TGIF (almost)! Have an arty party (last chance/closings)!

Friday take in these art exhibits before they're gone April 12:

• Blane de St. Croix and Carlos Motta @ Smack Mellon Gallery, free. The former, a model of the U.S.-Mexican border, is recommended by New York magazine as "lovingly detailed" and "one of the more pointedly poetic and political sights in New York" (love that alliteration). Take the F to York St., A or C to High St. and hoof it to 92 Plymouth, Brooklyn.


• David Malek's bright geometrics @ Smith-Stewart gallery. Take the F, V to 2nd Ave. or the J, M, Z to the Bowery. Get there by 6 p.m. Then walk the four blocks to the New Museum of Contemporary Art (235 Bowery, open 'til 9) for its new exhibit The Generational: Younger Than Jesus. (Not free, but $8 if you still have student ID, $12 otherwise.)


• Long Island City: Vanessa Beecroft @ Deitch Projects: iiinteresting. 4-40 44th Dr. and Home Sweet Home (looks like quite the opposite, actually -- ah, irony) @ Dorsky gallery at 11-03 45th Ave. Take the V, E to 23rd; 7 to 45th/Court Sq.; G to Court Sq./LIC.
  


• Seonna Hong, Caroline Hwang, Saelee Oh @ Sloan Fine Art (ends 4/11). I don't know much about art, but I dig this exhibition. Not pretentious. Take the F, J, M, Z to Essex/Delancey or V to 2nd Ave., walk to 128 Rivington (@ Norfolk). Closes at 6.
  


• Susan Rothenberg @ Sperone Westwater. Works titled "Flesh" and "Three Parts" are a good hint. Take A, C, E, L, 1, 2 or 3 to 14th. Walk to 415 W. 13th. Other galleries in the same building and nearby, so make a night of it (Bumble and Bumble there, too, if you're in need of a haircut!). Ends 4/11.
  


• Zoe Leonard @ The Hispanic Society of America. Derrotero means ship itinerary in Spanish. Take the 1 to 157th or C to 155th and walk to 613 W. 155th St.
  

Tomorrow, tomorrow ... er, Friday, Friday ...

Last week we took advantage of a couple Friday night museum deals. You can see some priceless works of art for free and drink after. Take a date -- you can be cheap without looking cheap (you're deep) -- and it'll give you something to discuss over wine. That's right, wine. You think art aficionados drink Bud Light (sp: Lite?)? Uh uh.

Anyway, first we went to the International Center for Photography, which is pay-what-you-wish from 5-8 p.m. They presented a collection of Mapplethorpes with criticisms from sociologists, other artists, etc. between the photographs, which I found the most interesting. Perhaps not something you want to visit with Grandma. In addition to photographs, they also have some film projects. One room hosts a collection of 9/11 front pages from around world. We've seen these before, but it's still a punch in the stomach, knocking the wind out.

Then we trekked uptown to the Guggenheim. Because of renovations, only two galleries were open so the ticket distributor was nice enough to suggest donating just $1 per person. The spaces that were open held Expressionists, Bauhaus, Post-Impressionists, and I'm sure other movements I'm excluding. Some of my favorites were Picasso's Woman with Yellow Hair and Rousseau's Football Players. And all the Kandinskys make me smile!

Details on these museums and others are listed below. Unfortunately, many of the free/suggested donation Friday hours are at the same times, so you may want to be smarter than we were and go to several in the same area instead of traipsing about town. But your call :)

International Center for Photography
Pay-what-you-wish Fridays 5-8 p.m.
1133 6th Ave. (at 43rd)
Subway: B, D, F, V to 42nd St.; 1, 2, 3, 7, N, Q, R, S, W to Times Square; A, C, E to Port Authority

Guggenheim
Pay-what-you-wish Fridays 5:45-7:45 p.m.
*Last tickets at 7:15 p.m.
1071 5th Ave. (at 89th and Central Park)
Subway: 4, 5, 6 to 86th or this is a time when you might actually want the bus: M1, M2, M3, M4 stops across the street

MoMA
Free Fridays 4-8 p.m.
11 W. 53rd St. (between 5th and 6th Aves.)
Subway: E or V to Fifth Avenue/53rd; B, D, or F to 47-50 Streets/Rockefeller Center
*If you want to get in the most famous works in the short time, take the elevator to floors 4 and 5

American Folk Art Museum
Free Fridays 5:30-7:30 p.m.
45 W. 53rd St. (basically next door to MoMA)
Subway: (same as above)

Whitney Museum of American Art
Pay-what-you-wish Fridays 6-9 p.m.
945 Madison Avenue (at 75th)
*Walkable from Guggenheim
Subway: 6 to 77th or M1, M2, M3, M4 bus