Club Rhubarb, a nomadic art project founded by artist-turned-curator Tony Cox, has opened its third location in a two-floor house across from the New Museum in New York. The current exhibition, 'I am so pretty,' features the mixed-media works of artist Brock Enright, including paintings built with wood, acrylic, foam, and found objects, as well as video works and an installation of altered electronic guitars. The show also includes a bathroom installation called 'BBC Brocks Bijou Cinema,' screening Enright's short films from the 2000s that document his former business of staging fake kidnappings for clients.
This article matters because it highlights a grassroots, experimental art space that embodies the transgressive, DIY spirit of downtown New York before gentrification and chain stores took over. Club Rhubarb's collaboration with Brock Enright, an artist who has been pushing boundaries for three decades, underscores the continued relevance of alternative venues in sustaining avant-garde practices outside the mainstream gallery system. The project also reflects a broader cultural nostalgia for the 'old' New York, where art thrived in unconventional spaces.