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.
Thanks to our twitter buddy @boredvegetarian for taking this shot on the door of Coco66 that says they are reopening this Friday 3/22. She also wonders, “How long before they get shut down again?” Good question.
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 →
Greenpointers contributor and local artist Martin Esteves and local artist Amanda Browder will feature recents works at Calico Brooklyn (67 West St #206) with an opening reception tonight Friday, November 16, 2012 from 7-9pm. The show will run from November 16 – December 2, 2012. RSVP
“Bad on its Own”
Technically, a tree falling in the woods doesn’t make a sound unless the resonance has an eardrum to bounce off of – an argument that only stands under the assumption that the “anyone” in the famous question is a human being. Yet the crash displays independence even within its own nature. The tree falls despite our ears and despite its own roots.
Art also provides an example of an imaginary sentience, and “Bad on its Own” is a particularly mischievous one. Pairing the malleable found textile patterns of Amanda Browder with “nature” paintings by Martin Esteves, the show demonstrates a pretend awareness through a more puckish spite; but art isn’t actually aware of itself, so the line treads wearily between a straight face and a smirk.
Browder’s oversized installations create optical hallucinations from the simplest found sources. Her materials have been freed from all practical intentions and aren’t afraid to let you know it. Esteves’ paintings highlight the fact that nature is mean spirited already, regardless of human interferences such as greenhouse effects or global warming. Both artists’ mix of beauty and farce are what gives this show its title. The word “Bad” here means an intentional state.
“Bad on its Own” plays Browder’s lively environment against Esteves’ more traditional containment. The playful tension that results is welcoming to the public – while an actual need for the public is another story…
If I wasn’t sick as a dog, I’d walk right out of my house this instant and try out Selamat Pagi, the new Balinese Restaurant on Driggs Ave that is now open!
If I could get off my couch I would enjoy a crisp walk across McGolrick Park and order Bali Style Deviled Eggs, Lemongrass Fish Curry, with pollack, noodles, fresh cucumbers and roasted peanuts and a Shirley Temple. For dessert I would get the Coconut Creme Brulee. And I wouldn’t share! (Because of germs.)
They also serve breakfast and lunch. They are open 7 days, but the kitchen is just closed Monday (so only ice cream, coffee and pastries then.)
For now I can only imagine and stalk their Instagram Feed.
The second of two inaugural group art shows at Calico
ex•hib•it – noun – document or material object produced and identified in court or before an examiner for use as evidence (via Merriam-Webster) “Exhibit B” includes works by: Elana Adler, Lisa Bauer, Eric Lee Bowman, El Celso, Corey Corcoran, Thomas Dupere, Pat Falco, Kyle Garnett, Shepherd Gilhooly, Kenichi Hoshine, Vanessa Irzyk, Chris Mottalini, Kate Nielsen, Damion Silver, Hannah Lamar Simmons, Chris Smith, Will Star, and Charles Wilkin
October 19 – November 7, 2012
Opening Reception: Oct 19, 7-9pm
67 West St, #206, in the Greenpoint Terminal Building
Darkened, apocalyptic skies loom over dramatic and desolate landscapes, while human figures, hooded and covered from head to toe in bleach white, toil among scores of mysterious boxes. Something massive is most definitely amiss. The tone of David Pettibone’s paintings is unmistakable; distress and destruction seep off his formidable canvases.
Check out David’s work and that of his studiomate, Allison Maletz (featured here) at Interdependent, this Thursday, September 20th from 7 – 9pm at YASHAR Gallery, located at 276 Greenpoint Ave (between Newel and Jewel), curated by Elizabeth Lamb.
After winding your way up the grey, industrial stairwell of the warehouse building which houses her studio, Allison Maletz’s large-scale, watercolored “Nana” towers over you in warm greeting. A bright teal tracksuit tucks around her comfortable curves while retro shades, now considered a stylish shape, are perched confidently on her nose; a familiar tan purse hangs from one hand while the other casually grips a leg. Perhaps the leg of a deer? It is not entirely clear, but it is undoubtedly disconcerting.
Much of Maletz’s work overtly highlights the familial, familiar and affectionate but dissonant and sometimes vaguely menacing threads are woven throughout her work. The effect is startling and occasionally mesmerizing, especially given Maletz’s technique and approach. Using old and new photographs of friends and family, Maletz revives the insipid, infusing these relatively prosaic images with her own perspective. Her paintings provide fresh interpretations of photographic portraits, which often leave the subjects posing easily or awkwardly but steadily returning the gaze of the viewer. In her iterations, subjects are often depicted against a perfectly white background, allowing the vibrant and mottled aspect of the watercolor, the intricate patterns within neckties, sweaters or camouflage, and the complexity of her facial expressions emerge without competition.
Check out the opening of Maletz’s latest show with her studio mate, David Pettibone, Interdependent, this Thursday, September 20th from 7 – 9pm at YASHAR Gallery, located at 276 Greenpoint Ave (between Newel and Jewel), curated by Elizabeth Lamb. Continue reading →
Greenpoint’s “eco-chic” boutique the one well (165 Greenpoint Ave) is hosting Greenpoint artist Amanda LaMarco’s first solo show titled Hair, opening tonight August 12, 2012 from 7-10pm.
This girl has chops with pen on paper, the time and attention to detail to draw micro-fine strands of hair isn’t easy, but her hair illustrations, created just for this show, are not meant to show-off her skills but to deal with her hair that she describes as “big.” Continue reading →
I popped my head into the newly opened Oak, a clothing store for men and women that recently moved from Williamsburg to 55 Nassau Ave in Greenpoint. The sign outside read: “If you want my future, forget my past.” The apparel inside finds a sweet spot in the industrial space, lots of stylish quality basics, mostly blacks and whites, easy to shop in the wide open space, and the best part is I found myself browsing both the men’s and women’s sections – and the shoes were really cute, too.
