The Sour Milk Art Show is teaming up with Longo Realty for a cultural event and open house at 73 Orchard Place in Greenwich that combines visual art, music, and great eats.
The opening reception is Saturday, Oct 20 from 4:30 – 8:30pm.
Curator tours are possible by appointment from Oct 20 to Oct 31.
Curators Ben Quesnel and Christine Stiver have brought together a group of 22 contemporary artists to breathe one final, great gust of life into a vacant house slated for demolition.
Sour Milk Art Show
“It is an incredibly immersive experience. I am genuinely impressed by the quality of the artwork installed in the house,” said Corinne Flax, Manager of School & Community Partnerships at The Bruce Museum, located around the corner from the house.
Milk left a little too long in the back of the fridge may not be good to drink, but don’t call it spoiled.
The organizers know that with age comes flavor, with pungency comes potential and that sour milk is just a batch of pancakes waiting to happen.
“We also believe empty spaces, overgrown with weeds and collecting dust, are opportunities for transformation,” the organizers said in a release. “In this, the first annual Sour Milk Art Show, we take over a once-loved home in Greenwich. We transfigure, we destroy, we mutate, we create. It’s all coming down anyway so for one day only everything is possible.”
Riffing on the formerly domestic space, the artists in the inaugural show play with what the possibilities of “home” mean, meant and could become. Some artists recycle objects culled from their personal dwellings; some create paintings, performances and installations that reference and rehearse family histories; some create work that explores transplantation and adaptation to foreign homes.
Simone Kearney catapults the mundane to the comical in her absurd table settings. Aaron Johnson reclaims old socks to make over the top, grotesque characters.
As a homage to his mother, Karen, who recently passed away, Jim Condron compassionately combines her clothes and shoes with yarrow and straw, stuffing and twisting them into uncanny forms.
Joe Bun Keo works toward understanding his son, who explores life with autism by using unfamiliar word combinations that read like poems.
Huiqi He creates quirky videos about identity, disorientation, and living life in a foreign country.
Jacquelyn Strycker toys with the idea of backyard gardening straddled between artistic gesture, sustenance farming and quotidienne quotidian activity.
The opening and closing reception will be free and open to the public. Guests can expect immersive art installations, paintings, sculptures, videos, performances, live music by Comrad, food provided by Villa Italia and Village Social Rye, and drinks provided by Val’s. The venue is a seven-minute walk from the Greenwich train station.
Sour Milk works with local businesses to provide unique contexts for artists to transform forgotten spaces in greater New York City.
They seek to make connections between traditional “fine arts,” music, dining, and entertainment experiences. Understanding that artists are increasingly unable to afford to live and work in NYC proper, we seek not just unconventional venues but unexplored locales.
Participating Artists: Mia Brownell, Joe Bun Keo, Jennifer Coates, Jim Condron, Charlie Cunningham, Holly Danger, Alex Ebstein, Alexandra Hammond, Huiqi He, David Humphrey, Aaron Johnson,Tzirel Kaminetzky, Simone Kearney, Martin Kruck, Joanne Leah, Adam Niklewicz, Jeff Ostergren, Ada Pinkston, JD Raenbeau, Jacquelyn Stryker, Dominic Terlizzi, James Williams.
