Art Hag

*Down on Orchard Street, Invisible-Exports presents Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, 30 Years of Being Cut Up, a retrospective of collages and photo montages by the British-born founder of bands Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV. P-Orridge met William S. Burroughs in the 70's and was inspired by the "cut-up" technique that Burroughs used in his writing and art. P-Orridge's collages include images of him/herself throughout the years, his/her parents, pornography, Queen Elizabeth II, and newspaper clippings creating autobiographical works - some funny and some disturbing - that explore the artist's identity. Learn more at invisible-exports.com. Through October 18th.

Also, New York Magazine has an interesting interview with P-Orridge from September 6th. In the profile, P-Orridge discusses a project he started in the 90's with his wife, Jacqueline Breyer (Lady Jaye), who passed away in 2007. The pair were using the "cut up" technique on their bodies - in an effort to resemble each other and "merge their two identities, through plastic surgery, hormone therapy, cross-dressing and altered behavior, into a single 'pandrogynous' character... an exercise in elective, creative identity, and a test of how fully two people could integrate their own lives, bodies and consciousness, a symbolic gesture towards evolution and true union," (from the exhibit's press release). Though Jacqueline Breyer passed away at the age of 38 from stomach cancer, P-Orridge continues on with their project. Read the New York Magazine article at nymag.com.

*A few doors away, Lisa Cooley presents a two-person exhibition featuring abstract works by Los Angeles born and based Jon Pestoni and Chicago-based Zak Prekop. Pestoni's paintings "highlight paint application, materiality, rich color schemes, and occasionally, blunt, aggressive brushwork." Pestoni tends to play with "negation" on his canvases by "building up and breaking down, painting something in and painting something out" with the intent of "erasing the work."

Prekop incorporates collage and pencil drawings into his oil paintings creating "almost invisible marks reveal[ed] only when viewed at certain angles." Prekop's paintings are linear and seem almost serene hanging alongside Pestoni's strong brush strokes. See more at Lisa-cooley.com. Through October 18th.

*A block north on Orchard, Rachel Uffner Gallery presents Tears, a series of photographic portraits by Brooklyn-based aritist Sara Greenberger Rafferty. Rafferty selects images of comedy stars (ie: Bill Cosby, Madeline Kahn, Vicky Lawrence, Katherine Helmond - who was so good on Soap that I'm willing to forget her part in Who's the Boss?) and comedic props (ie: Groucho Marx glasses, a whoopee cushion, a rubber chicken), prints them out in CMYK on a desktop printer and manually and digitally manipulates them. By smearing, staining, and damaging the original images, Rafferty distorts her subjects comic personas and gives them a somewhat tragic appearance. Read more at Racheluffnergallery.com. Through October 25th.

*Over on Rivington Street, ALIFE Presents has an exhibition focusing on Clayton Patterson's 30-year documentation of the Lower East Side. L.E.S. Captured features Patterson's photographs, a digital display of his Front Door portraits (a series of portraits he shot of passersby posing before his graffiti-covered front door on Essex Street), and a video short from the feature-length film Captured.

Patterson's photos depict "Lower East Side kids, families, thugs, lovers, drug dealers and users, disenfranchised artists and others that would otherwise disappear from collective memory," a group of people very different from the yuppies and hipsters (and worse still - wannabe yuppies and hipsters) who now reside in the neighborhood. Patterson, who looks like a missing member from ZZ Top, is originally from Calgary, Canada, and moved to NYC in 1979. In 1983 he purchased the building on Essex Street where he still lives and works. In 1986 he opened the Clayton Gallery and Outlaw Museum in the building which "shows artists outside the mainstream." Patterson's photographs vividly document a rough and gritty Lower East Side and its denizens from days long past. See more at alife.com and read an article on Patterson from NYT.com. Through November 8th.