New Haven September Arts Round-Up
SEPTEMBER STARTED WITH A WHIRLWIND CELEBRATION OF THE THRIVING ART- AND ZINE-MAKING COMMUNITY AROUND NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.
This Art is Trash by Alice Prael at Never Ending Books
The opening of This Art is Trash, Alice Prael’s exhibition at Never Ending Books at 810 State Street, New Haven, kicked off the weekend. Alice’s multimedia exhibition turned the free bookstore into a greenhouse. The artist created plants with discarded items like plastic, wrapping paper, and cardboard. The pieces hung from the ceiling, resting in glass jars, with a taxidermied deer head right by with flowers resting where its eyes were. The walls were filled with cardboard portraits.
Alice works across multiple mediums, including embroidery, sculpture, drawing, painting and zinemaking. When we spoke, she told me that reusing materials felt “lower-stakes” than working with fine art supplies because the materials were easy to get for free, and she learned from how her grandfather paints on pasta boxes. The emphasis on treating discarded materials with the care and labor typically reserved for fine art was striking and spoke to the connection between the artist, her work, and the venue, which gives out donated used books and vinyl for free. The show is on view at Never Ending Books for September.
Photo by Alec Black of Alice Prael's This Art is Trash.
New Haven Zine Scene Meetup at Witch Bitch Thrift
The morning before my reception, I attended the New Haven Zine Scene meetup hosted by Alice Prael at Witch Bitch Thrift, a thrift store and community space at 105 Whitney Avenue, New Haven. I started a collage at the meetup, using some old magazines provided, dropped off some zines, and swapped those for some beautiful new work.
I also flipped through what was available in the free section and picked up a flyer with the next meetup date (October 7th!) and one of Alice Prael’s zines on galleries, computers, and surveillance.
One of my favorite things to do at Zine Meetups is flip through Alice’s Zine Library, which is constantly expanding (and includes some of my work!) I took some time to read through one of my favorite zines of all time, The Moon is Trans, and some fanzines from Our Flag Means Death.
The zines here range from highly produced art books to minizines, and the breadth of art and writing available is one of my favorite parts of the culture.
Alec Black and Divine Zine Opening Reception at Blue Orchid
On Friday, I installed my show at Blue Orchid, a restaurant and bar at 130 Crown Street. I enlisted a friend (if you’re reading this, Hayden… you’re a real one!) to help me haul plywood paintings a half mile to the restaurant.
I installed a mixture of work that activated the entire gallery wall. The show does not tell a single story but examines portraiture from different angles. I layer and blend different cultural references. The plywood slats are drawn on the signage for massage parlors, Dance, Dance, Revolution, and Madame Butterfly. The centerpiece was inspired by an intimate moment of a drag performer applying makeup in Thailand captured by photographer Nan Goldin.
The far side of the exhibition is rougher, a combination of unmounted sketches, collages, and Prismacolor portraits exploring layering, assimilation, and queerness.
After the Zine Scene meetup, I co-hosted and performed at a reception for my show. The show featured performers and magazines from Divine Zine, a collective focused on liberation theology and decolonizing spirituality founded by JiJi Wong. (Quick plug- we are in the process of collecting submissions for our fifth issue focusing on witches and witch hunts, submit at linktr.ee/divinezine)!
until the hells empty
I vow not to become a Buddha
地獄不空
誓不成佛
until suffering ends
I vow not to attain Buddhahood
眾生度盡
方證菩提
if we are not our own liberators
who will be our liberators?
我不入地獄
誰入地獄?
until the hells empty
the heavens will not exist
for my liberation lies
in the liberation of others
by JiJi Wong
Forest Bathing by Sunnie Liu at the Ely Center for Contemporary Art
On Sunday, I attended the opening for Forest Bathing at the Ely Center for Contemporary Art, which was described as a meditation on the world and our relationship. Each artist drew on their experiences and relationships with others to create beautifully dynamic work that tended toward mixed-media installations. The show is on display until October 27th.
Sunnie Liu’s e-vangelism reflects on the chaos and tumult of the evangelical church through a two-channel video. While resting and watching Sunnie’s show through the chaos of the reception, I was struck by the contrast between one channel of famous televangelists and glimpses into the artist’s private meditations. One screen featured a preacher, and the other showed Sunnie removing rings and dropping them, one by one, onto the camera.
Photo by Alec Black, e-vangelism by Sunnie Liu (2024)
One of the last pieces I saw at the opening reception was Ying Ye’s Life Inside the Tofu Press, an absorbing, almost hynoptic video installation that explores creating tofu and food in a restaurant. She explores the family tradition of cooking, service work, and the spaces between Chinese and American cultural identity.
Photo by Alec Black, Ying Ye, Day to Day Life Inside the Tofu Press (2023)
I continually find myself amazed by not only the quality of art produced around me but also by how welcoming the community is. Since moving to New Haven and scrambling to establish some sort of art practice after school, I’m continually amazed at the amount of (free!) resources and support available from others.