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Maspeth’s Knockdown Center to unveil new art exhibits and music series

Dakota Gearhart, The Sextant of the Rose (video still), 2019
Photo courtesy of Knockdown Center

The Knockdown Center is gearing up to host a night full of art and music on Saturday, Feb. 29.

The art center, located at 52-19 Flushing Ave. in Maspeth, will celebrate the opening of three new art exhibitions with a variety of pieces that range from murals to videos to sculpture works. Following those exhibit openings, they will kickoff a multi-disciplinary music series entitled “Outline,” which will feature a special musical lineup.

See the programs that are opening for the first time on Feb. 29:

Upcoming art exhibits

FiftyTwo Ft: Laurel Sparks’ “Quad Relay”

Laurel Sparks’ “Quad Relay” will be part of the Knockdown Center’s FiftyTwo Ft., a series where they invite artists to create wall-based artworks in their East Corridor. Sparks is a Brooklyn-based artist whose work is often inspired by geometric symbol systems and the way they transmit patterns and materiality.

Her piece, entitled “Quad Relay,” is a mural based on sestinas, a complex form of mathematical poetry structured by six stanzas organized in numbered sequences. The art piece will be on display from Feb. 29 to May 31. The opening reception on Feb. 29 will be from 5 to 8 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Knockdown Center

Dakota Gearhart: “The Sextant of the Rose”

Dakota Gearhart’s artwork, her first solo presentation in New York, will be on display in the Knockdown Center’s gallery. Gearhart is a multidisciplinary artist who focuses on examining the environment and how it’s perceived through technology and mythology.

”The Sextant of the Rose” creates an immersive world with its series of video-sculptures that incorporate psychedelic videos as well as living and dying roses. The piece is informed by Gearhart’s day job as a florist, and is meant to conjure an otherworldly setting with a combination of bouquets and videos within a suite of organically shaped sculptures.

The exhibit will run from Feb. 29 to April 12. The opening reception on Feb. 29 will be from 5 to 8 p.m.

Catalina Ouyang: “it has always been the perfect instrument”

Catalina Ouyang’s “it had always been the perfect instrument,” will also be on display at the gallery. Ouyang works with a variety of modalities, including sculpture, text, installation, performance, video, and participatory projects, with which she explores the “interstices of myth, desire, subjugation, and monstrosity.”

Her exhibit at the Knockdown Center will feature large-scale interactive sculptures, salvaged objects, assemblage, text, and video. Ouyang will present sculptures that were made over the last two years, some of which are refigured and fused together, and a new two-channel video that is a continuation of the artist’s ongoing project “[Conclusion and Findings].”

The exhibit will run from Feb. 29 to April 12. The opening reception on Feb. 29 will be from 5 to 8 p.m.

New multi-disciplinary music series

“Outline: Winter”

The Knockdown Center is presenting a new series of multi-disciplinary events entitled “Outline,” centered on showcasing music and artists from across genres. The series will have a unique event for each season, with its first being “Outline: Winter.” The event will feature an eclectic lineup of performances in order to mark the leap year and “bid farewell” to the cold season.

Their headline performance will be by avant-pop artist John Maus. He will be followed by fellow avant-pop artist Katie Gately, Chicago-based jazz musician Ben LaMar Gay with Bitchin Bajas instrumentalist Rob Frye, Vancouver-based experimental producer DEBBY FRIDAY and Patience, the new project from ex-Veronica Falls vocalist Roxanne Clifford and new age synth legend Don Slepian.

There will also be an immersive installation by artist Aya Rodriguez-Izumi, meant to accentuate the unique architectural elements of the Knockdown Center’s space with tinsel.

The performances for “Outline” will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets are $30 per person online or $35 at the door. 

The Knockdown Center’s gallery is open on Thursday and Friday from 2 to 6 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 7 p.m. For more information, visit www.knockdown.center.