Starting tonight, Bushwick and its environs will be filled with a palpable art zeitgeist that will get you feeling feline-frisky! There’s a crisp feel to the air, the leaves are starting to changes, yet it is still warm enough to warrant a great gallery hop. This week’s picks will take you all over Bushwick and then some, as art walks, open studios, and brand galleries are sure to make this week all about the funky spirit of the fall art season!
#1 Greenpoint Open Studios 2014, with Launch Party @ Dirk the Norseman (FRI, 8-11PM)
7 North 15th St., Brooklyn, NY
Getting nostalgic for Bushwick Open Studios? Fear not, because Greenpoint Open Studios are here this weekend! Slightly less commercialized and possibly even a little more accessible, the focus here remains more solely on the artists and their studios. While there are some galleries in the neighborhood, this event has not become quite as crazy and big as our beloved BOS in May. Hubs, including Cafe Grumpy and Diamond Bar, are interspersed throughout Greenpoint making it convenient to pick up maps and guides to the different participating studios and events, and be sure not to miss the Launch Party tomorrow night with an open bar from 8-9pm!
#2 A Useless Labour, Apolitical and of Little Moral Significance @ Clearing Gallery (THU, 6-9PM)
396 Johnson Ave, Brooklyn NY
Longtime Bushwick stalwart, Clearing, will be christening their brand new gallery space at 396 Johnson Ave, right next to Luhring Augustine Gallery, with new work by artist Koenraad Dedobbeleer. Known for his extremely thoughtful and elusive sculpture, Dedobbeleer’s works are often concerned with the effort of looking at a work of art, and therefore making this an active activity rather than a passive one.
#3 Pressure Point: Group Exhibition @ Outpost Artist Resources (SAT, 7-10PM)
1665 Norman St, Ridgewood, NY
For a change of pace, head out to the Halsey L stop out into Ridgewood in search of Outpost. While you might not have made it out here for last year’s Beat Nite, it is definitely worth the extra subway stops, with its huge space and well-curated shows. Pressure Point, curated by Alexandra Drewchin, brings together works by artists who navigate the art of the effective application of subtle pressure, both physical and psychological, in order to yield a reaction, both between the art exhibited, and the art and the viewer.
#4 Arnold Mesches – Next In Line: The FBI Series @ Life on Mars Gallery (THU, 6-9PM)
56 Bogart St, Brooklyn, NY
Lauded for his show The FBI Files that debuted at MoMA PS1 and then began a national tour in 2005, Life on Mars Gallery now shows the work of celebrated and controversial artist Arnold Mesches. For years Mesches was watched by the FBI due to the cartoons that he drew for political magazines and newspapers, but it wasn’t until a few years ago, when he requested his files through the Freedom of Information Act, that it was revealed that many of the people that the FBI was getting intelligence from happened to be his close friends, and even one of his lovers. Life on Mars will exhibit works from Mesches now infamous show, in which he creates collage comprised of clippings and personal photographs from this part of his life.
#5 Jenna Westra: Manual @ Silver Projects (FRI, 7-9PM)
796 Broadway, FL 3, Brooklyn, NY
With the rise of digital photography as the most direct way to record, many manual photographers are going back to the fundamentals of photography and the way it chemically creates images through light. For this new exhibition, Alan Longino writes of Jenna Westra’s process , as capturing “bodies…where their fatty disposition is not pushed and manipulated. They’ve never been touched.” Through their interaction with light, this is how these “bodies” are registered on the surface of the silver gelatin prints; their abstract lines through light and dark evoking amoeba under a microscope. Accurately, Westra refers to her work as “the other,” as it is one side of an object captured and distilled out of its original environment.
#6 SHOWTIME: Underground Arts @ Armature Art Space (FRI, 7-11PM)
316 Weirfield Street Brooklyn, NY
This Friday, Armature will be hosting BuskNY, New York City’s advocacy group for performances in the subway, in an awesome display of artwork from and inspired by the city’s underground. The show will feature some of the best-known freelance visual artists to have used the subway in their work, including Steven Bartoo, Yehuda Blum, Edwin “EQ” Class, David Everitt-Carlson, Joan Iaconetti, Ming Liang Lu, Ron Richter, Marina Ross, Michah Saperstein, Kalan Sherrard, Rie Shimamura, Lorena Toyos, Milo Wissig, Chris Wright, and Heidi Younger. The opening will feature live performances by Ming Liang Lu, dance crew Waffle Life, and violinist Filip Pogady.
#7 Scott Saunders: Integument (New Sculpture) @ Wayfarers (SUN, 6-8PM)
1109 Dekalb Ave, Brooklyn NY
Come early to Wayfarers on Sunday (5PM) to hear a very special artist talk with emerging Syrian-American artist Diana Al Hadid, followed by the opening of their new show Integument, featuring new work by artist Scott Saunders, as well as a site-reactive installation by artist Noa Leshem-Gradus in their back project space. Stemming from an interest in the way knowledge can affect the way in which information is shared, shrouded and distorted, which he then relates through a physical way in his sculpture that deals just as much with what you can’t see as what you can. Leshem-Gradus’s show in the project space, Self-Portrait, tackles the notion of surveillance and the way it effects both the person being watched, as well as the one doing the watching.
#8 Drawings Along Myrtle: Art Walk and Reception (SAT, 5-9PM; art walk is from 5-7PM)
472 Myrtle Avenue, 2nd Floor, Brooklyn, New York
Drawings Along Myrtle is a collaborative project between Pratt Institute’s Fine Arts and Foundation department with the Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project (MARP), featuring works from alumni, students and members of the local community. Exhibitions will take place within ten businesses along Myrtle Avenue, engaging the diverse and culturally rich community as a canvas of mutual expression. Join in for artist-lead walks through the different stops along the way to see the varying way in which the artists are expanding the medium of drawing.