When asked lately "What have you seen that's good?" my response has been these three shows, all seen within the last couple of weeks.

Joyce Pensato, installation view

Joyce Pensato at Parker's Box

I don't know why she hasn't had a NYC museum show yet! She is one of my favorite artists, and James and I never miss a show. We are lucky enough to own two works by her -- a graphite on paper "Running Mickey" and a white-on-black enamel on paper piece of Donald Duck. Check out my flickr photos for more images, including some older work at Sarah Bowen.

We had an "old school Williamsburg" visit with Joyce last Saturday, hanging out on some chairs on the sidewalk in front of Parker's Box.

Rosemarie Fiore, Mega Dome, 2005
Oil on canvas, 48 × 60 inches

Rosemarie Fiorie at Winkleman/Plus Ultra

The paintings in this show represent a breakthrough for the artist, in my opinion. I found the ceramics entertaining, and the fireworks paintings have a kind of minimalist beauty, but the paintings in this show blew me away. I love the textures, and use of crazy scenarios and colors.

Jeremy Eilers, Eggstickee, 2006
found objects, 81 × 38 inches

Oktuber to Decumber at Moti Hasson

This show of paintings and (mostly) sculpture curated by the artist Roy Stanfield, who also works at the gallery. My favorite works in the show were by Jeremy Eilers and Ian Pedigo. We have seen Ian's work before via Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery. I was told by Roy that Eilers's studio is a kind of fort, ready to have works such as the one above wrapped up and taken away. The works contain their own protective wrapping material, although that sharp point of the work above looks like it would still stick out. There are more images from the show on the gallery's website.

Related: Tom Moody on a Roy Stanfield sculpture in the show

[photos courtesy of the galleries except for my photo of Joyce Pensato's drawings]

I'm not meaning to make fun of the people in this photo, as the sculpture yard of Dam, Stuhltrager is in a backyard that's available to some other neighbors. I just like the way it makes a nice illustration for the idea that we're all stepping around the bodies to get a drink and enjoy ourselves while a war goes on somewhere else.

The exhibition at Dam, Stuhltrager now has a dedicated website with images (via flickr) and information on all of the artists.

I forgot to add something to my last post on recommended events.

Annual Gowanus Artist Studio Tour

Saturday October 21st and Sunday October 22nd from 1-6pm

ArtCal is really set up for exhibitions, not one-time events, so I'm listing a few of note here:

EFA Open Studios

Thursday, October 19, 2006 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Saturday, October 21, 2006 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Sunday, October 22, 2006 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm

EFA Studio Center
323 West 39th Street, NYC 10018
between 8th and 9th Avenues

Participants in the EFA Studio Center Open Studios include:
Samira Abbassy, Clytie Alexander, Chris Anderson, Augusto Arbizo, Regina Baumhauer, Jeff Bechtel, Sarah Beddington, Nicole Been, Ragna Berlin, Jimbo Blachly, Tom Bogaert, Patty Cateura, Sang-ah Choi, Theresa Chong, David Collins, Vicky Colombet, Judith Croce, Annabel Daou, Lisa Corinne Davis, Jane Dickson, Madeline Djerejian, Megan Dyer, Sally Egbert, Cara Enteles, Cui Fei, Suzan Frecon, Beth Ganz, Del Geist, Lauren Gohara, Ana Golici, Nicolae Golici, Pablo Helguera, Arturo Herrera, Marietta Hoferer, Jeffrey Hoppa, Catherine Howe, Jessica Hutchins, Eunjung Hwang, Valerie Jaudon, Kate Javens, Susan Jennings, Richard Kalina, Airan Kang, Tamiko Kawata, Jane Kent, Jung Hyang Kim, Noah Klersfeld, Greg Kwiatek, Sowon Kwon, Sarah Leahy, Patricia Leighton, Reiner Leist, Dan Levenson, Holly Lynton, Paul Moran, Gary Petersen, Thomas Pihl, Kanishka Raja, Tomas Ramberg, Evan Read, Louis Renzoni, Simon Rigg, Rafael Saldarriaga, Carl Sandler, Jonathan Santlofer, Noah Sheldon, Hilda Shen, Karina Skvirsky, Howard Smith, Devorah Sperber, David Storey, Taro Suzuki, Sali Taylor, Dannielle Tegeder, Scott Teplin, Sally Tittmann, Carlos Vega, Tom Warren, Marjorie Welish, Bryan Whitney, and others.

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Bushwick Open Studios

Saturday October 21st, 12pm - 8pm. There are some familiar names on the list of artists.

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Pulsewave - a monthly event at The Tank showcasing low-bit, video game influenced
musicians and video artists.

Saturday, Oct 21 @ 10pm Sharp
Admission: $7
Featuring: One Bit Music, Animal Style, Radio Shock, and Voltage Controlled

My previous post on the subject seemed to be popular, so here is a new list of upcoming art benefits:

• The Kitchen has a benefit art auction on November 2. That link already has images of many of the works to be auctioned. Impressive. The lovely and talented Christopher Gaillard of Sotheby's, who always helps out at Momenta's benefit, will be the auctioneer.
• The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) has a benefit on November 8 aimed at a bit richer crowd than some -- tickets start at $250. I don't see any kind of art auction in the description, but the snacks are provided by Danny Meyer, which is a good thing.
• Winning points for having a MySpace Page, the "BetteJean" benefit to raise money for research on ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral sclerosis), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's disease," takes place on November 9th at Galapagos. There will be a silent auction that includes work by James Nares and others, plus musical performances. They're still encouraging submissions of works for the silent auction. Artists, this might be your chance to get noticed by some new collectors. Tickets are only $10.

[photo found on flickr, taken by Youngna Park]

Jacques Louis Vidal installation view

Check out James's post for a slideshow from our crowded opening night plus some installation shots. I am thrilled with how the show came together, and the big turnout.

If any art bloggers want a personal tour some Sunday afternoon while the show is up, let us know.

Sorry for the lack of posting. I will have some recommended upcoming events and art benefits soon, but I'm still catching up with my job-ish work after all of the installation last week.

Despite what is said in today's DKS mailing, our show opens tomorrow night. If you accidentally find yourself in Williamsburg tonight, I recommend attending an art auction to benefit the Greenpoint YMCA's youth programs at Supreme Trading (213 N. 8th Street) from 5-9PM. It was curated by curated by Elizabeth Grady from the Whitney and Christian Viveros-Fauné of Roebling Hall. The list of works looks awesome.

The owner of my favorite art blog in Los Angeles -- Fette's Flog -- is opening a gallery!

The inaugual show at Fette's Gallery is titled "i know you, but you don't know me" and includes work by marie blanchard, melanie bonajo, brian bress, roya falahi, mehdi hercberg, hyun-gyoung kim, susanne mewing, david ostrowski, körner union and stuart white. [the lack of capitalization is from the gallery's site]

There are two worthy art benefits with "good stuff" this week:

Brooklyn Rail - to keep this worthy non-profit paper going.

James Cohan Gallery
533 West 26th Street
Tuesday, October 3rd
Viewing: Noon-6PM
Silent Auction: 6-9PM

Dam, Stuhltrager - to help pay for the artists to attend an art fair plus museum show in Istanbul.

Sunday, October 8
7:30 Doors Open
7:30-9:30 Food & Open Bar
8:00-9:00 Art Raffle
8:30-9:30 Deep Dish Cabaret
10:00 Doors Close

Tickets are $25 to attend, or $250 for the art raffle.

We've added information on all of the artists to the listing on ArtCal.