Culture For The Non-Cultured

As I explained in an earlier blog, on the weekends, I like to take staycations: to experience New York City as if I was a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tourist on one of those ubiquitous double-decker buses. This attitude is tempered, of course, with the knowledge of one who is lucky enough to call herself a New Yorker.

This weekend, I enjoyed a great staycation with members of Culture for the Non-Cultured, the social group I organize at Meetup.com.

We went Chelsea Gallery Hopping. Well, due to the heat, the hopping was limited to one building — 525 West 24th Street — which had about 5 galleries in it.

Fantastic.

Reeves Contemporary was showing the work of high-school students from across the country. Not just any high-school students, of course: they were the winners of The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

The exhibit had everything from a dress made of matchsticks to a deceptively simple depiction of the book 1984 to a thoughtful memorial to Holocaust victims.

Kudos to the The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers for shining the light on these young talents.

My other favorite exhibit: New Life, by Xue Song, at Chinese Contemporary. [One of Song's images is shown at the end of this blog.] What I personally found amazing about the art is Song’s story. In the 1980’s, Song’s studio burned down, and many of his works and other property were mostly burned.

Others, I suppose, would have wallowed in self-pity, but instead Song took the burnt pieces and made collages out of the ashes. And now that’s his trademark: art with strips of paper — newsprint and posters and magazines — that have been burnt and laid out in various ways.

According to the Chinese Contemporary Gallery website, the ashes are “a symbol of rebirth not only of Xue Song’s art but also of a civilization … His works form a continually evolving body of observation and assessment of his country’s adjustments in the post-Mao era.”

Amazing, eh? Out of those tragic ashes: art that shows the recent history of an entire country, art that is shown all over the world.

Anyway, I highly recommend the galleries in Chelsea as a staycation outing. The exhibits change often, are highly eclectic, free, and sometimes they have free receptions (with wine!). Before you go, check out the Chelsea Art Gallery website: they show you what is showing where and often give you a brief synopsis of what to look at. The people who work the galleries will also sometimes give you a little impromptu tour if you ask.

Here’s one of Xue Song’s paintings that was shown in Chelsea (image is from Artnet.com)