By Katarina Hybenova
“Hipster brunch is a late, low fi version of brunch in East Williamsburg,” said the ironic invitation from Rob de Oude from Camel Art Space. Last weekend was the final weekend for their current exhibition Narrative Ability (and Matthew Mahler and Andrew Zarou in the Project Space), and actually the final exhibition weekend for Camel Art Space as well. Indeed, Camel Art Space is moving from their current location on 722 Metropolitan to 1717 Troutman in Bushwick. I stopped by to check out the food art at Camel, and to chat with Rob de Oude and Enrico Gomez about their upcoming move.
One of the reasons for the move is that many galleries left the area and Camel became sort of an isolated animal in East Williamsburg. However, the main reason for the move is of practical nature. The building on Metropolitan Ave has become increasingly unstable. Leaks and other unsafe conditions are not the best spaces to store and exhibit art…That’s why Rob and his fellows from Camel didn’t hesitate to sign the lease at 1717 Troutman. Unlike other art spaces who are coming to Bushwick because of the increasing hype of the place in the art world, for Camel the move to Bushwick is more than natural. Not only does the space have more of a Bushwick than Williamsburg vibe, but Rob has lived in Bushwick for over six years and is actually happy that he can walk to his studio after several years of L train trouble.
Camel is not only moving their gallery but also their art studios. Rob said that the new space will be smaller, but they are welcoming the decrease of space as they want to focus on smaller and solo person art shows for the future, and get deeper into curation. They also want to exhibit more of their own work, as Camel Art Space was focusing mostly on big group shows and guest curators. Camel Art Space will be losing its name and is also leaving their mascot, the wood camel, behind. The camel came with the building, and no one would refer to the building differently as a result. The artists haven’t decided on the new name yet, and to my tiny disappointment, they ruled out animals from the selection [*sigh*]. The new space will be ready for the 1st show in April. We can’t wait!
Camel Art Space has been operating on Metroplolitan Ave since 2008, though Rob de Oude has been renting his studio in the building for at least 10 years. Camel Art Space started as a collective of artists who had studios in the building, and who were aspiring to curate group shows and to show their own work in the gallery space. Rob said that the decision to use the space at 722 Metropolitan as a gallery followed the recession peak of 2008, after which many galleries in Williamsburg had to close down. He felt like Camel has the necessary space and enthusiasm to fill in the sudden gap, and has been doing a great job since.
Welcome to Bushwick*, guys!
Correction, 1717 Troutman is one block into Ridgewood.
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About Katarina Hybenova
Proud founder of Bushwick Daily. She writes, takes photos, and sometimes video. Born and raised in Slovakia, she has studied in Prague, Leuven and New York, traveled the world only to find home in Bushwick or should we say Ridgewood :) She is interested in yoga, running, human & cat friends.
1717 Troutman is in Ridgewood.
it’s one block into Ridgewood… so totally on the Bushwick/Ridgewood boarder, and emotionally belongs to Bushwick
))
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1717+troutman+new+york&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x89c25ea6e15feb99:0xbba86a529ff45855,17-17+Troutman+St,+Queens,+NY+11385&gl=us&ei=DqooT9WRKend0QGZxvnSAg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CCEQ8gEwAA
> emotionally belongs to Bushwick
What does that mean?
“emotionally belongs to Bushwick”… right? Why is it so hard to just admit that some places are in our neighborhood in Queens, instead of trying to claim everything as an “annex” of Bushwick, as if that neighborhood has some sort of unique, special, sophisticated culture that everyone else is just clamoring to be associated with? It is a tired and cliche “brand” at this point.
It is no better than realtors who advertise apartments in Bushwick as “Williamsburg.” We notice Bushwick blogs seem to love covering/take ownership of Ridgewood for some reason (yet they don’t give a hoot what happens in their other neighbor Bed-Stuy), oddly.
I guess we should just start our own blog…
oh c’mon, you ridgewood guys keep crying how everyone is so unfair to you… 1717 troutman is one block into ridgewood…. the boarders being always a discussion.
and be concrete if you want to blame us for not admitting that some places are not in bushwick. which articles? do you mean this one? http://bushwickdaily.com/?p=5585 and bed stuy, i have no idea what you’re talking about?
One foot into Ridgewood is still Ridgewood. One foot into Ridgewood is not Bushwick.
C’mon yourself.
Then why not be consistent and accurate? Not quite sure why the need to “claim” somewhere that is in another neighborhood, even if by a block. The borders between Queens and Brooklyn are fixed by the city, postal codes, etc… not controversial. It just seems pretty straightforward… Camel even proclaims themselves as moving to Ridgewood on their facebook page. There just seems to be a pattern with the media doing this pretty often– our neighborhood is often portrayed as only having value vis-a-vis its relationship to Bushwick, rather than as an acceptable place of its own.
My point about Bed-Stuy is that I never see Bushwick blogs talking about Bed-Stuy places as part of their general vicinity, even though that neighborhood also shares a very long border with Bushwick as well.
Ugh…what a pathetic argument. Desperate for attention much? BOS includes artists all the way up on Woodward- no one’s concerned with zip code maps.
Thanks for fixing it. Ken, I think it is just about plain old accuracy… if nobody cares about zip codes why not just use the real place name?
[...] we informed you that Camel Art Space is wrapping up up at Metropolitan Ave, and will be moving to 1717 Troutman [...]
[...] the sadness in its eyes. Its days of fame when it stood proudly as the mascot of Camel Art Space were leaning quickly towards the end. This weekend, Camel Art Space said the last good bye to the space at 722 Metropolitan Ave. [...]
[...] wrote some time ago that Camel Art Space closed down and the members of the collective are moving into [...]