The historic 287 East 10th Street in the East Village had been occupied by the Boys Club of New York since its opening in 1901. Known as The Harriman Clubhouse, the Boys Club sold the building in 2019 ~ and the historic building entered into a lease with The Joyce Theater Foundation, with a promise to continue offering community services as well as opening a door into the arts.
As part of its transformation into an arts center, the Deer Gallery will open on the second floor, with its inaugural exhibition, Steven Hirsch: Crispy Critters. Featuring nearly 40 paintings and drawings from 2020-2023 by the self-taught artist, the exhibition will be on view from May 25 to July 1, 2023. An opening reception will be held Thursday, May 25 from 6-8 p.m. The artist will be present.
In frenzied images that illustrate dreamlike escapades, coupled with memories of waking hours witnessing the violence and antisocial behavior of our times, Steven Hirsch renders his biography and life’s experiences in high color and surreal compositions. Strippers with balloons, assassinations, boxers in the ring, drivers behind the wheel, girls with guns, and other expressions of nightmares and fantasies, perversions and obsessions are just some of his subjects. Drawing on his personal experiences and struggles, his work invites viewers to contemplate existence on the edge.
Triggered by dreams and fleeting memories, Hirsch’s juxtapositions display attraction and lust along with war and brutality in a world gone awry. The mysterious journey through his mind is dotted with sexual fantasy, deviant characters, alien abductees, drug addicts, criminals, cheerleaders, and fashion victims. From the sublime to the ridiculous, the real and imaginary are intertwined in vivid narratives lush with life and color.
About Steven Hirsch
Born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 1948, Hirsch was raised near a mental institution where he became captivated by the outpatients’ psychotic ramblings and developed a fascination with the underbelly of life. He has been a street photographer, and has worked stints as a bouncer, taxi-driver, rock & roll band manager, and for supermarket tabloids photographing odd characters in odd situations. Untrained as an artist, yet compelled to paint, which he has done feverishly since 2017, he earns his living photographing New York’s underworld of characters, scammers and criminals for the New York Post. Steven Hirsch’s work has been featured in Raw Vision Magazine and Brut Journal, which specialize in outsider and visionary art. His paintings have been previously exhibited at the Outsider Art Fair in NYC. Follow the artist on Instagram.
About Deer Gallery
Deer Gallery is located at 287 East 10th Street in New York City. The gallery is situated in a 1901 building, which was until recently the Boys Club of New York and is now undergoing a transformation into an arts center. Hours are Saturday 12-5 p.m. and by appointment. For further information, please contact deergallery@myyahoo.com, call 646-450-7750 or visit www.deergallery.com.