The region’s galleries gear up for another busy art season

A Spain Rodriguez retrospective opens at the Burchfield Penney September 14.

Two Buffalo artist expatriates will return to the Queen City this month in shows at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. Comic book artist Spain Rodriguez, and Jackie Tarry, of the multimedia artist team (Brad) McCallum and Tarry, are featured in separate shows opening September 14. McCallum and Tarry were part of the 2010 Beyond/In biennial show. Their artwork examines personal and public issues and experiences—the civil rights struggle, family, growing up on the East Side—filtered through the haze of years and events that came afterwards. Spain Rodriguez also grew up on the East Side and was a member of the Road Vultures bikers and the blue collar world generally until art school and work as an illustrator and graphic artist for the likes of the late lamented East Village Other and Zap Comix.

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Upcoming shows and events at CEPA include an exhibit and fundraiser for Journey’s End Refugee Services, featuring photos produced through Buffalo Through their Eyes, a CEPA arts education project involving 15 refugee artists, opening October 4; the Visions of Greater Buffalo annual exhibit, presenting photos by local notables in various areas of endeavor, opening November 8; and a CEPA members’ exhibit, including solo shows by exhibit award winners Megan Mette and Nicole Wurstner, opening November 30.

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Jim Lambie's installation at the Albright-Knox, part of the current show "Decade."

In conjunction with its the current Decade: Contemporary Collecting 2002-2012 exhibit at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, a weekend of artist performances and conversations will take place October 26-27, including performances by artists Janine Antoni, John Bock, and gelatin, and a series of conversations between artists and curators. Also, a panel discussion moderated by Albright-Knox chief curator Douglas Dreishpoon on the relationship between commerce and creativity in the world of contemporary art.

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At Hallwalls, an art show by Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby opens September 7. On September 12 media artist Matt McCormick will present his latest feature, The Great Northwest, an experimental documentary film inspired by a 1958 road-trip by four Seattle women through the Pacific Northwest. The film explores the fragility of history by examining how the visual landscape of the Pacific Northwest has changed over the past 50 years. On September 20, Hallwalls and the UB Department of Visual Studies present Del LaGrace Volcano in the Leslie Lohman Queer Art Lecture Series. And mark your calendar for September 29, the annual Hallwalls fundraiser Artists & Models, this year in the Pierce Arrow Building, Elmwood near Amherst.

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At Squeaky Wheel, a Media Artist Showcase is scheduled for September 14, including brief presentations of the work of nine local media artists and conversations with the artists. And on September 16 at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, screenings of documentaries about downtown Buffalo, the work of young filmmakers as part of the Buffalo Youth Media Institute project. Back at Squeaky, in conjunction with Burning Books, on September 20, a screening of Bitter Seeds, about genetically modified foods. And October 19 to 23, a Media Art Awareness Weekend, highlighted by Squeaky Wheel’s first ever members’ show, including screenings, installations, and performances; presentation of Pip Chodorov’s Free Radicals, about experimental film artists from the early days; and a new media open house—interactive, hands-on, and beginner friendly. Watch This! is a series of screenings and talk on films selected by Regional Artist Access Residency participants, October 7, November 13, and December 4. And Squeaky Wheel’s annual Dysfunctional Holiday Party is set for December 15.

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Upcoming at El Museo, an exhibit of paintings by James Pappas opens September 7, artist reception scheduled for September 21. And the annual Dia de los Muertos exhibit opens October 26 with attendant festivities.

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Three shows are upcoming at Big Orbit: paintings by Alexander Contino, opening September 22; a Buffalo State College sculpture symposium exhibit, opening November 14; and paintings by A. J. Fries, opening December 1.

At Art Dialogue, the annual juried Regional Artists’ Exhibition opens September 7. And on October 5, a show called Road Trip, featuring photos by Anita Easter, assemblages by Patti Harris, and collage and assemblage by Joyce Hill. The annual Artful Gifts show and sale opens November 16.

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At Buffalo Arts Studio, on September 22 a three-artist show of works on the related topics memory, displacement, and family, featuring drawings and sculpture by Marie-Claire Bozant, film and video by Lai-Chung Poon, and installations and projections by Allen C. Topolski.

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And at the Nina Freudenheim Gallery, three upcoming shows by painters: Mike Herbold, opening September 8; Peter Stephens, opening October 13; and David Mann, opening December 1.

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An upcoming show at UB Art Gallery presents primarily drawings on paper, opening September 20. The odd title of the show is Falling Through Space Drawn by the Line.

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At the Castellani Art Museum, a show on collecting the art of Arnold Mesches opens September 9.

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Western New York Book Arts Center has two fall exhibits scheduled: one on the Libro Della Notte, a collaborative foldbook of work by approximately 100 international artists, opening September 21; and a Dana Jenkins alphabet series exhibit, featuring alphabetized watercolor paintings about the City of Buffalo.

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Upcoming exhibits and events at 464 Gallery present digital collage by Maria Pabico LaRotonda, September 7; photography and a book launch by Joseph Stanek, September 21; the Vision Art awards ceremony and exhibit, September 28; works by Jessica Gadra, October 12; an exhibit called Monster 2.0, October 19; and drawings and paintings by Paul Klonowski, November 2.

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And on October 6, the Buffalo Museum of Science opens the second of eight planned permanent interactive science studios the facility will install over the next few years, called Our Marvelous Earth.