A map of openings for the weekend of Dec. 12, 2009. Click to enlarge.

Since this weekend is so full of art openings — six, by our count — BushwickBK Art Editor Stephen Truax thought it wise to create a concise list and map for the convenience (and pleasure?) of the art-loving public. Click the above map for a compact printable version.

1. Norte Maar for Collaborative Projects in the Arts
83 Wyckoff Ave 1B

19th Nervous Breakdown
curated by Elliot Lessing
Two-Day Exhibition: Saturday, December 12 through Sunday, December 13, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 12, 2009 6 – 10 PM

Norte Maar spontaneously mounts an exhibition in “immediate” response to Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present (an exhibition of photography and graphic design at the Brooklyn Museum, on view through January 31, 2010), curated by Elliott Lessing, Executive Director for the San Francisco’s Center for Outdoor Contemporary Art, and organized by BushwickBK’s own Anna D’Agrosa.

2. DRWR
1254 Myrtle Ave

Graham Loper Victorian Survivors
On view December 12 through January 9th, 2010
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 12, 2009, 6 – 9 PM

For Victorian Survivors, painter Graham Loper presents portraits, landscapes and art historical references to famous self-portrait with still life painter Gregory Gillespie.  In perhaps one of the first seriously representational exhibitions this critic has ever seen mounted in Bushwick, coincidentally on the same weekend as Execution at Nude with a Goose, we are all turning to look at figure painting again.

3. The Laundromat
238 Melrose St 4th Flr

Takayuki Kubota
One-Day Exhibition: Saturday, December 12, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 12, 2009, 6 – 10 PM

The Laundromat is presenting two bodies of work by Takayuki Kubota (b. 1985 Kobe, Japan) for one night only: the first, a series of paintings of exhibition labels for famous paintings at well-known museums; the second, sound recordings on magnetic tape on wood.  Kubota and currently lives and works in Tokyo, and we wish this artist all the best (jetlag must rough for a Japanese artist in a one-night show in New York!)

4. English Kills
114 Forrest Ave

Maximum Perception curated by Peter Dobill and Pheonix Light
Two-Day Exhibition: Friday, December 11 through Saturday, December 12, 2009
Opening Receptions: Friday and Saturday, Dec 11-12, 2009, 7 – 10 PM

English Kills is to host the Maximum Perception Performance Festival this weekend which will showcase for over 20 international performance artists.  The two-night performance (free) will feature newly commissioned performance works, site-specific actions and ongoing projects.  What English Kills performance festival in Bushwick would be complete without Andrew Hurst?

5. Eastern District
43 Bogart St

Rafael Fuchs Fuchs_Now
On view December 11 through 27, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 12, 2009, 7 – 9 PM

Eastern District presents Rafael Fuchs in his first solo exhibition at the gallery, which will include work from several projects, but most notably (for us), The Bushwick Yearbook.  Fuchs is a photographer and video artist who lives and works in Bushwick.  Throughout the show’s duration, Fuchs invites Bushwickers to have their photos taken for the Yearbook.

6.
Nude With A Goose
1717 Troutman St

Execution, curated by Shannon McEneaney
One Day Exhibition: Saturday, December 12, 2009, 12 – 9 PM
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 12, 2009, 6 – 9 PM

A new group show, curated by Shannon McEneaney, sets out to demonstrate that contemporary art does not seek to remove the importance of craft.  I quote from the show card: “to counter the idea that contemporary art presents the demise of technique.”