This weekend, head down to DUMBO for their annual art festival, boasting over400 artists from a variety of disciplines, 100 studios, 50 galleries and stages and 100 programming partners. The free event allows you to browse special pop-up events, live performance and spectacular site-specific installations that evoke the spirit of the city and specifically the neighborhood’s artistic roots. Installations like Krista Saunders’ “Concrete Muse” features several artists, including ‘s Deborah Brown, who find their inspiration from the urban landscape. This weekend the will revel in skin and baring it all one more time before the cold season sets in. Along with their group exhibition of artists that explore aspects of skin, sexuality, and all things corporeal, there will be a viewing of Pedro Almodóvar’s La piel que habito (The Skin I Live In), a film heralded as “a horror story without screams or frights.” DJ sets, drinks and general revelry will round out the bacchanal event! If you didn’t make it to the opening of this special pop-up show, curated by Bushwick artist , don’t fret, because you’ll have the entire rest of the week and weekend, culminating in a closing reception on Sunday from 3-6PM. The show features dozens of artists from all over, mostly from Bushwick. As the name would suggest, there is a uniquely familial aspect to the show, where the works, beautifully curated seem to fit almost effortlessly in sync while still retaining their unique characteristics. Spurred by incredible interest to Grace Exhibition’s Space “Contoversy!! Putting Private Lives into Performance Art” has added another performance to their program, featuring the French/Brazilian artist Tania Alice. After a traumatic break-up, the artist embarked on an epic journey where she reached out to strangers across social media to find out what makes them happy. In this special Sunday performance, the artist will preform live, as well as screen the videos from the three-month long process. Each year Printed Matter hosts their annual Art Book Fair, where hundreds of art book publishers from the well established (think Phaidon and Taschen) to the independent and DIY sit elbow to elbow throughout the PS1 complex. The event is open through the weekend, with book signings and panel discussions galore, so make sure to check out the before heading out.
Let’s face it—the citizens of Bushwick don’t live in a bubble. Granted, some weekends I revel in the fact that there is so much happening in our little corner of the world that I don’t even have to step foot inside a subway car. Other weekends, it’s clear that there are so many interesting things happening beyond Bushwick that it’s worth it to get on your bike or brave the L train to go explore. So break out your compass and your safari hat, and let’s hunt for some art!
#1 DUMBO Arts Festival (FRI 6-9PM, SAT noon-9PM, & SUN noon-6PM)
All over DUMBO, Brooklyn
#2 Coup de Foudre @ Orgy Park (FRI 6-10PM)
237 Jefferson Street 1b Brooklyn, NY 11237
After a little bit of a summer hiatus, Orgy Park comes back like a flash! The three artists included in Orgy Park’s newest show are meant to epitomize the french idiomatic expression “a coup de foudre” or that feeling of getting hit by a bolt of lightning, or love at first sight. Sight being the operative word, the three artists- Ariel Dill, Max Warsh, and Sarah Chacich — are all artists that beg to be seen in person in order to truly appreciate, and possibly fall in love with- the work.
#3 Body Talk @ Morgan Avenue Underground (SAT 8PM- 12AM)
55 Morgan Ave, Brooklyn, New York 11237
#4 Second Family: Closing Party @ 2 Rivington LES (SUN 3-6PM)
2 Rivington (Between Bowery and Chrystie), New York 10002
#5 Inauguration: Christine Heindl and Alex Phillips @ Songs for Presidents (SAT 6-9PM)
1673 Gates Avenue Ridgewood, Queens, 11385
Newly opening in the same building that once held the old Bushwick stalwart Famous Accountants comes the newest member of the Bushwick gallery scene, Songs for Presidents, a new artist collective (Shanna Maurizi, Rico Gatson, Julian Pozzi, Charles Goldman, and Chloë Bass) opening up in Ridgewood, near Myrtle-Wyckoff. Their inaugural exhibition will feature the artists Christine Heindl and Alex Phillips, who both demonstrate their unique use of materials. Heindl, a painter, will present pieces that immediately reveal an interest in the dis-congruous realm between precision of geometric grid and the role played by chance and spontaneity in the studio. Phillips’ sculptural objects are created from found city detritus while simultaneously echoing traditional modes of sculpture.
Editors Note: This has been updated since it was originally published on 9/25. Songs for Presidents is comprised of Shanna Maurizi, Rico Gatson, Julian Pozzi, Charles Goldman, and Chloë Bass.
#6 ULySseS “Finding My Way Back Home” @ Grace Exhibition Space (SUN 7PM, $5-15 suggested donation)
840 Broadway, Second Floor, Brooklyn NY 11206
#7 The NY Art Book Fair @ MoMA PS1 (FRI-SAT, Preview THU 6-9PM)
22-25 Jackson Ave. at the intersection of 46th Ave. Long Island City, NY 11101
NEW LOCATION! 1329 Willoughby Avenue, #2B
In conjunction with its inaugural exhibition Slide Slide Slide in their brand new space, Microscope will be screening works by artist Ken Jacobs. The artist uses stereoscopic slides (a technique involving two offset images separated to the left and right eye of the viewer that when merged give the illusion of three-dimensionality) of family and friends dating back to the 1960s. The screening will take place in their brand new gallery space on Willoughby, between Wyckoff and St. Nicholas.