Bushwick’s beloved Beat Nite returned to the neighborhood last Friday night in its eighth iteration, supplying an eclectic mix of art ranging from grafitti-inspired art, abstract painting, to full-blown installation and performance. Entitled The Limited Edition, this “nite” boasted an artfully and well-curated selection of ten participating galleries between the Jefferson, Dekalb, and Myrtle Avenue stops. According to Beat Nite curator and Outlet Fine Art co-founder Julian Jimarez-Howard, his goal this time around was to be more selective in choosing the participants in order to make the gallery crawl a manageable size for attendees, and to highlight certain newer galleries on the tour in order to build excitement and momentum into these new spaces.

While Jimarez-Howard chose participating galleries that were close enough together to encourage gallery-goers to make it to all ten locations, some people were expressing gallery fatigue midway through the night  and only made it to three or four of the spaces. However, the feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, especially from those that were not familiar with some of the galleries before the event. At almost every venue I overheard excited Bushwickians viewing the crawl guide over absinthe-laced cocktails (Beat Nite’s signature drink), debating which way to go and which galleries they were most excited to visit. For those who missed out on the crawl, here is an overview of some of the nite’s highlights.

For many, the night began at Norte Maar. The gallery’s director and Beat Nite’s organizer, Jason Andrew, was buzzing around the gallery repping the gallery’s current show, Giacometti and A Selection of Contemporary Drawings, open through February 24th. As the homebase for the gallery crawl, the atmosphere was jovial and familiar. (Our review of the exhibition here.)