PLEXUS

Printmaking meets large-scale installation art at the Massry Center this week when New York City-based printmaster Rob Swainston presents PLEXUS, a five-part woodblock installation special to the Albany gallery.

Swainston has come a long way since creating his seminal relief print Hippopotamus at age 5. The co-founder of collaborative Brooklyn printshop S-11 Press—Prints of Darkness, Swainston has created installations at top galleries from New York to Austria, garnering a litany of praise and prizes along the way.

He prints, cuts, reprints, and reassembles his bold woodblocks with digital photography, even video, creating sweeping pieces that, according to the artist, examine history, society and the act of creation itself.

The printed image, says Swainston, “has the power to subsume all forms of knowledge and discourse.”

Rob Swainston: PLEXUS opens at the Esther Massry Gallery (Massry Center for the Arts, College of Saint Rose, 1002 Western Ave., Albany) tomorrow (Friday, Feb. 4) with a reception from 5 to 7 PM in conjunction with 1st Friday. Following the reception, the artist will speak about his work at 7 PM in Saint Joseph Hall Auditorium, (985 Madison Ave., Albany). Both the reception and lecture are free and open to the public. For more info, call 485-3902.

Youth FX Film Screening

Kids say the darndest things—and make the darndest movies.

Now entering it’s fourth year, the Grand Street Community Arts Youth FX intensive summer filmmaking program trains teens in the artistic and technical craft of digital filmmaking, guiding the students from script to screen.

The mission of Youth FX is to “empower and inspire youth through the acquisition of technical skills in the emerging field of digital media as well as to foster their creativity through the art of visual storytelling,” and the results will surprise you.

Youth FX participants engage their communities in creating documentary and short fiction films, and their final products are being screened tonight at the Madison Theater.

So brave the snow, head to the Madison and hear what the voices of tomorrow have to say about their world today.

The Youth FX Film Screening will be held at the Madison Theater (1036 Madison Ave., Albany) tonight (Thursday, Feb. 3) at 7 PM and will be followed by a question-and-answer panel discussion with the youth filmmakers. Tickets are $7, $5 for children 12 and under. For more info, visit grandarts.org or call the Madison at 438-0040.

Suede

Since the ’80s, pop-jazz singer Suede has garnered comparisons to Bette Midler, Natalie Cole and Diana Krall, but none of those divas ever stepped back from the mic, nodded to her band, and then blew a blazing trumpet solo.

It’s been a while since Suede played the area, so to make it up to us she’s leaving the band at home and playing a rare solo set. Which means there’ll be even less between the audience and the voice WOMO-FM described as “guaranteed to give you goosebumps the size of cherries.” And more space to cuddle up around her horn.

Suede plays the 8th Step at the GE Theatre at Proctors (432 State St., Schenectady) on Saturday (Feb. 5) at 7:30 PM. Tickets are $26 with $50 VIP seats available. Call 346-6204 for more info.