar, located on Frederick Douglass Boulevard’s Restaurant Row in Harlem ~ a homage to the Uptown Speakeasies and salons of Harlem’s historic past ~ Sugar Monk.
NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks ~ Creative Courts initiative, Facebook Artist-in-Residence Program (FB AIR Program), along with artist Saya Woolfalk, the non-profit Publicolor, and the Marcus Garvey Park Alliance/Public Art Initiative have arrived at the basketball court on Madison Avenue near 122nd Street in Marcus Garvey Park. Watch as this work-in-progress takes shape over this next week.
Tendayi Kuumba by Michael Hančovský courtesy Harlem Stage
From May 2-4 and 9-11, 2019, Harlem Stage’s signature dance series E-Movescelebrates its 20th anniversary. Throughout its history, E- Moves has commissioned, presented and nurtured choreographers of color across the spectrum of contemporary dance idioms to create new work. In celebration of this anniversary, Harlem Stage will present 6 nights of dance featuring 2 commissioned artists presenting new works. In addition to the 2 new works, each night will feature additional choreographers and a pop-up performance by up-and-coming choreographers.
Armando Mariño, The Mexican, 2019. Image courtesy FACTION Art Projects
FACTION Art Projects will open its doors to the solo exhibition, La Selva Oscura, by Armando Mariño with ten large-scale oil paintings of figures in landscapes drawing on themes of identity and personal history within the current political and socio-economic climate.
Drawing from his Cuban roots, the artists’ work is influenced by periods of time living in Cuba, the Netherlands, France and New York’s Hudson Valley ~ as well as experience of dislocation and popular culture.
Lenox Avenue unveils an addition to its already fabulous Restaurant Row. Archer & Goat, located next to Il Caffe Latte and Nilu Gift Shop, between 119th and 120th Streets.
Hank Willis Thomas: All Power to All People, a 25-foot tall Afro Comb will arrive on the Plaza at The Africa Center in Harlem along with a fun-filled weekend including a Community Day on Saturday, April 13th and Sunday Drumming on April 14th.
Alex Katz, Sunset, 2019 courtesy Gavin Brown’s enterprise Harlem
This exhibition tells the story of a year in Alex Katz’s painted-life. A life where landscapes are observed from the edge of his home in Maine. For more than half a century, Katz painted this land with a virtuosity yoked to a consistent elegance. Today, while the elegance remains, something else has beckoned. Katz finds himself in the middle of the tempest.
X Gallery opens its doors to the artwork of Ademola Olugebefola, one of the original founders of the WEUSI Artist Collective ~ a movement founded in 1965, created for the purpose of promoting the African-American Culture through art.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the Clair Oliver Gallery announced a move from its Chelsea location to a new home in Harlem, with space currently under construction.
The 2019 edition of The Tribeca Film Festival will open with a documentary on The Apollo Theater! The Roger Ross Williams directed film, which will air later in the year on HBO, will screen at the historic Harlem venue on April 24th.
Celebrate the life of the trailblazing entertainer and activist, Harry Belafonte, with artists who know him well at the musical event, Turn the World Around: The Music and Legacy of Harry Belafonte at City College of the Arts (CCCA) on Friday, March 1st.
Martinez Gallery located on the corner of 135th Street and Broadway in Harlem
Is it a pediatric clinic inside an art gallery or an art gallery inside a pediatric clinic? Either way, it’s a fun and colorful way for kids and artists of all ages. Follow us inside……
The inaugural exhibition, Sei Smith: Reflections 2 will open at the Ki Smith Gallery on February 2nd. The exhibition will focus on relationships between color, light, shadow, and atmosphere, widening the conversation of contemporary art.
In celebration of what would have been Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 90th birthday, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture opened its doors to the exhibition, CRUSADER: Martin Luther King, Jr.
Preview programming began in anticipation of The Africa Center opening its doors later in January, 2019. In addition to the Museum, Chef Pierre Thiam’s Senegalese restaurant, Teranga, opened in February, and Portals, presented in partnership with Shared Studios, an interactive installation that allows visitors to connect in real-time with locations on the African continent and around the world via conversations, dinners, classes and other curated interactions will also go live.
While ’tis the season to be singing ~ let it snow…let it snow…let it snow, many of the kids in Harlem are singing ~ let it grow….let it grow…let it grow ~ and they’ve been doing this at Harlem Grown since its founding in 2011 by (the amazing) Tony Hillery.
Come along as we take a tour of the program’s new farm on 127th Street between Lenox Avenue and Fifth Avenue in Harlem.
Parade 2018 by artist Derek Fordjour at 145th Street & Lenox Ave subway station. Image courtesy MTA Arts & Design
Kicking-off the New Year with a Parade at the 145th Street and Lenox Avenue subway station, through MTA Arts & Design. Parade, 2018 by Harlem-based artist Derek Fordjour celebrates the African-American parade tradition in all its pageantry.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture/NYPL
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at The New York Public Library has acquired the full archive of actors and activists Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. The extensive archive includes more than 178.85 linear feet of material spanning eight decades of the couple’s careers in theater, film and television; their near 60-year relationship and marriage; and their social, civic and political activities between 1932 and 2014.
Frédéric Bazille, Young Woman with Peonies, French, 1841 – 1870, 1870, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. Image via Wallach Gallery, Columbia University
Lisa Wright, Silken, oil on canvas, 40 x 30cm, 2017-18. Image courtesy FACTION Art Projects
On the heals of the exhibition, Visual Language, FACTION Art Projects presents a solo show of paintings by the award-winning British artist Lisa Wright in November.
Apartments, Hotel & Community Facility are coming to West 126th Street, between Morningside Avenue and Amsterdam. The lot, which physically sits next to a historic carriage house at 400 West 126th Street, has already been cleared, permits filed, and construction ready to begin.
Famed Harlem Celeb Chef JJ Johnson opened his new Harlem restaurant, FieldTrip in 2019, focusing on a “fast-casual grain concept’ with patrons choosing their own rice or barley bowls. Now, just two years later, Field Trip will open in two additional locations ~ Rockefeller Center on the concourse level in late November, 2020, and a spot at the U.S. Open site in Flushing Meadows, which is set to open one November 11, 2020 at the new Queens food hall JACX & Co.
And now the news from #westsiderag that Chef JJ will be opening a #FieldTrip in Morningside Heights at 2913 Broadway between 113th/114th Streets in the old Aerosoles Shoe Store space. Anticipating opening, Spring 2023.
Umar Rashid, In Klingon, 2017. Image courtesy Faction Art Projects
Faction Art Projects returns this Fall in a collaboration with the East Los Angeles Gallery, Subliminal Projects, in a bi-coastal exhibition entitled Visual Language. This group exhibition examines the integration of word and images in art and Western Culture, bringing together a broad spectrum of alternative strategies for expressing contemporary everyday experiences.
The exhibition will run simultaneously at both galleries. In each gallery the artworks will work in parallel or collaboratively, while others will juxtapose and subvert ~ offering a strong critical frame through which to view contemporary culture in this period of “fake news” and “alternative facts.”
The exhibition brings together a wide-range of artists, each taking their own road in expressing experiences, transferred onto canvas. Below are some of the artists and artworks that will be on view.
Shake Shack Harlem with Facade painted by Creative Art Works. Image taken May 4, 2019
Shake Shack Harlem moved into the old Applebee’s space located at 1 West 125th Street, on the north/west corner across from the National Black Theatre ~ and at the entrance to East Harlem, which is preparing for a number of new projects including the Second Avenue Subway.
The spectacular opening unveiled artwork by eleven Harlem students, creating murals through a partnership with Creative Art Works inside ~ with exterior artwork currently underway.
Below is a sneak peek from beginning to end, including an update on Creative Art Works outside.
West 130th Street, South side of the Street, approaching Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd.
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC)designated the Central Harlem ~ West 130-132nd Street between Lenox Avenue and Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd a Historic District on May 29, 2018, and approved that proposal on September 27, 2018, when a full City Council vote took place.
Photo credit, Lola Flash. Image courtesy of X Gallery
X Gallery and EnFoco join together to present Queer Eye, A photographic exhibition celebrating LGBTQ Pride month featuring the work of Lola Flash, Lisa DuBois, Oscar J Rivera and Gabriel Garcia Roman. Each of the photo artists expresses their creativity and personal vision through their art in this multifaceted view of the LGBTQ world.
Finished installation on the Mall at Madison Ave side of the Park
June 16th will bring inHarlem back to Marcus Garvey Park, with the eight site-specific installations Maren Hassinger: Monuments. Take a walk with us, beginning on 124th Street at the Fifth Avenue entrance.
Artist, Andrew Mania, ‘Donald’ Image via factionartprojects.com
Faction Art Projects Harlem will explore complex masculine identities, challenging historical depictions, with three artists using differing styles, in a new exhibit entitled ‘Others.’
The Farmers Market at Marcus Garvey Park will open for the season on Saturday, June 2nd. With more than ten local vendors, look forward to fresh produce, artisanal jams & pastries, honey, baked good, specialty prepared foods and some surprises. And ~ The Market now takes SNAP!
Faison Firehouse Theatre with ‘Education is Not a Crime’ mural on the side of the building
Faison Firehouse Theatre, 6 Hancock Place, has been on the market for several years. Completed in 1909, the building was designed by architect Howard E. Constable, and housed the Hook & Ladder Company 40. It is 29-feet wide and includes more than 10,000 square-feet, with a finished roof deck.
Harlem Late Night Jazz, Inc. presents St. Nick’s Pub Dedication Jazz Festival with 14 very special one-time performances, jam sessions, singers, tap dancers and more. Join the celebration….
Robin Bell-Stevens, Director of Jazzmobile kicking-off ‘Keep the Music Playing’
Jazzmobile held its annual community fundraiser on Monday evening, April 30th at First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem, and it was smokin! Didn’t make it? We have you covered. Here are a few pictures from the event and a way that you can participate in the Jazzmobile fundraiser even if you weren’t there.
Get ready for the Alegria, Urban Latin Jazz Portrait Concert ~ new, original compositions by Samuel Torres from his forthcoming album, Alegria, presented by City College Center for the Arts on Friday, May 18th.
Image taken October 18, 2019, courtesy of a reader
A pop-up visit by Urban Park Rangers visiting the historic Harlem Fire Watchtower prior to resuming tours. Image courtesy Connie Lee, President, Marcus Garvey Park Alliance; Director, Public Art Initiative; Curator, Living With Art Salon, spending some time with the Urban Park Rangers today.
Harlemites and preservationists were delighted to receive the recent news that the historic Harlem Fire Watchtower, removed from the Acropolis overlooking Marcus Garvey Park in 2015 for restoration, would have its unveiling and ribbon-cutting on October 26, 2019. Prior to COVID-19, the Urban Park Rangers opened the gate and escorted the public up to the top of the Watchtower, giving the public a bit of history and a spectacular view.
The City College Archives at The City College of New York will put on exhibit more than 120 historic postcards collected by Dalton Whiteside, a CCNY architectural student, with the exhibit ‘Wish You Were Here! CCNY Postcards from the Past.’
Maysles Cinema Celebrates 10th Anniversary with Theatrical Debut of One October. This powerful new documentary, directed by Rachel Shuman, with executive producer, Edward Norton, will open on May 11 as part of the programming celebration marking its milestone in Harlem.
Continuing with The Studio Museum in Harlem ~ outside the walls, inHarlem announced its next two projects in and around the community, in collaboration with Marcus Garvey Park Alliance and The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
“Marching On: The Politics of Performance” by Bryony Roberts, Mabel O. Wilson, and the Marching Cobras of New York. Commissioned by Storefront for Art and Architecture, 2017. Image by Bryony Roberts.
The exhibition, Marching On: The Politics of Performance at Storefront for Art and Architecture explores the legacy of marching and organized forms of performance within the African-American community, as “agents of cultural and political expression, celebrating collective identities and asserting rights to public space and visibility.”
Marching On: The Politics of Performance – Final performance on Saturday, June 9th from 5-6:30pm at Storefront for Art and Architecture, 97 Kenmare Street.
Renee Cox, The Signing, 2017. Image via Faction Art Projects
Faction Art Projects, the British-based gallery that opened its doors in a 4,000 square-foot space in the historic Strivers Row area of Harlem, presents the exhibit ‘Harlem Perspectives.’