Brace yourselves, kids. The mother of all art crawls is upon us again- Beat Nite will return this Friday for its 9th iteration. Twice a year, Jason Andrew of Norte Maar teams up with a different local curator to customize a Bushwick art crawl to recognize outstanding neighborhood stalwarts, as well as draw attention to great new spaces. Each participating gallery will keep its doors open late (til 10), and gallery goers are encouraged to follow the selected gallery tour, culminating in an after party at English Kills Gallery. This year, Andrew selected cultural critic and New Criterion executive editor James Panero to curate the event. Thrilled to be part of the event, Panero explained what he is looking forward to:
“Beat Nite is Bushwick at its best. [It] unites Bushwick and the larger art world in moving beyond the gilded graveyards of culture and recognizing a vital alternative spirit for contemporary art. In part Beat Nite serves as an entry point for people new to the neighborhood. There’s the basic question of what I would want them to see. The answer is, first, great art in great DIY spaces. Beyond that, I wanted a selection that would recognize important new venues while honoring the veterans that have given this neighborhood its voice. Finally, I looked for a spread that would encourage visitors beyond the Morgan and Jefferson subway stops out into the larger “Bushwick” community, which includes areas of East Williamsburg and Ridgewood. I’ve called this evening “Beat Nite All Stars” for presenting the guiding lights of a glittering constellation.”
In order to make sure you get the most out of the night (and make it to all of the galleries), here’s our Bushwick Daily guide to Beat Nite’s galleries!
#1. Norte Maar (Hub)
Start the night right at Beat Nite’s hub, Norte Maar. Meet your friends here, grab a drink, grab a map and select your plan of attack. The following list gives one way to approach the gallery tour; a mix of walking and the train to help navigate your way and ensure you make it to all of the galleries.
#2. Schema Projects
Just down the block from Norte Maar, Schema Projects will opens its doors for the last night of Dinwoodies, a solo show of works by Joan Waltemath. Dinwoodies, named after ancient rock carvings in Wyoming, features a series of graphite on mylar drawings which capture the immediate beauty and intrinsic physicality of the human experience.
#3. Valentine
From Schema, jog down to Seneca Avenue where you’ll stumble upon Valentine. Featuring work from artists Judith Linhares, Loren Munk, and Rebecca Litt, the show focuses on the artists’ use of paint, figuration, and representation. Each artist mixes vivid colors with often humorous elements and draw inspiration from historic artistic conventions and the New York art scene. For example, check out Munk’s vibrant maps which pinpoint where artists lived and showed their work early on in the city.
#4. Outpost
From Valentine continue walking south down Cypress all the way to Norman Street to encounter Outpost Artists Resources, a gallery and artist residency, for the last night of Color Line, a group show curated by Rico Gatson. For all of the artists, color is an integral ingredient to their work, and plays a key role in its understanding. Whether through the geometric abstraction of Brooke Moyse, or the uncanny sculptural juxtapositions of Ben Godward, Color Line stresses the importance of color to convey a certain energy, sentiment, and interaction with the work.
#5. Lorimoto
Just up the road from Outpost you’ll find Lorimoto tucked down a side street off Wyckoff. Concluding the run of their second show, Front Line, in the space, Lorimoto is a great burst of energy for the ever-evolving South Side of Bushwick. Bordering Ridgewood, Queens, Lorimoto’s current show explores the implications of gentrification, urban renewal, and the ever-changing city landscape.
#6. Silver Projects
After Lorimoto Gallery, jump on the M train at Myrtle-Wyckoff to the Myrtle-Broadway stop and walk up Broadway to Silver Projects. Relatively new to the neighborhood, Silver Projects is devoted to “analog photography, silver nitrate processes, time-based media, light sensitivity, and black and white, halftones, second place, near misses, failed attempts.” The three artists represented in their latest show, On a Dark Night I Left My Silent House, tackle elements of Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote: attempt and failure, hallucinations, and 16th century Spanish military fashion. The artists’ tangential connection to the notorious epic story of Don Quixote’s dreams, ambitions, conquests, and ultimate downfall are all present in this show, as each uses their medium (drawing, video, and photography) to best capture one of the eternal themes of the story.
#7. Storefront Ten Eyck
From Silver Projects, make your way up to Storefront Ten Eyck, the new home for Deborah Brown’s art space. Your best bet is to take the B43 bus up Graham Avenue. Much larger than the original Storefront Bushwick, Brown transforms the enormous warehouse space with each new show. This Friday will mark the opening of Ryan Michael Ford and David Humphrey, an exhibition featuring new work by the two artists. Ford and Humphrey utilize a diverse array of collage, painting, and sculpture, drawing inspiration from a number of contemporary and historical sources in order to produce their richly symbolic and complex compositions.
#8. Signal
Wind your way down Bushwick Avenue to Johnson Avenue and to Signal, another warehouse-style gallery currently featuring the breathtaking sculptures and wall-reliefs of John Dante Biachi. Straddling the border between painting and sculpture, John Dante Bianchi‘s relief sculpture begs to be considered within both genres. The wall-mounted reliefs included in the show recall the motion and energy of an Abstract Expressionist composition while bringing in certain elements of chance: a combination of deterioration (created when the paint he uses comes into contact with the foam support of the surface) and the predetermined “masked out” areas gives the effect of an image unearthed.
#9. Theodore: Arts
From Signal, make your way down Johnson to Bogart and miraculously find yourself at the 56 Bogart building. Check out Theodore: Art’s brand-new gallery space on the main level of the studio building. The inaugural exhibition in this new (much larger!) space provides the perfect setting to experience Simal-, simil-, simul-, -semble -, new work by the Boston-based artist Andrew Witkin. A blend of found objects and materials mixed with the artist’s own texts, Witkin creates an entire room exhibition that can be conceived through its disparate parts or as a whole.
#10. Centotto
A long-time Bushwick establishment, Centotto, down the street from the Bogart Building on Moore Street, will be celebrating the closing of its current show, Re: Documents, featuring the art of Paul Gagner. Gagner’s working process involves the decodification of signs and messages that we would recognize from our everyday life: a NY State driver’s license, a red and orange for sale sign, a blank check. All of the works possess an autobiographical feel, as if you are viewing an intimate section of the artist’s personal life.
#11. English Kills Gallery (After-Party)
Congratulations! You’ve made it through the gamut that is Bushwick Beat Nite! Now it’s time to relax, grab a beer from the event’s sponsor, Brooklyn Brewery, and recount the adventures from the night!
Click here for a map of the night’s participating galleries.