Places to go are few and far between. If you have hit your hibernation, pandemic wall, don’t be discouraged about the lack of safe ways to leave the house. Get creative or at least go and be inspired by creative people. This list is only a selection.
houseguest gallery/YARDSIDE SUPPERCLUB LAB
2721 Taylor Blvd. Gallery Hours: Friday 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. and by appointment. houseguestgallery.com
“Virtual Paradise” By Jen Dwyer and Gracelee Lawrence Curated by Samantha Simpson Feb. 5 through March 3The work of artists Jen Dwyer and Gracelee Lawrence feels undeniably powerful. It is both about gender and about the embodied experience. Dwyer is concerned with the female gaze, while Lawrence’s art revolves around fragmentation and the effects of technology. The show brings together two artists working in similar mediums at different scales exploring the human experience, both in modified and altered ideas of reality.
Moremen Gallery
710 W. Main St. Gallery Hours: Thursday, Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. moremengallery.com
“11 Days” By José Manual Nápoles Puerto Jan. 22 through Feb. 13
The show features work from artist José Manual Nápoles Puerto as he recounts the stories and encounters of his journey to the United States. The exhibition covers 11 days of his journey where the artist needed to cross the dangerous Darién Gap from Colombia into Panama to reach the United States.
Coming Soon at Moremen: New work by artist Rebecca Norton. Running Feb. 19 through March 20
Quappi Projects
827 E. Market St. Gallery Hours: Thursday and Friday Noon – 4 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m.– 3 p.m. and by appointment quappiprojects.com
“It Is What Is Not Yet Known” By Kiah Celeste Jan. 29 through March 6
Quappi Projects is beginning its 2021 season with a show by artist Kiah Celeste. A native of Brooklyn, she has lived and worked many places around the world. She currently calls Louisville home. Her work is perhaps best described as assemblage and consists of creating new silhouettes, new ideas out of objects that already exist with their own stories and histories. She borrows their forms and shapes something that hasn’t before existed, though on occasion the new state may feel familiar. The works in this show are part of a larger body of work that Celeste calls “I Find This Stable.”
Revelry Boutique + Gallery
742 E. Market St. Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11 a.m. – 7 p.m., Sunday – Monday 11a.m. – 6 p.m. revelrygallery.com
“the SAMOSA experience” By DJ Samosa Feb. 6 through March 2
Samosa is a local DJ, but since the pandemic put a halt on her ability to spin music, she used the down time to create her first major body of work. Drawing on her childhood love of art and influences such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Samosa presents work that also captures the anxiety and uncertainty of life during a pandemic.
Roots 101: African American Museum
819 W. Main St. Gallery Hours: By appointment/booking only, Monday – Saturday roots-101.org
Roots 101 is facing a financial crisis and is asking the community to visit and donate to its years-long fundraising efforts. For many, opening a museum dedicated to the experiences and history of African Americans in downtown Louisville, which has been the site of some unrest, is an important step in moving the city forward in terms of equity. As is so often the case, these spaces are critically underfunded. The museum has exhibits of artifacts, art, local black press, etc., and while there is not a current opening, there are many reasons to donate, visit and preserve this unique space which will also house the Breonna Taylor memorial exhibit. With a goal of $75,000, they have currently raised just over $27,000.
UL Hite Arts Institute-Cressman Center for Visual Arts
100 E. Main St. Gallery Hours: Reservations required louisville.edu/art/exhibitions/current
“Mirabilia: A Cabinet of Curiosities” By Mitch Eckert Jan. 29 through March 5
UofL art professor Mitch Eckert has spent time in Kosciusko County, Indiana, over the last year, photographing, what the show description calls, a “cabinet of curiosities.” The cabinet contains items of religious and cultural import including artifacts “possibly looted from ancient Egyptian tombs,” cannonballs from Crimean battlefields, fish and mermaid skeletons and rusted metal claimed from nuclear test sites in the Western United States. That’s where the description ends. Making a reservation to the exhibit might answer any lingering questions.
