I may be suffering from PDN (Pre-Departure Nostalgia) as we get closer to our stateside return from Mexico this July. Whatever the diagnosis, all my senses seem to be strangely heightened. My eyes constantly watch for new subjects, and drawing in my sketchbook has become a daily obsession. My ears are sharply attuned to the daily parade of sounds, from the ravens that wake me up each morning to the tree frogs that lull me to sleep each night. Yet it’s my sense of smell that’s been really off the charts.

Experts say that the olfactory sense can trigger long-forgotten memories. The smell of cut grass or the perfume your mother once wore can instantly transport you back to your childhood. There are so many smells to choose from here in Oaxaca, I expect I’ll have flashbacks long after we’re gone.

Peter Kuper visualizes the smells of Oaxaca that will haunt him back in the U.S.A.

It begins when I awake to the scent of wood smoke as our neighbors warm their tortillas over a fire. Heading up our gravel driveway for my daily constitutional, I inhale the delicious fragrance of jacaranda blossoms in the trees above. This is mingled with the stink of deposits made by every local street dog; apparently our driveway is the perfect toilet a safe distance from the traffic. Continuing down a bumpy cobblestone street I detect a hint of bougainville, but this is cancelled out by the stomach-wrenching stench of dead possum. The smell envelops me and hangs on my clothes until the aroma of pineapple, orange, papaya, and mango at the corner fruit stand brings blessed relief.

Farther down the street, a light whiff of Mescal emanates from an hombre passed out in a doorway. Then, over a corrugated metal wall, comes the comforting smell of slightly burnt corn tacos and charcoal - mixed in with a distressing odor. It’s Menudo. And I don’t mean the 90’s boy band, but a traditional Mexican soup made of boiled intestines and stomach. I can almost hear the goat’s dying bleat, which makes me retreat to the vegetarian side of my brain. Fortunately the delicious smell of roasting chicken floats by and my true carnivorous nature resumes.

I temporarily shift senses on hearing distant marimba music overlaid with what seems like a thousand barking dogs. To my right there’s the sound of a sputtering fuse followed by a rising whistle. There’s a brief pause, then a thundering explosion. The acrid smell of fireworks snaps me back to my sense of smell as I return to my driveway. I carefully negotiate the piles left by the street dogs, relieved to inhale a restorative breath of jacaranda carried on the warm breeze.

If there is a pill that cures PDN, I won’t be taking it.

This is the twelfth installment in a series from Peter Kuper, a cartoonist and illustrator who moved with his wife and daughter to Oaxaca in 2006. Peter’s coming-of-middle-age graphic novel, Stop Forgetting to Remember, as well as a collection of his first decade of Spy vs Spy strips have been recently published. His work is included in LitGraphic: The World of the Graphic Novel, on view at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts through May 26, 2008.

Over the years, Marshall Arisman’s name has become synonymous with the Illustration as Visual Essay program at the School of Visual Arts. The celebrated artist and illustrator organized the MFA program in 1984 and today remains its chair.

Among the artists of the day who found their voice through this intense two-year program are Nathan Fox, Douglas Fraser, Eddie Guy, John Hendrix, Paul Hoppe, Viktor Koen, Nora Krug, Thomas Libetti, Lauren Redniss, Stephen Savage, Yuko Shimizu, Jeffrey Smith, Ai Tatebayashi, Riccardo Vecchio, and Annabelle Verhoye.

Left: Marshall Arisman, with Rainbow Runners. Right: Buffalo/Deer Transformation.

When I saw that the 2008 thesis exhibition is currently on view - and that Marshall is hosting an open studio in Chelsea this weekend - I randomly contacted a few alumni to ask what they found unique and inspiring about the program.

Yuko Shimizu took a moment from her typically non-stop day to say: “It is an amazing program where bringing out the personal voice of each of the students is the main focus. In a way, the program is almost custom-built for each one. I ended up learning so much about myself in those two years, not just about my artistic side but about everything. And by coming to fully understand who you are, you can make your art a true reflection of yourself. I think the reason why so many of the alumni are doing so well in the industry is because this department philosophy ends up producing illustrators who are truly original.” Yuko is a member of the BFA Illustration faculty at SVA.

Nathan Fox called from his home in Kansas City, and after covering the bases on subjects ranging from the Orphan Works bill to Comic Com, Nathan spoke and I typed: “I don’t think I’d be where I am now if I hadn’t gone through the program. Prior to that, illustration didn’t seem to be a tangible contemporary art form even though it had been my undergrad major - I had no idea what to say. In the program and with Marshall I could identify with the premise that it’s about narrative and solving problems in all media, engaging the reader or viewer through the narrative. From the gitgo, it was an open studio that perpetuated the best in all the students. It didn’t matter how you wanted to work, the point is that you were telling a story in an engaging way, challenging the viewer. Over time I started to build confidence in my approach through the work we did while I was there - a blank sheet of paper wasn’t an empty page anymore; it became a place of infinite narrative space. From that point on image making and illustration had no boundaries.”

Little did I know the three artists I contacted for this article were classmates in the program. Just in from John Hendrix, who lives in St. Louis: “The Illustration as Visual Essay program is the illustration world’s AAA minor league affiliate. There is no better place to see the stars of tomorrow than in Marshall Arisman’s training ground. I had the honor of attending this program and I owe much of my career to the two years I spent there. Both Marshall and David Sandlin were an essential part of my visual development. They taught me to forget about ’style’ and embrace ‘voice.’ They encouraged me to abandon what I thought illustration ’should be’ and to explore what there was about image making that brought me joy. They pushed me to take risks and did me the service of not catching me when it was time to fall. I learned so much from my peers, sharing a studio with Yuko Shimizu, Nathan Fox, Aya Kaykeda, and from my thesis advisor Tim Bower, among many other high flying talents. Part of what makes this program so influential is the collision of a small group of gifted, if unrefined, young artists and a fearless faculty. They throw as hard as they can, and we swing for the fences.”

The MFA 2008 thesis exhibition was curated by Gary Panter, a member of the MFA Illustration faculty. The show is on through May 17, with a reception next Tuesday, May 13 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the Visual Arts Gallery, 601 West 26^th Street, 15^th Floor. Hours: Monday - Saturday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. Gary, by the way, will be signing copies of his new book this Saturday in Brooklyn. Rumor has it there are some special on-site only give-aways to be had at the Picture Box Departmental Store.

Marshall Arisman is hosting an open studio to present his new series of paintings, “The Ayahuasca.” Reached by email yesterday, he offered a brief synopsis of his inspiration for these large scale paintings, which are done in oil on hand-made paper. “The Ayahuasca series references the cave paintings done over 45,000 years ago,” he wrote. “Archaeologists believe that the shaman drawings on cave walls not only illustrated the journey from the material to the spiritual world but were a source of energy. The energy could be activated by placing your hands on top of the drawings. Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic drug from the Amazon Jungle used to locate lost objects and lost souls.”

The Ayahuasca Series is on view from May 9 - 11 at 231 West 29^th Street, Room 804. Hours are noon to 8:00 pm on Friday and 11:00 am to 6:00 pm on the weekend. For more information: 212.967.4983 or marisman@sva.edu. To read an in-depth interview with Marshall Arisman, click here.

And this just arrived by email: Alumna Annabelle Verhoye is hosting an open studio in the West Village to show her large-scale paintings on glass, on Sunday, May 11, 11:30 am to 4:30 pm at 26 Bethune Street. For information: 646.486.0827 or annabelleverhoye@gmail.com

According to Fritz Haeg - the architect/artist/educator who left his geodesic dome in L.A. on a road trip aimed at revolutionizing America’s front yards - the lawn must go! His mission is to replace these latent throwbacks to the American Dreamscape of post-war suburbia with vegetable gardens, which he calls Edible Estates.

Starting in the heartland of America, Salina, Kansas, he has mounted 6 projects so far, with three more in the planning stage. In Lakewood, California; Maplewood, New Jersey; London England; Austin Texas and Baltimore, Maryland, he secured funding and sponsorship by local institutions to create beautifully sculpted gardens for homeowners who had previously hidden their garden plots in the back yard. The search for a site in New York City is underway and Haeg, who has written a book called “Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn,” will give a talk in Brooklyn this Saturday.

In an interview with Creative Time’s Nato Thompson, Haeg said, “With the Edible Estates regional prototype gardens I am removing toxic, polluting, water-guzzling no-man’s-land spaces and replacing them with productive edible gardens. People are back on the streets reconnected to their local ecology, food and neighbors.

Edible Estates, left to right: Maplewood, New Jersey; Bankside, London; Descanso Gardens, Los Angeles. Photos: fritzhaeg.com

“But in some neighborhoods,” he continued, “it is a very provocative gesture that is upsetting.” For people who use their front yards to maintain a distance from the public passing by, he says, “just the act of spending an extended period of time outside with your hands in the dirt is a profoundly ‘deviant’ act! We can get anything we need at the store, right? Why are we still mucking around in the dirt?”

As part of the 6^th annual BKLYN DESIGNS fair in Dumbo this weekend, Fritz Haeg will read from his new book, which includes essays by author Michael Pollan and landscape architect Diana Balmori, among others. Susan Szenasy, editor in chief of Metropolis magazine will introduce Haeg on Saturday May 10 at noon, at St. Ann’s Warehouse. This event is free with admission to BKLYN DESIGNS.

Haeg’s latest environmental project is “Animal Estates.” The first installment, inspired by the creatures that inhabited what is now Manhattan in pre-colonial times, can be seen in the Whitney Museum courtyard as part of the 2008 Biennale, which runs through June 1. In addition, the Edible Estates Demonstration Garden at Descanso Gardens, near Los Angeles, will be open through Fall 2008.

This month’s issue is loaded with variety, from a flurry of new books arriving on the scene to year-end student art exhibitions, and more. The world of narrative art gets a couple of significant boosts through the exhibition of a group of Roy Lichtenstein’s “Girl” paintings, at the Gagosian Gallery - and a special exhibition of Norman Rockwell’s preparatory drawings for his iconic Saturday Evening Post covers at New York’s Park Avenue Bank. Please check links for details.

NEW YORK, NY
Theo Boettger: Dirty Tricks
Priska Juschka Fine Art
May 1 - June 7, 2008
Opening reception: May 1, 6:00 - 9:00 pm

Young Emerging Artists, featuring work by Fumiko Toda, Alex Callender, Pansum Chang, Kara Daving, Jun Eun Park, Justin Wood and Sona Yeghiazaryan among others
Lana Santorelli Gallery
May 1 - June 21, 2008
Opening reception: May 1, 6:00 - 9:00 pm

Global Warming: Parsons BFA Illustration Thesis Exhibition
Chelsea Art Museum
May 7 - May 10, 2008
Opening reception: May 7, 6:00 - 8:00pm

Three woodcuts by Gert & Uwe Tobias, all Untitled, 2008. Courtesy of Team Gallery.

Gert & Uwe Tobias: Der osten im norden des westens
Team Gallery
May 8 - June 14, 2008
Opening reception: May 8, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Which Way to the Beach: Work by Regina Heinlein and Bilderklub artists
Ogilvy & Mather at Worldwide Plaza, rsvp: agent@cwc-i.com
May 8, 5:00 - 7:00 pm

No Greater Solitude: Paintings, drawings and installations by Jonathan Hartshlorn and Joyce Kim
Thierry Goldberg Projects
May 9 - June 8, 2008
Opening reception: May 9, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Joseph Buzzell: Flowers of Flesh and Blood
Little Cakes Gallery
May 9 - June 1, 2008

Roy Lichtenstein: Girls
Gagosian Gallery
May 12 - June 28, 2008

MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Thesis Projects, featuring work by 21 students, and curated by Gary Panter, chair of the graduate illustration program at the School of Visual Arts
Visual Arts Gallery
Through May 17, 2008
Opening reception: May 13, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Tim Biskup: The Artist in You
Titi Freak: Vida Apaixonada
Jonathan LeVine Gallery
May 17 - June 14, 2008
Opening reception: May 17, 7:00 - 9:00 pm

Book signing for Thanking the Monkey, with art by Anthony Freda, Sue Coe and others
The Yard at the Soho Grand Hotel
May 18, 5:00 - 8:00 pm

2008 Annual Student Competition Awards
The Society of Illustrators
Through May 16, 2008
Norman Rockwell in Black and White: Original drawings for Saturday Evening Post covers from the Norman Rockwell Museum
The Gallery at the Park Avenue Bank
Through June 11, 2008

APAK: Worlds of Wonder
Giant Robot NY
May 17 - June 18, 2008
Opening reception: May 17, 6:30 - 10:00 pm

Anthony Pontius
31 Grand
Through May 24, 2008

Two by Antistrot, courtesy of Sara Tecchia Roma New York.

Antistrot | What We Do is Secret
Sara Tecchia Roma New York
Through May 31, 2008

Supernatural, featuring work by Martin Basher, Jane Benson and Ben Grasso
Thierry Goldberg Projects
Through May 4, 2008

BROOKLYN, New York, NY
Eddie Martinez and Chuck Webster launch their eponymous 2-volume hardcover set
Picture Box Departmental Store
May 7, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Fellow Travelers: New work by Justin Fines, Dan Funderburgh and Kevin DeVine
Riviera Gallery
May 8 - May 31, 2008
Opening reception: May 8, 7:00 - 10:00 pm

Ken Kagami: Drawings for Snoopee, the Zine
Journal Gallery
Through May 9, 2008

Elise Ferguson and Arnold Kemp
Envoy Gallery
Through June 7, 2008

Patrick Whalen: Chairs
Art 101
Through April 13, 2008

The Threat of Chance, featuring work by Josh MacPhee, Billy Mode, Chris Stain and The Polaroid Kidd
Ad Hoc Art, Brooklyn
May 2 - June 1, 2008
Opening reception: May 2, 7:00 pm

Brooklyn Museum’s Target First Saturday
The June installment features a rich cultural mix that melds traditional and modern influences from Bali, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Benin, Ghana, South Africa, and America. The evening begins at 6:00 pm and includes gallery talks, hands-on jewelry making, music, films, a dance party and more.
June 7, free admission from 6:00 - 11:00 pm. For information, please visit the website.

WOODSTOCK, NY
Laura Levine: Tweet Suite | Birds of North America
Varga Gallery
May 22 - June 4, 2008
Opening reception: May 24, 6:00 - 9:00; musical performance by Ida and special guest Michael Hurley

Three by Gary Panter from Daydream Trap: Sketchbook and ephemera in the artist’s studio; Daydream Trap, 2008; Climate, 2001, all courtesy of the artist.

RIDGFIELD, CT
Gary Panter: Daydream Trap
Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum
Through August 31, 2008

STOCKBRIDGE, MA
Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist. Special screening of the film by Andrew D. Cooke and Jon B. Cooke, which includes interviews with Art Spigelman, Jules Feiffer, Michael Chabon and the late Kurt Vonnegut, among others.
The Norman Rockwell Museum
May 17, 2:00 pm. Free with museum admission; for reservations: 413.298.4100, ext. 260

LOS ANGELES, CA
Deedee Cheriel and Louise Bonnet: 
New Works
Subliminal Projects
May 17 - June 13, 2008

Opening Reception: May 17, 8:00 - 11:00 pm

Eric Haze: Nov York City
ALIFE LA
May 17 - June 17, 2008
Opening reception: May 17, 7:00 - 10:00 pm

Every Now and Then, featuring new work by Thaїs Beltrame, Jonathan Edelhuber, Josh Heilaman, Chad Mount aka tribalbot, and Mehgan Trice
Carmichael Gallery
May 24 - June 15, 2008
Opening reception: May 24, 8:00 pm - midnight

Scott Harrison: Undigested Kernel
La Luz de Jesus
Through June 1, 2008

Killing Time, featuring new work by Matt Furie and Albert Reyes
Giant Robot 2
May 17 - June 18, 2008
Opening reception: May 17, 6:30 - 10:00 pm

Menace & Charm: The Nostalgia of Childhood
Black Maria Gallery
Through May 24, 2008, 2008

CULVER CITY, CA
In Gallery I: Scott Musgrove
In Gallery II Elizabeth McGrath
Billy Shire Fine Arts
May 10 - June 4, 2008
Opening reception: May 10, 7:00 - 10:00 pm

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CA
Book launch party for The Heartbreak Diet by Thorina Rose
Café du Soleil: rsvp thorina@thorinarose.com
May 6, 6:00 - 9:00 pm

Alfred’s Nose: Book signing with author/illustrator Vivienne Flesher
May 10, 1:00 - 3:00 pm at George
May 24, 10:30 am at Books Inc.

Group Sects, featuring work by Aaron Brown, Kevin Hooyman, Katy Horan, Matt Leines, Monkmus, Garrett Morin, Jeana Sohn, Daniel St. George, Gary Taxali, Pryor Praczukowski, French and Josie Morway
Giant Robot SF
Through May 14, 2008

Lacey an Roberts: The Master’s Tools (Decay Goes Both Ways)
Little Tree Gallery
May 3 - May 31, 2008
Opening reception: May 3, 6:00 - 9:00pm

TORONTO, ON
Oh No! Oh Ho! Figure Release and Signing with Gary Taxali
Magic Pony Contemporary Artshop and Gallery
May 8th, 6:00 - 9:00 pm
Exhibition: May 8 - 11, 2008

“HEY” IS A FORM OF GREETING IN 786 DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. It’s a multipurpose syllable that expresses surprise, exultation or interrogation. It can be used as a greeting, as a meaningless beat marker in music, a goodbye, a protest or a reprimand, as in, Hey! Stop that! Glossolalia, or “speaking in tongues,” refers to the babble of children, schizophrenics and idiot savants. Hey! Why not? This weekend, Creative Time, proponent of the avant-garde and the interactive, launches Hey Hey Glossolalia, a month-long exhibition of speech and the voice as art forms.

Saturday afternoon Robert King Wilkerson - a member of the Black Panther Party who spent 29 years in solitary confinement in Angola Prison - will discuss the use of speech under the pressure of complete isolation in The Righteous Voice, at The New Museum. This presentation was developed with Rigo 23, a longtime collaborator of Wilkerson’s, who will present a video documentary about the use language in his art to broaden awareness of figures like Wilkerson, and how ideas about language relate to ideas about truth.

Images, left to right: From Righteous Voice by Robert King Wilkerson and Rigo 23 at The New Museum Theater; from Cinema in the Round, by Mark Lecke, at the Guggenheim Museum; from Chris Evans: Cop Talk, at Pratt Institute. Courtesy of The New Museum.

And that’s just the beginning. The series continues with performances and lectures all around town, from Judson Memorial Church to the Guggenheim Museum. It includes sound and noise art as well as verbal interactions. For example, in Chris Evans’ Cop Talk, to take place at Pratt Institute, the artist arranges recruitment sessions by police departments for art students - suggesting the need for artist representation in the police force while simultaneously exposing students to an alternate career.

Robert King Wilkerson and Rigo 23 will appear at The New Museum Theater, Saturday May 3, 3:00 pm. Free with museum admission, but tickets, available online for this and all events in the series, are required.

WHILE YOU’RE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, check out the Lehmann Maupin presentation of Dave McKenzie in Private Dancer. The public is invited to join McKenzie in an afternoon of soundless dance on the closing day of the exhibition, You & Me, Sometimes. When the Brooklyn-based artist performed a version of this piece at the Studio Museum of Harlem, Romi Crawford, the director of education and public programs, spoke of the air of uncertainty created by his silent dance party: “Who’s going to walk into the room? Are they going to get it? Are they going to care to dance?” For McKenzie, however, people who choose not to interact with him are as much a part of the work as those who do. Hey! It’s your turn. Saturday, May 3, noon to 6:00 pm at Lehmann Maupin, 201 Christie Street, New York, NY.

This month, sight, sound, and time combine in lens-based art to offer multiple exposures of a rapidly evolving medium. See and hear work by Christian Marclay at San Francisco’s Fraenkel Gallery, Stuart Hawkins at Zach Feuer in Chelsea, and Paul Chan at the New Museum, to name a few. For its sheer volume of images and presentations, don’t miss the first installment of New York Photo Festival: The Future of Photography. This international event runs in 12 venues throughout Brooklyn’s historic DUMBO, from May 14 to 18, with exhibitions curated by Martin Parr, Lesley A. Martin, Tim Barber, and Kathy Ryan. Please check websites for details.

NEW YORK: CHELSEA and DOWNTOWN
That’s Great! Photographs by Ron Galella
Staley Wise Gallery
May 1 - June 7, 2008
Opening reception: May 1, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Yola Monahkhov: Once Out of Nature
Sasha Wolf Gallery
May 1 - June 21, 2008
Opening reception: May 1 , 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Aziz + Cucher: Scenapse
ClampArt
May 2 - June 7, 2008
Opening reception: May 2, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Charise Isis: American Stripper
Peer Gallery
May 3 - June 14, 2008
Opening reception: May 3, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Kent Rogowski: Love = Love
Jen Bekman Gallery
May 7 - June 14, 2008
Opening reception: May 7, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Gregory Chatonsky: The Invention of Destruction
Galerie Poller
May 8 - July 5, 2008
Opening reception: May 8, 6:00 - 9:00 pm

Three from the Deluxe series, 2008, by Stuart Hawkins. Courtesy of Zach Feuer Gallery.

Stuart Hawkins: Deluxe
Zach Feuer Gallery
May 8 - June 7, 2008

British photography, featuring work by Bill Brandt, John Blakemore, Keith Collie, Fay Godwin, Nigel Henderson, David Hurne, Paul Hill, Chris Killip, Roger Mayne, Don McCullin, Raymond Moore, and Tony Ray-Jones
Alan Klotz Gallery
May 8 - June 21, 2008

Daido Moriyama: The 80s
Peter Beste: True Norwegian Black Metal
Steven Kasher Gallery
May 9 - June 7, 2008
Opening Reception, Daido Moriyama: May 8, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Opening Reception, Peter Beste: May 9, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Neil Folberg: Celestial Nights, Visions of an Ancient Land
Yeshiva University Museum
May 11 - August 24, 2008

Sally Gall: Crawl
Julie Saul Gallery
May 13 - June 28, 2008
Opening reception: May 13, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Aaron Siskind: The Egan Gallery Years, 1947-1954
Robert Mann Gallery
May 15 - June 28 2008
Opening reception: May 15, 6:00 - 9:00 pm

Group show: Yale MFA Photography 2008
Danziger Projects
May 21 - 31, 2008

Richard Ross: The Architecture of Authority
Aperture Gallery
May 22 - July 31, 2008
Opening reception: May 22, 7:00 - 9:00

Sze Tsung Leong: Horizons
Yossi Milo Gallery
Through May 17, 2008

Zheng Guogu: Hundred-Year-Old Tree Blooms Again
Chambers Fine Art
Through May 24, 2008

Paul Chan: The 7 Lights
The New Museum
Through June 29, 2008

An-My Le: Events Ashore
Murray Guy Gallery
Through May 24, 2008
Jessica Dimmock: The Ninth Floor
Foley Gallery
Through May 31, 2008

Humankind, featuring work by members of VII Photo
Hasted Hunt Gallery
Through June 7, 2008

NEW YORK: MIDTOWN and UPTOWN
Masao Mochizuki: Television, 1975-1976
Cohen Amador Gallery
May 14 - June 11, 2008
Opening reception: May 14, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Camille Seaman: Where There Should Be Ice
Candace Dwan Gallery
May 14 - June 21, 2008
Opening Reception: May 14, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Heavy Light: Recent Photography and Video from Japan
International Center of Photography
May 16 - September 7, 2008

Matthew Pillsbury: Elapsed
Bonnie Benrubi Gallery
Through May 31st

Robert Polidori: Versailles: Etats Transitoires
Edwynn Houk Gallery
Through June 14, 2008

NEW YORK: BROOKLYN and STATEN ISLAND
William Greiner: Fallen Paradise (New Orleans 1995 - 2005)
Klompching Gallery
May 1 - June 25, 2008
Opening reception: May 1, 6pm - 8pm
Artist talk and book signing: May 3, 1:00 - 3:00 pm

Three photographs of Lithuania’s Roma (Gypsy) people by Andrew Miksys, from the exhibition, Baxt. Courtesy of Nelson Hancock Gallery.

Andrew Miksys: Baxt
Nelson Hancock Gallery
May 1 - July 5, 2008
Opening reception and book signing: May 1, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

The Threat of Chance, featuring work by Josh MacPhee, Billy Mode, Chris Stain and The Polaroid Kidd (Mike Brodie) that emphasizes the struggle between hope and despair by celebrating boxcar culture, graffiti, industrial decay and socialist propaganda
Ad Hoc Art
May 2 - June 1, 2008
Opening reception: May 2, 7:00 - 10:00

Czanara: The Art and Photography of Raymond Carrance

Wessel + O’Connor Fine Art
May 8 - June 21, 2008
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 8, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
NY Photo Festival: The Future of Photography
Various locations in Dumbo
May 14 - 18, 2008

Book Soup: A Photography Panel Discussion and Book Signing Event to launch evening programming at the New York Photo Festival
May 15, 2008. Panel discussion at St. Ann’s Warehouse led by Daniel Power, CEO of powerhouse Books and co-founder of New York, NY Photo Fest 08, 8:00 - 9:00 pm. For tickets, click here.
Book signing at powerHouse Arena, 9:00 - 10:00 pm.

Anders Goldfarb: Constants and Variables
Safe-T Gallery
May 15 - June 15. 2008
Opening Reception Thursday May 15, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

The Hustle: Exhibition and powerHouse Magazine Issue 3 launch
PowerHouse Arena
Opening reception May 28, 6:00- 9:00, co-hosted by Juxtapose Magazine, rsvp graham@powerHouseBooks.com
Exhibition: May 22 - July 13,2008

BEACON, NY
Dispatches from the Frontlines: 12 Women Photojournalists
Fovea Editions Beacon Gallery
June 14 - August 9, 2008
Opening reception: June 14, 4:00 - 8:00 pm

WOODSTOCK, NY
Photography Now 2008, curated by Darren Ching of Photo District News
Cornelia Hediger: Doppelganger
The Center for Photography at Woodstock
April 12 - June 1, 2008
Opening reception: April 12, 5:00 -7:00 pm

Josephine Sacabo: Images from Nocturnes and Geometry of Echoes
Galerie BMG
May 23 - June 30, 2008
Opening reception: June 14, 5:00 - 7:00 pm

BOSTON, MA
Exposure: The 13^th Annual Juried Exhibition
The Photographic Resource Center at Boston University
May 23 - June 2, 2008
Opening reception: May 22, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Larry Fink
Robert Klein Gallery
Through June 7, 2008

WELLESLEY, MA
Jem Southam: Upton Pyne
Davis Museum and Cultural Center
Through June 8, 2008

PORTLAND, ME
In Bloom, featuring work by Robert Diamante, Geoffrey Leven and Shoshannah White
Whitney Art Works
May 2 - May 31, 2008
Opening reception: May 2, 5:00 - 8:00 pm

Left: White-cheeked Spider Monkey; right: Komodo Dragon, from Animalia by Henry Horenstein. Courtesy of Gallery 339.

PHILADELPHIA, PA
Henry Horenstein: Animalia
Gallery 339
May 16 - July 5, 2008
Opening Reception: May 16, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC
Franz Jantzen: Manifest Order
Hemphill Gallery
Through May 24, 2008

Richard Misrach: On the Beach
National Gallery of Art
May 25 - September 1, 2008

CHICAGO, IL
Cecil McDonald Jr.: Domestic Observations
Catherine Edelman Gallery
Through May 31, 2008

Building Pictures: Featuring work by Alexander Apóstol, Dionisio Gonzalez, Terence Gower, Luisa Lambri, Chris Mottalini, Bas Princen, Thomas Ruff, Josef Schulz
Museum of Contemporary Photography
Through May 31, 2008
Artists talk: Terence Gower and Joseph Schulz, May 7, 6:00 pm

Ben Gest
Stephen Daiter Gallery
Through June 28, 2008
Ed Ruscha and Photography
The Art Insitute of Chicago
Through June 1, 2008

ANN ARBOR, MI
William Christenberry: Photographs, 1961 - 2005
University of Michigan Museum of Art
Through June 1, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS, MN
Fashioned, with work by Michael Dvorak, Martine Fougeron, Nick Kline, Jessica Rowe and Ryan Wong
Minnesota Center for Photography
May 3 - July 15, 2008
Artists’ panel discussion: May 3, 5:30 pm; opening reception follows

Richard Prince: Spiritual America
Walker Art Center
Through September 14, 2008

HOUSTON, TX
France Scully Osterman and Mark Osterman: Skylight Nocturnes
Houston Center for Photography
May 2 - June 1, 2008
Opening reception: May 2, 6:00 - 8:00pm
Ambrotype workshop with the Artists: Saturday May 3, 9:00am - 5:00pm

DALLAS, TX
There’s No Place Like Home, featuring work by Bill Owens, Chris Verene, Misty Keasler, Peter Riesett, Tom Atwood, William Greiner and Delilah Montoya
Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery
May 10 - June14, 2008
Opening reception: May 10, 5:00 - 8:00

SCOTTSDALE, AZ
William Wegman
Lisa Sette Gallery
May 8 - June 28, 2008
Opening reception: May 8, 7:00 - 9:00pm

SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Shai Kremer: Broken Promised Land
Robert Koch Gallery
Through May 31, 2008

Christian Marclay: Stereo
Fraenkel Gallery
May 1 - June 28, 2008
Opening reception: May 1, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Jim Marshall: Marshall Goes Platinum
Gallery 291
May 1 - June 28, 2008
Opening reception: May 1, 6:00 - 9:00 pm

Barbara Morgan: Rhythmic Vitality, Dances in Silver
Scott Nichols Gallery
May 1 - June 28, 2008

LOS ANGELES, CA
Art Book Swap Los Angeles, presented by the New Art Dealers Alliance and Regency Arts Press Ltd.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
May 3, 2008, noon to 5:00 pm, free and open to the public

Eve Arnold: All About Eve
David Gallery
Through May 24, 2008

Howard Bingham: Rumble in the Jungle
M+B Gallery
Through May 31, 2008

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA
Daniele Albright: Fictional Spaces
Scalo | Guye
May 3 - May 31, 2008
Opening reception: May 3, 6:00 - 10:00 pm

SANTA MONICA, CA
Three from Britain: Chris Killip, Martin Parr and Graham Smith
The Rose Gallery
Through May 31, 2008

SEATTLE/TACOMA, WA
A Couple of Ways of Doing Something: Photographs by Chuck Close
Poems by Bob Holman
Tacoma Art Museum
Through June 15, 2008
Talk and Book Signing: May 11, 2008, 2:00 pm, at the Tacoma Pantages Theater. For information: 253.591.5890

Joelle Jensen: Portfolio
Wall Space Gallery
Through May 10, 2008
Artist’s reception: May 1, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

PORTLAND, OR
Roger Ballen - Photographs
Quality Pictures

May 1 - June 28, 2008
Opening reception: May 1, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Artist’s talk: May 7, 7:00 pm, at the Weiden + Kennedy Atrium, sponsored by the Portland Museum of Contemporary Art

Kazuumi Takahashi: High Tide, Wane Moon
Hartman Fine Art
May 1 - June 21, 2008

TORONTO, ON
Jeff Thomas; Don’t Mess With the Pediment
Stephen Bulger Gallery
May 3 - June 7, 2008
Opening reception: May 3, 2:00 - 5:00 pm

The legacy of Keith Haring, one of the most celebrated New York artists of the 1970s and ‘80s, is being marked by a major art event to honor the 50^th anniversary of his birth. Art dealer Jeffrey Deitch, who represents the artist’s estate, together with the Keith Haring Foundation, hired a team of artists to recreate a mural that briefly flagged the Houston Street margin of the downtown art scene.

Photo: Peggy Roalf

The mural, Haring’s first large-scale outdoor project, became an instant landmark after he painted it during the summer of 1982. It was only up for a few months because its neon colors rapidly faded under the blazing sun; Haring painted it out before it further disintegrated. But it remained a mental imprint for many people in the downtown art scene at the time.

In 1989, Keith Haring described the project to his biographer John Gruen. “When I was still living on Broome Street and my studio was in the 611 Broadway building I walked past this wall on the corner of Houston Street and the Bowery almost every day….It used to be a handball court so it was a free-standing concrete wall with an accumulation of about three feet of garbage in front being held in place by a small fence. It was a pretty disgusting, rat infested, almost a garbage dump and an eyesore in a neighborhood where an eyesore wasn’t a problem. We’re talking about the corner of Houston and the Bowery which was a desolate area to begin with so we decided that we didn’t have to ask permission because the wall was covered with garbage and we thought that if we cleaned up the garbage then no one was going to ask us whether we had permission to paint it. So me and Juan together shovel the garbage into the bags and fill, literally, forty or fifty bags full of garbage that are lined up there on the street. We then proceed to use a ladder and paint the wall entirely white with fluorescent Day-Glo enamel on top. I did this mural in two days or something. The first day was spent just putting the color on and then the next day doing the black lines. The fluorescent paint was so bright that when the sun hit the wall it was glowing and it was just this incredible monolith.” Excerpted from Keith Haring: The Authorized Biography (1981) by John Gruen.

The mural has been repainted by Gotham Scenic, using the photographic documentation of the original along with paint samples the artists collected by chipping away at the overpainted surface. As New York’s contemporary art world continues its migration to the Lower East Side, the mural again proclaims the territory, and recalls Haring’s often repeated maxim, “Art is for everyone.”

Haring, his influence on pop art, and the downtown art scene are the subject of a documentary, “The Universe of Keith Haring,” which will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 30. The film by Christina Clausen combines the music of the era, photo stills, videos and excerpts from interviews conducted with Haring and others. It offers an intimate view of the artist and his circle, which included Madonna, Junior Vasquez, Jean-Michel Basquiat, David LaChapelle and gallery owner Tony Shafrazi. For schedule and tickets, please visit the website. For more about the mural project, read Erica Orden’s recent article in The New York Sun.

For many illustrators, being commissioned to create a U.S. postage stamp is a career high; getting a return engagement is even better. When I saw that Sergio Baradat has a set of five postcard stamps being issued this week, I called to ask the Miami-based artist about the allure of creating stamps.

Tropical Fruit postcard-rate stamps by Sergio Baradat.

“You know,” he said, “When I was growing up, I lived in Cuba, then in Spain, and later on in Miami. As a kid, I collected stamps. I knew I wouldn’t be flying to Monaco or Mauritius, but I could look at the stamps from these places and imagine being there. They became tiny ambassadors of art and culture. It made me think, ‘One day I will go to the Seychelles.’ Some countries, like Rwanda, would reproduce master painters such as Renoir and Leonardo da Vinci. When you’re a kid with an artistic sense, it moulds you.”

Sergio went on to say that after studying art and illustration at Parsons, and after working as both an illustrator and an art director, “it was a 360-degree moment when I got my first commission to do a stamp.” That was a couple of years ago, when he was one of four Latino artists selected to do a set of stamps celebrating Latin dance. “Creating art for stamps,” he says, “is a way to connect on a different level with people doing everyday things, like paying their bills.”

Veteran stamp artist Nancy Stahl has created nine so far. “It sounds hoakey,” she said, “but stamps are such an important part of our lives, from childhood on, that it’s really a big deal to create art for a postage stamp. For a series of holiday stamps, the New York-based artist replicated the idea of Norwegian sweaters, including a raindeer and a snowman, by actually knitting the art. Her 2003 Snowy Egret stamp turned out to have the biggest printing - 8 billion - since records have been kept. “I think because it hit at a time when there were no rate increases the postal service just kept reprinting it,” she said. “But it was a thrill to hear from one of my high school friends who called to say she was using my stamp.”

Sergio Baradat’s new stamps feature five different mouthwatering tropical fruits that look good enough to eat, even though they’re the self-adhesive kind. The Tropical Fruit set will be dedicated and issued in a ceremony at the 2008 Westpex Stamp Show, at 1:00 pm on April 25 at the San Francisco Airport Marriott Hotel in Burlingame. Sergio will be on hand to sign first day covers both Friday afternoon and again on Saturday. Please check the website for details and directions.

In Forest Defenders: The Confrontational American Landscape, photographer Christopher LaMarca has profiled the hidden reality of logging on public lands. An Oregonian with a degree in environmental studies and biology, he spent five years documenting protests against illegal logging in Forest Service-protected wilderness areas.

When La Marca learned that the Bush administration had rescinded the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, allowing the U.S. Forest Service to sell logging rights on a wilderness area designated for special protection, he contacted a friend who knew one of the activists. She agreed to take him into the forest where the protestors had set up camp. They had banded together after tens of thousands of letters from the public, and protests from the governor, had failed to halt illegal logging in Oregon.

Left to right: Defender Laurel Sutherlin as he hangs from a tree blockading a bridge; defender Gedden scans the horizon for Forest Service activity; forest defenders blocking a Forest Service access road in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness; all by Christopher LaMarca, Courtesy of Redux Pictures.

The activists, who were routinely characterized by lumber companies as “eco-terrorists,” included college students, a lawyer, and a 72-year-old grandmother who had been a Freedom Rider during the Civil Rights movement. Some had learned the tactics of passive resistance during demonstrations against the 1998 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. Organized and determined to stop the illegal logging, they were prepared for a long haul.

I spoke with Chris last week to get a better understanding of these events, which seem to largely fly under the radar. “That’s right,” Chris said, “there is a serious disconnect between the public, the wilderness, and the media.” He decided to make this a long-term project because there was so much at stake and no public forum to speak of.

This collection of photographs, and writings by the participants, unmasks a world of extremes: one of people dedicated to bringing public awareness to illegal actions by the government; of a logger who recognizes the impact his presence has on the wilderness; of local police and Forest Service officials using “pain tactics,” including pepper spray, when arresting protesters; and what hard, dirty work it is to blockade an access road or to cut a 400-year-old tree. The highly charged atmosphere of a face-off between the Forest Service and the forest defenders vividly makes the point of how seriously the authorities take the protesters.

What began as passive resistance by a group of mostly local people became part of a landmark effort by 20 conservation organizations that finally resulted in successful lawsuits against the Bush administration by the governors of Oregon, California, Washington and New Mexico to reinstate the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

A series of images from Forest Defenders is included in the exhibition Shifting Landscapes, now on view at powerHouse Arena. Chris LaMarca will be on hand at the reception tomorrow night, April 22, from 6:00 to 9:00, to sign copies of his book. powerHouse Books, 37 Main Street, Brooklyn. For information and directions, please visit the website or call 718.666.3049.

When Earth Day was proclaimed a national celebration in 1970, the words “ecology” and “biosphere” were rarely heard outside of spelling bees. Since then, clean air, clean waterways and clean fuel have become the norm; toxic dumping is a federal offense; and Superfund cleanup stories usually make it to page one of the newspapers.

In the last several years, photographers around the globe have taken up the plight of the earth, further endangered today through climate change, deforestation, and drought. The landscape, with human activities accepted as a ‘natural’ aspect of the view for better or worse, provides the raw material, from both a visual and philosophical standpoint. One of the most beguiling exhibitions on view in New York is “Sweet Water,” photographs by Ian Baguskas, at Jen Bekman Gallery.

Palms, Furnace Creek Inn, Death Valley, California; Lawn, Agua Dulce, California. All by Ian Baguskas, courtesy of Jen Bekman Gallery.

Last year on a trip to Southern California, Baguskas discovered personal oases in the desert. He found that the ways in which people attempted to create green swaths across the sand defies both nature and reason. He writes, “It is the diversion of rivers and the rapid use of the aquifer that has made it possible for some people to live this dream.

“For others,” he continues, “this lifestyle was only temporary, ending when the aquifers were depleted and the water ran out. This was the case for the people of Lake Los Angeles, located within Antelope Valley, where in the 1960s an artificial lake was made to attract land buyers. Left to dry up once the developers sold their land, the empty lake is still colored blue on maps….It is stories like these that made me wonder, and want to explore what still remains of this grand dream to populate the beautiful, yet unlivable, desert.”

The result is a suite of photographs that capture the oddness of those enterprises, from a desert inn whose row of monumental palm trees becomes drier, then dead, the further they are from the main buildings, to a home on the sand with an above ground swimming pool. Often photographed at first light, Baguskas’ photographs present a landscape that seems to hover somewhere between being and nothingness, mirroring the harshness of the environment.

Sweet Water, photographs by Ian Baguskas, is on view through May 3rd at Jen Bekman Gallery, 6 Spring Street, New York, New York, NY. 212.219.0166 or info@jenbekman.com. Earth Day 2008 is Tuesday, April 22.