"Medical Office" Curators Alexa Hoyer & Elisabeth Smolarz; Artwork by Adam Parker Smith
Art exhibitions in white walled gallery spaces are often described as “too sterile.” While they serve as a blank canvas so the viewer can focus on the artwork itself, sometimes the biggest distraction is the overwhelming emptiness surrounding the work.
Repurposing a space that isn’t a gallery can create a richer context for the artwork because it develops a relationship with the surroundings and this can be a unique and unforgettable experience for the viewer.
This past weekend, curators Alexa Hoyer and Elisabeth Smolarz produced an art exhibition in a florescent lit, wood paneled old medical office on Manhattan Ave in Greenpoint called “This Won’t Hurt a Bit.” It was anything but sterile. Continue reading →
WEDNESDAY 6/5 ♫ Bugs in The Dark / Gang @ Muchmore’s (2 Havemeyer St) 8pm, FREE ☺ The Regulars Comedy Show @ The Creek & The Cave (10-93 Jackson Ave.) 10-11:30pm, FREE
THURSDAY 6/6 ♦ Radiant Energy @ Beginnings (110 Meserole Ave) 7-10pm, A Two-Person Exhibition with Heather Culp and Caroline Hwang, a space for reflection, meditation, and beauty through photographs, fabric pieces and installations ♥ FitDrinks @ Awakening (607 Manhattan Ave) 8-10pm, $10, a monthly networking/cocktail party for fitness and wellness professionals to re-define the detox-retox-redux, Buy Tix ♫ Brooklyn Queen Day @ The Place Bar & Lounge (269 Norman Ave) 8pm, $6, All Ages, Up For Nothing / Fuctiphine, Jimmy Doyle & The Engineers / Yes Virginia, RSVP ♥ Opening Party @ Broken Land (105 Franklin St) 9pm, Celebrate the official opening with free Brooklyn Lager from 9 until they run out, cocktail specials, Alix Brown DJs, RSVP
FRIDAY 6/7 ♦ Relax – This won’t hurt a bit @ Medical Office (1002 Manhattan Ave.) 6-9pm, a group exhibition organized by Alexa Hoyer Elisabeth Smolarz ♦ On/Off Acid @ Calico (67 West St, #206) Opening Reception 7-9pm, curated by Martin Esteves and featuring works by Ailsa Cavers, Gary Cullen, Michael Lee, Max Reinhardt, and David B. Smith as well as short films about “the experience,” RSVP ♫ Craig Davis Band / Sexy Neighbors / Morningside Lane / The Tye Trybe @ Matchless (557 Manhattan Ave) 7pm, $10 * Animal Spirits @ East River Tattoo (1047 Manhattan Ave) 7:30-10pm, Tom Healy, Adam Fitzgerald and Dorothea Lasky will read from their newly released books, poets may be tattooed, tattooers may read poetry, or other combinations thereof, More info ♫LODRO / Life Size Maps / The Vandelles / Young Boys / Spires @ Secret Loft (247 N. 10th St) 9pm, $10, all you can drink kegs, post punk Vinyl DJ set, visual, kissing booth, RSVP ♫ Porches / Summer People / Lost Boy? / Heeney @ Shea Stadium (20 Meadow St) 8pm
SATURDAY 6/8 • Greenpoint Sidewalk Sale @ Franklin St, noon-6pm, a good old fashion neighborhood sidewalk sale, the streets will be flooded with vintage, furniture, sales, junk from the areas most beloved shops and artisans ♦♫ Crest Fest @ Crest Hardware (558 Metropolitan Ave) 1-8pm, a day of art, music, food, drinks, dancing, vendor market, free kids crafts and face painting, music by Pitchblak Brass Band / Aabaraki / Cold Fronts
Osekre & The Lucky Bastards / See Through, RSVP ♦ Peter Kyle Dance’s 100 Days @ Triskelion Arts (118 N. 11th St) 8-9:30pm, $15, exposing the artist’s versatility as a performer and testing his endurance, the work is an assemblage of impressions showcasing both expressive range and physical nuance, More info ♫ Sleepies, Street Shark, Rocket Launcher, Butter The Children @ Death by Audio (49 S 2nd St) 8pm, $7 ♫ Crocodiles / Chez Deep @ Union Pool (484 Union Ave) 9pm, $10
SUNDAY 6/9 • PS 132 Annual Kite Festival @ Citi Storage (Kent Ave and N. 11th) noon-5pm, Come fly a kite and spend a day of fun in the sun with amazing crafts, carnival rides, food, photo booth, awesome entertainment and raffles all to benefit our local Public School 132, More info * Alec Cumming and NYC Radio @ Word Brooklyn (126 Franklin St.) 4-5:30pm, FREE, Historian Alec Cumming discusses Brooklyn’s contribution to the city’s radio history, from the Yiddish stations of the ’30s & ’40s to Radio Soleil’s work in the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, followed by a guided trip over to the historic radio site at Transmitter Park, More info
TUESDAY 6/11 ♫ The Menzingers / Fake Problems / Restorations / Captain / We’re Sinking @ Saint Vitus (1120 Manhattan Ave) 7:30pm, $15 • Bad Movie Presents Cool As Ice @ Berry Park (4 Berry St) 8pm, FREE, starring Vanilla Ice. Summer is heating up. Cool down… with Ice. He’s back with his brand new invention, a starring role in a Hollywood movie. Word to your mother.
WEDNESDAY 6/12 • OSA Community Committee Public Forum @ The Warsaw (261 Driggs Ave) 7-8:30pm, our chance as community members to bring your ideas for maintaining, improving and celebrating our parks in North Brooklyn, More info * Sailor Jerry Day – 102 Free Tattoos @ The Gutter (200 N 14th St) 7-11pm, 102 free tattoos in honor of the actual Normal “Sailor Jerry” Collins, the tattoo artist for whom the brand is named, choose your tattoo by throwing a dart – afterwards, a free shot of rum, RSVP
* Greenpointers’ Pick
♫ Music
♥ Pheremones likely
♦ Art Event
☺ Comedy Event
# Foodie Event
Don’t forget that tonight, Friday May 10, 2013 is Greenpoint Gallery Night! From 6-9pm over a dozen galleries will be open for your art viewing pleasure.
Submit your art to Northside Art at Williamsburg Walks, which takes place June 15th 3-8pm (N8th- N9th Bedford Ave) & June 16th Viewing Party @ Acme Studios Noon- 6pm (63 N3rd).
Deadline: May 15th, 2013
Temporary wall units, interactive installations and sculptures will be staggered throughout the block for live painting performances, graffiti and other participation oriented works. In addition to the installations there will be a variety of related activities to engage in and pop up parks. All works created during the event will be on display during a viewing party held the next day at Acme Studios (65. N3rd St) from noon-6pm.
Northside Art is seeking proposals for:
1. live painting/graffiti/collage
2. interactive installations/workshops
3. sculpture/stand alone installations
Send all submissions and questions to varneyvictoria (at) gmail.com.
Greenpointers is excited to announce Greenpoint Gallery Night on FridayMay 10, 2013 from 6-9pm at over a dozen participating Greenpoint art galleries.
All are welcome to stroll from gallery to gallery, free of charge, and experience the wealth of artwork and diversity of exhibition spaces our great neighborhood has to offer.
Afterparty is at the newly reopened Coco66 (66 Greenpoint Ave.) at 9pm!
WEDNESDAY 4/10 ♫ Taj Mahal Trio @Brooklyn Bowl (61 Wythe Ave) Door at 6pm, $25, Composer, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Taj Mahal performs blues and roots music, More Info * L Magazine’s and Kanine Records’ 10th Anniversary @Union Pool (484 Union Ave) 8pm, FREE, Xray Eyeballs / Lodro/ Valleys, RSVP ♫Araabmuzik @ The OutPost (74 Wythe Ave,) 10pm, $15, Tix
THURSDAY(4/11)
• Williamsburg Greenpoint Food Co-op Community Meeting @ Greenpoint Reformed Church (136 Milton St) 7-9pm, RSVP
♦ Hyperbolic @ Beginnings (110 Meserole Ave) Opening Reception 7-9pm, FREE, Artist Matt Leines, RSVP ♫ Brain-Cave Festival 2013 (4/11-4/14) @Europa (98 Meserole Ave) 7pm, $12-40, Brooklyn music festival featuring the borough’s brightest and most innovative underground/indie bands, RSVP ☺AbeMixture: A Storm Of Words @ Legion Bar (790 Metropolitan Ave) 7:30pm, FREE, Comedians Liz Miele/Rob Cantrell/Justy Dodge/Lauren Ireland/Ken Jepsen and J LaLond, RSVP ♫ Diarrhea Planet / Wild Yaks / Flagland @Shea Stadium (20 Meadow St, Bushwick) 8pm, $8, RSVP
FRIDAY 4/12
♦ Aura @ The One Well (165 Greenpoint Ave) Opening Reception 7-10pm, a collection of watercolor + ink works by Amanda Brown, RSVP ♦ Death In Flesh @ Laundry Lung Gallery (67 West Street, Suite #214) Opening Reception 7-9pm, featuring the ink works of Emma Kohlmann and photography by Caroline Schub, curated by Nicole Aiello, RSVP ♦Static @ Calico Gallery (67 West St #206, Brooklyn) Opening Reception 7-9pm, works by Elana Adler and Hannah Lamar Simmons, RSVP ♫ Wavves / Fidlar / Cheatahs @ Shea Stadium (20 Meadow St) 8pm, More Info
SATURDAY 4/13
*Greenpointers Spring Market @ From The Source (69 West St) noon-6pm, Drink, Eat (tons of local food vendors), Photobooth, Nail Art, Live Music via Brain-Cave Festival, and Shop an impressive line up of local vendors, RSVP • Greencycle Swap @ St. Nicks Alliance (2 Kingsland Ave), Williamsburg Beacon(88 N 11th St), Grand Street Campus (850 Grand St) noon-4pm, $5, Drop off your cleaned gently-used & working items, browse the selection & take as many riches as you can carry! More Info • Reading @ Milk and Roses (1110 Manhattan Ave) 7pm, FREE, a poetry cabaret featuring Michelle Taransky / Emily Hunt / Caitlin Grace McDonnell & Tim Requarth on piano, RSVP * Curatorial Talk with Lon Black @ City Reliquary (370 Metropolitan Ave) 7:30-10pm, a visit to pre-1907 New York City with a slide show, lecture and tour of “Greetings From the City of New York.” ♫ Doldrums / Friends / Sean Nicholas Savage @285 Kent, 8pm, $12, RSVP
SUNDAY 4/14
• Ridgewood Market@ Gottscheer Hall (657 Fairview Ave) 11am, art, vintage, local crafts, food, drinks, RSVP • Gotham Writers Workshop @ Word (126 Franklin St) 2-3pm, FREE, Join writer Shelly Oria for a fiction writing class on generating ideas and storytelling techniques, then share your work in a dynamic and supportive environment, RSVP ♫ Mmoss / Quilt / Prince Rupert’s Drops / Electric Mess @ Glasslands (289 Kent) 8pm, $10, RSVP
Clay Space 1205 celebrates 7 years of community and creativity! Tonight, Friday March 22, 2013 from 6-9pm, join Clay Space (1205 Manhattan Ave) for a group show of former and current members’ work exhibiting the diversity of the Clay Space community.
Charles Wilkin "Untitled (fawn)" (pigment stain on postcard, C-Print) 18" x 24"
When I previewed Calico Brooklyn’s show titled Born Again, featuring the works of Thomas Buildmore, Allison Maletz, and Charles Wilkin, it was easy to find the theme of reuse and reinvention in collage artist Wilkin’s enlarged pigment stained postcard prints and Buildmore’s drippy spraypaint floral still lifes, but Maletz’s sound installation called Utility Purgatory, outfitted with a telephone and surrounded by her watercolor mold paintings was harder to discern. That is, unless we consider the post-Mayan apocalyptic experience referenced by Curator Scott Chasse, which he described as “very similar to the pre-Mayan apocalypse, only we are able to celebrate the afterlife in real-time.”
When I asked Chasse what inspired Born Again he said, “I understand that appropriation and reuse of images, ideas, materials, etc is nothing new, but I think that looking at the works by these three artists as a form of “rebirth” gives a fresh, slightly different way of experiencing what is being presented.”
Sitting on a rotary phone on hold with the telephone company for so long that mold grows on the walls would leave anyone dreaming of the apocalypse, or at least the reinvention of customer service tactics.
Maletz explained that, “these services exist in theory to improve our lives, yet are rendered useless as all the various “please hold” messages loop endlessly, leaving the audience completely impotent.” But Maletz doesn’t take “hold” for an answer and presents this experience in a new way with “a new meaning, so that we might all step back as outsiders looking in, to observe and perhaps even enjoy this well known and frustrating experience.” She went on to say that she made “the Mold Paintings specifically to go with Utility Purgatory. At their core, both works are about what can grow out of neglect.” Continue reading →
THURSDAY (4/11)
SATURDAY 4/13
SUNDAY 4/14
