I do have to give them some shit this week for Jerry Saltz’s nifty tear out art guide because it perturbingly shows NO LOVE for Greenpoint or Brooklyn in general.
I’m not saying I’m surprised. Until Brooklyn became cooler than Manhattan, New York Magazine treated the outer boroughs like the burbs – not worth the hike. They listed SriPraPhai as one of the only Queens spots in their restaurant sections for like 10 years straight! Then Rockaway Taco happened. Okay.
And this little red walking art guide lumps Brooklyn & Queens together – featuring only 3 artworks among the two boroughs – in two bordering neighborhoods – Bushwick and Ridgewood (or as I like to call it: BUSHWOOD). Typical.
Artist David M. Stein shouldn’t be offended. His “The T Shirt Times” at Regina Rex Gallery, is nearly touching an “illustrated” and “crudely reproduced” Picasso.
You know who should be offended? (Aside from Greenpoint’s conveniently walkable twenty plus galleries and hundreds of artists?) The Brooklyn Museum. Not one piece from the museum is in there and it’s an actual MUSEUM! I guess it doesn’t fit the theme of walking tour, with you know Prospect Park or the amazing Brooklyn Botanical Gardens steps away. (The Japanese Garden is a living, phenomenal artwork unto itself.)
Come on, Jerry! I would like to personally invite you on a walking tour (we can hold hands) during Greenpoint’s next gallery night on May 9th. You in?
In the mean time, I will tear this baby out for the flat file. You can’t possibly expect me to go to – Manhattan!?