The wooden camel behind the window of Camel Art Space was wearing a festive red cravat that night, and despite it was looking very fancy, I could see 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. Camel Art Space and Tom Marquet took this occasion to threw one last show for us to keep as a memory, or Souvernir if you like….
The concept was simple and yet so entertaining and engaging. The artists previously featured in a show at Camel Art Space were asked to create a souvernir of their work, a memento, or an object that one could purchase at a gift shop. Almost 40 artists created fun merchendise following the line of their own work. Postcard, mugs, T-shirts, tote bags… You could tell that the artists had a lot of fun when coming up with their pieces, and this ease in creation made for a really great and fun show. Here is a little sample.
Julie Torres' playing cards.
Bijouterie on legs by Rebecca Litt.
"It's made to look like silk screen, but it's painted," said Kerry Law.
Rob de Oude's window installation.
Oliver Warden aka Interactive Artist.
PS: Camel Art Space is dead, but long live Parallel Art Space! Yes, Camel Art Space members made a move to 1717 Troutman building, and started fresh under a new name, Parallel Art Space. They have their 1st show coming up in April, and the rumor says it will be great…!
Despite the art apocalypse that Bushwick has been through this last weekend, we are not taking a week off! Bushwick lives of its amazing events, and this week brings AGAIN some awesome music, art and literature. Here is what you shouldn’t miss.
Tonight, Storefront Bushwick, a space small in size, but large in creativity, will bring a musical performance by ZETI and Dunedin Dunedin. Storefront Bushwick’s website promises music is ethereal and haunting, bringing a fantastically different, textural sound to what is decidedly not what you would expect to hear coming out of an accordion. This sounds like a meditative and refreshing evening. Exactly, what Bushwick needs tonight….
Earlier we informed you that Camel Art Space is wrapping up up at Metropolitan Ave, and will be moving to 1717 Troutman building on Bushwick/Ridgewood border. We couldn’t be happier to have them closer, but before that let’s all think about the amazing Camel Art Space and all the awesome artists who have shown their work there. Come check out Souvernir, the final, weekend only, art show at Camel.
After much anticipation, the art show in a church is finally happening this Friday. An old Victorian-Gothic Landmark church at 626 Bushwick Ave will reopen this week. The art show will feature some of our favorite Bushwick-based artists such as Don Pablo Pedro, Andrew Ohanesian and William Powhida. Definitely A MUST GO!
#4 Fireside Follies Benefit for Planned Parenthood @ Brooklyn Fire Proof (Saturday, 7PM)
A popular Bushwick reading series curated by Eric Nelson and Mike Lala returns this weekend to Bushwick with a special benefit night for Planned Parenthood. The event will feature cartoonists Josh Neufeld and Julia Wertz, poet/cartoonist Bianca Stone and animator Marcie Paper. Fireside Follies is always a guarantee of good literary fun, so go and help the good cause!
In the mood for a curated night of rare 40′s-60′s Noir TV and 16mm film prints? We knew you’d say: Of course! On Friday, head to Vaudeville Park for film noir and ”Dark, Brooding Synth Jazz” from the Villains of Vaudeville. No cover, no doubts about how we will spend our Friday night!
We borrowed this map from Norte Maar. You can download the PDF version from NorteMaar.org
We will tell you right from the start: To Beat! Big things are being prepared in our beloved home sweet Bushwick. There will be so much art, you might easily overdose on it. And nobody, and I mean nobody, will escape!
While in the city thousands of art lovers will head over to the art fairs of Armory Week, Brooklyn is not falling behind. During Brooklyn Armory Night on Saturday almost every gallery in the borough will stay open late. In Bushwick, 15 galleries and art spaces will be participating in the biannual late night gallery walk, Beat Nite! This is the 7th Beat Nite in the history of Bushwick, and as 7 is a lucky number, this week’s Beat Nite is bound to be absolutely rad. We advise you to take friends, and maybe ride a bike, because you don’t want to miss awesome art spaces in Ridgwood. So join the crowds walking the streets of Bushwick and enjoy the overload of art!
In case you were getting overwhelmed, let us tell you what is what, and what to expect where!!
#brandnew&shiny
We are excited to see so many brand new galleries on the Beat Nite’s line up! Art is blooming, and it’s not only galleries from the city and Williamsburg coming in. Check out:
The converted feather factory at 566 Johnson Ave isn’t new, but they have a new huge gallery! Check out the new awesome space and a solo show of street artist Criminy Johnson (aka QRST) Dreaming Without Sleeping.
Camel Art Space is counting its last days at its location on Metropolitan Ave, only to officially open their new space at 1717 Troutman with a new secret name… Go check out First Truth and Yuka Otani in the project space.
Naturally, head to probably the most well-known apartment gallery in Bushwick! Paul D’Agostino will give you a tour of his current simposio Courtesy Roman Abramovich: The First Unveiling.
Guys at 950 Hart regularly turn their loft not only into a great gallery, but also into a great party spot with a cocktail bar. Seriously. Don’t miss this friendly bunch, and their exploration of figurative art Go Figure. (Sneak Peak: This show contains work of Bushwick Daily’s Maria Gotay!!)
Now we will all agree that to miss the apartment gallery of Jason Andrew who organizes Beat Nite would be a sin! Norte Maar will feature a solo show of Tamara Gonzales: Untitled, an exhibition of new paintings. In the project room you can check out a new sketchbook by Austin Thomas and recent sculpture by Kevin Curran. Sounds dandy!
Off the J train, right behind Little Skips, on the shortest Bushwick street, Charles Pl. is a great gallery of Elle Burchill and Andrea Monti. These guys are all about film and currently are presenting a series of films We Are Cinema, 50 Years of Fimmakers’ Coop.
Great show is promised at AIPLANE. Mirror, Mirror is a conceptual group show, which will address the phenomena of anticipation of 2012 Hollywood movie releases, with each artist taking on the film of their choice to generate a piece from.
If we say it’s worth it to make it all the way to Ridgewood, we mean it! Go check out Hypercolor, an excellent hyperly colored art show at Small Black Door, a basement gallery of Matthew Mahler and Jonathan Terranova.
Cojo, who runs ArtSucks.com blog, undertook an ambitious project to feature 27 artists from the area in his apartment space. Sounds like you shouldn’t miss this one either…
#56Bogart
Two galleries from the gallery arcade building off Morgan L stop are taking part in Beat Nite. Check out Studio 10 and a newly opened Theodore Art.
#International
ISCP is a home to many foreign artists in residency in New York. Get a flavor of what’s being made at this cosmopolitan place and pay them a visit on Saturday.
Definitely one of the best galleries in Bushwick operates under careful eye of artist Deborah Brown. On Saturday go check out Martin Bromirski, Rachel LaBine, and Elizabeth Riley, and don’t miss the new sign created for Storefront by Skewville.
Have you been to Botanic yet? This space on Wycoff Ave had opened a couple of months ago, and its size and type reminds us a little bit of Storefront Bushwick. The Commons, the show the space is opening on Saturday, looks really awesome. Sarah Butler will be marking the glass window of the gallery, and transcribing text from the local graffiti and intertwining it with notional annotations from her personal experience. Another artist in the show Julie Trembley, has transformed the gallery into an artificial green space that is saturated with vibrant grass, bright sun, and an unlikely perch from which viewers are encouraged to take it all in….
Factory Fresh, Bushwick’s street art gallery is always fun to go to. On Saturday, you can check out the birthday show of the twin brothers duo, Skewville. Moreover, Bushwick Daily’s Jojo Soul will be DJing there – and those who know Jojo also know that you will dance like a crazy animal, and potentially have the best time of your life while at it.
English Kills should be your last stop, because that’s where the official after party is! Also take a look at the Permanent Collection 2 that is being exhibited, and features some of the coolest artists ever shown at English Kills like Tescia Seufferlein and Don Pablo Pedro.
“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.
…do you know what you are doing this weekend? I surely know what Julie Torres and 13 other artists will be doing… They will all be part of an insane art experiment 48 HRS, during which they will be creating artwork, sleeping, and finally having a party!
Participating artists will meet up in Camel Art Space (722 Metropolitan Ave. Second Floor, Brooklyn) on Friday October 21, at midnight. They will be creating art work for the following 24 hours straight (!!!). After this creative insanity, they will have time to rest for 12 hours, i.e. from midnight on Saturday to noon on Sunday. On Sunday at noon to midnight, the doors of Camel Art Space will be open, and everyone is welcomed to take look at the artwork created during the experiment, and to join the creative bunch celebrating the last third of 48 HRS!
Here, take a look at this helpful timetable of 48 HRS:
Don’t despair! Thanks to Twitter you can also witness the first 36 hours of the experiment. Look for hashtag #48HRS or simply come to the Bushwick Daily website. We will be displaying every tweet containing hashtag #48HRS throughout the entire experiment. The artists will be tweeting and posting pictures right from the site.
Also Bushwick Daily’s Katarina Hybenova, will be photographing and videotaping the entire process. In regular intervals, some photographs will appear on Bushwick Daily, and in the end the photo and the video documentation will be exhibited as part of the art show!
Artist Julie Torres is a big fan of painting marathons and the mastermind behind 48HRS. Julie has herself undergone several “mini” painting marathons, and a 24 hour-long one, which took place at the headquarters of popular art blogazine Hyperallergic. We asked her what to expect.
1. You are a big fan of painting marathons. Where did you get the idea to start with them?
Geddes Levenson first introduced me to painting marathons, which she began doing about a year ago with her friend, Annie Blazejack. I’ve also done a bunch with Austin Thomas. And yes- I love them! Thank you, Geddes!
2. Why do you think that painting marathon as a creative method works for you?
They encourage me to push myself. I tend to paint for long periods, but working in such a focused way with another person is much more intense. And also, you sort of absorb what the other person is doing. Last time with Geddes, she was drawing these bees- and next thing you know- I’ve got these black and yellow stripes going through my piece (see photo.) That sharing of energy and experience thrills me.
Painting by Julie Torres created during a 15hour-long marathon with Geddes Levenson. Photo by courtesy of Julie Torres.
3. I know that you have been gearing up for 48HRS by doing shorter painting marathons with your close friends. Can you tell us more?
The longest I’ve gone with Geddes is 15 hours. We were pretty fried at the end. But she’s gone 24-hours straight with Annie, so I know that it’s possible! I’ve painted for 15 hours on my own, but there’s something different about hunkering down in one room with another person. When I work from home I take breaks, check email, make a phone call, etc– but this experience is different. It’s very concentrated. So yeah- that’s the longest I’ve gone, 9 hours short of the goal! But it helps.
Paiting by Julie Torres created during a painting marathon with Austin Thomas. Photo by courtesy of Julie Torres.
4. How do you perceive the role of the public that will come to the show after you finish a painting marathon?
That’s a tough one. I don’t know that it’s up to me to say what a viewers’ role is, but I do have some ideas about enhancing interaction with people who come to the show. I can’t wait. I won’t give it away…
5. Are you excited to have more people doing a painting marathon with you? How do you expect the group to affect the outcome?
I’m really excited to try this with a big group. I have no idea how, but I do expect the experience will change the way we all work in some fundamental way. You know that proverb, ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’ That sums it up I guess.
6. If any of the artists participating in 48 HRS are concerned about how they’ll work in a group and for such a long time, what would you like to tell them?
Don’t worry, we’ll have a Safe Word.
48HRS will be held from the midnight on Friday to midnight on Sunday. Join us by posting tweets with #48HRS, and by coming on Sunday October 22, 2011, 12pm-12am at Camel Art Space!
Artists include: Lauren Collings, Julie Curtiss, Rebecca Goyette, Erin Haldrup, Katarina Hybenova, Warren King, Ken Kocses, Geddes Levenson, Rebecca Litt, Chris McGee, Joey Parlett, Jamie Powell, Babette Rittenberg, Julie Torres
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