Installation view of “In a Free State,” curated by Salman Toor and Doron Langberg at Luhring Augustine Tribeca, June 26–July 31, 2026. Image courtesy of Luhring Augustine.
I’m not a New Yorker.
In fact, I’ve spent close to 20 years living in and covering—and, in my own small ways, shaping—LA’s humming underground. Through my reading series Casual Encountersz, my biennial Made In helLA, and my conceptual print tabloid On The Rag, I’ve tried to create the artistic world I want to inhabit. So, when my flight lands at JFK on June 6, I’m curious to take in New York’s equivalent, and historically legendary, underground. Does it still exist? If I hit enough openings, readings, and performances, can I find the city’s offbeat pulse? This diary records that attempt.
The visual-art equivalent to such unruly line-ups is, of course, the group show, and plenty of them open soon after my arrival. They embody a more urgent, anarchic energy than typical “school year” gallery programming, which makes them so fun.
My favorite group show, however, is “In a Free State” curated by Salman Toor and Doron Langberg at Luhring Augustine’s Tribeca space. Artist Ellery Neon’s Getting Free, a painting of two cartoonishly muscled masc creatures ass fucking, welcomes viewers into a show that’s examining freedom—political, artistic, and obviously sexual—in all its manifestations.
Read full article at culturedmag.com
