Armory Arts Week 2010 exposes Long Island City’s rich & diverse art scene

‘Not Another Long Night’ from The Space’s Museum of Fake Art, LIC

Last year had Vanessa Beecroft and Kanye rumors. This year has special tours, multi-venue exhibitions, a silent & live auction, and the spankin’ new debut of the LIC Art Shuttle. Yes, friends, it’s that time again: Armory Arts Week is upon us, and Long Island City is having its very own Armory Fest next week from March 3rd-7th.

Many of LIC’s established and relatively newer galleries are in on it, including Flux Factory and Local Project as well as Climate/Gallery and m55 Gallery. There’s also:

• Open Studios at Juvenal Reis Studios and PaintCan Studios (10-10 44th Ave, #318).

• Multi-venue exhibition of 160+ LICArtists member/artists at the Clocktower Building, Holiday Inn Manhattan View, and Space Realty Group, all in LIC. Reception for all 3 venues is March 4th, 6-9pm.

Special LIC Night on March 5th featuring:

• Armory Show VIP programming: 3 different LIC art tours, all from 4-7pm. Tour 1: SculptureCenter, Matthew Ronay studio visit, Flux Factory, PS 1. Tour 2: Noguchi Museum, Socrates Sculpture Park, Fisher Landau Center for Art, PS 1. Tour 3: exclusive Takashi Murakami studio tour, Deitch Studios, Dorsky Gallery, PS 1.

• The following events from 7-9pm, all within walking distance: Jacob Ouillette opening reception at Dean Project, closing reception for ‘Concerto of Illumination’ (Assa Bigger) & Marcin Wlodarczyk at m55 Gallery, collaborative silent and live auction at PaintCan Studios (10-10 44th Ave, #318), and the rooftop reception/preview for The Space‘s Museum of Fake Art.

Jacob Ouillette at the Dean Project Gallery, Armory Arts Week 2010, LIC

In addition, the LIC Armory Fest will see the debut of a hybrid-electric clean air vehicle called the LIC Art Shuttle, a project of The West Harlem Art Fund, Inc. that is sure to be interesting considering all of the local shuttle failures and heroism going on lately (ahem, 7 train).

“The LIC Art Shuttle will take travelers through the street and avenues of this western Queens neighborhood. Visit artists and interact with them directly. View new art work in galleries more closely. See new development projects and learn the history of Long Island City.”

Four trips will be made per day to and from Grand Central and LIC on Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:30am-5:30pm. Not sure if there’s a discount for the Armory Fest, but the website says the cost is $35 per adult (ages 13+) and $32 per child (ages 5-12), children under 5 presumably FREE.

• 2010 LIC Armory Fest events listing [MoFA]

• LIC Art Shuttle info [MyHarlem]

• Review of ’09 Armory events in LIC [liQcity]

• Last year’s Armory events [liQcity]