‘Love Hurts’ at Quality Mending – A Valentine Antidote Art Show
Photo: Eddie Panta
If Valentine’s Day has got you stressed or down … the Hey Check This Out Gallery has the antidote.
Jenny Holzer’s photograph print “Expiring For Love is Beautiful But Stupid” is just one of many messages in this group show that takes on the commercialized messaging of love that we are surrounded by this time of year.
Curator Maureen Sullivan of Red Art Projects has amassed an amazing array of small works in a wide range of mediums and styles specifically for the Hey Check This Out art space at Quality Mending’s new vintage clothing shop at 329 Bowery.
Photo: Eddie Panta
The works may be small but the message is universal. Sullivan describes the theme of the show as a kind of antidote to the one-note, Hallmark messaging that we are all inundated with this time of year.
From a Basquiat art edition print to an “unlimited edition” beach towel, the “Love Hurts Yeah Yeah” exhibition pokes fun at the holiday with a stinging cultural critique on societal expectations.
Local favorite Scooter La Forge entry is a hand-painted “Love Me” T-Shirt. Painter and Muralist C. Finley whose mural “Winged Bearer” graced the outside of the old Quality Mending shop’s art wall has a print piece in the show titled “Ecstasy of Santa Teresa.”
C. Finley, Photo: Eddie Panta
Visitors will find paintings, prints, sculptures, photography, cartoons, book art, mix-tape cover art, and even work that brings artistry to such everyday objects as a tissue box or the dinner plate created by Larwene Weiner with the words: “Somewhere Somehow” (a nod to the West Side Story). A bouquet of pencils rebrands the ubiquitous #2 with the insignia “You’ll Always Be.” And there’s even ceramic sculptures of love lost on cell phone text messages.
With reflections on heartache, break-ups, ghosting, soliciting, and love in the time of Covid-19, this extremely affordable art show has something for everyone. So, check it out while it’s up until Monday, Valentine’s Day!
The show also marks the one-year anniversary of Quality Mending opening on the Bowery after 16 years on Prince and Elizabeth Streets. Owner Oliver Harkness continues to support local artists with the Hey Check This Out art space as a combined effort by Harkness and curator Rich Jacobs.
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