The air was literally buzzing with anticipation this past Friday and Saturday night, as a brand new fall art season kicked off with dozens of exhibition openings at the 56 Bogart building and other art venues all over Bushwick. Gallery-goers came out in droves to be part of the inaugural weekend full of dozens of openings after a relatively quiet July and August. If last weekend’s exhibitions and the crowds that they drew were any indication of what is to come in the next few weeks, hold on to your hats and prepare for several nonstop weeks of fantastically curated shows and innovative and spectacular art, for this past weekend definitely set the bar high for what we have come to expect and hope for in our incredible local galleries.

Friday night began with an unprecedented number of concurrent exhibition opening at not just 56 Bogart, but also at Storefront’s original Wilson Street location. Walking into the big yellow building on Bogart felt a bit like coming back to high school after summer vacation; artists, art-lovers, and gallerists hugged and eagerly exchanged tales of summer adventure. Chatting easily over cans of Pabst and dixie cup-sized glasses of wine, old friends and new acquaintances rejoiced in the reunion, with the overall sentiment being that of excitement for the upcoming shows. I bumped into Julian Jimarez-Howard, co-director of OUTLET Fine Art, and immediately gushed about a couple of my favorite exhibitions, including the stunning shows at Robert Henry Contemporary, Studio10 and newly open Honey Ramka, and he made sure to advise me of certain shows not to be missed, like the tremendous show at Theodore:Art that featured the work of Richard Paul.