Andrew Karpan
Contributor
Bushwick Open Studios is back for 2018!
Those looking for a colorful way of spending the last weekend of September can look no further than multiple locations in Bushwick, some of which are hosting Bushwick Open Studios’ annual weekend, a three-day art festival coordinated by Arts in Bushwick.
Approximately 180 artists have registered so far, though Arts in Bushwick suggests a more liberal estimation of 250 artists opening their studios, galleries and party spaces to residents and visitors this weekend. It is one of the city’s largest public art celebrations. Previous Bushwick Open Studio weekends have registered 400 and 500 artists participating in the single weekend.
Bushwick Open Studios was started by Arts in Bushwick in 2006 and highlights over the years have included an immersive “Vagina Truck” at the House of Yes, a “72-hour cantina and donation kitchen with art performances” near The Active Space and, generally, prolific amounts of keg beer and art gallery wine.
Paper maps with the locations of this year’s artist and art installations will be located at a number of hubs in Bushwick, which Arts in Bushwick will make available shortly. Listings of some of the locations and artists registered can be found on their website.
One of the shows opening Bushwick Open Studios this year is Sharilyn Neidhardt’s SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE, the first solo exhibition of the Art During the Occupation Gallery. Fittingly, Neidhardt’s paintings “grapple with human feeling in the age of late-stage capitalism.”
An artist mixer and opening reception is happening Friday evening.
Elsewhere’s exhibit is ART HOLE, a show presented by the Satellite Art Show, a small Miami art group whose have become known for “quirky” performance pieces and exuberantly maximal immersive installations—a suburban pool make shifted into a bowl of floaties shaped like pieces of Captain Crunch (F+++ Off, 2016); a gathering of dancing ghosts, plush coffins and glittering rum cocktails (The Haunt, 2017).
ART HOLE will be taking place on September 28th and 29th at 701 Grand Street, at a vacant Family Discount 99 cent store. Satellite Art Show promises “Gross out Glam,” “Kinky Klowns” and “Pabst Blue Ribbon Beers” and a list of artists performing there can be found here.
Those looking for a tamer experience can find one at the Brooklyn Cider House, where a new mural will be unveiled as well as some abstract paintings by Morgometry, followed by a print sale and cider tasting from 2–5 pm.
Artists still interested in being part of Open Studios can still register via the Arts in Bushwick website.
Cover photo courtesy of Trust “Tru” Katsande