New(ish) art gallery Point Green (260 Java Street) is hosting a multidisciplinary groupart show opening tonight (8/17), called TREMORS, in response to recent political and social upheaval, with a portion of proceeds going to charities nominated by the artists (including the ACLU and Planned Parenthood among others). Tonight’s opening (6-9pm) will include performances by Nyssa Frank and DeDeeDame. On Saturday from 7-11pm they’ll host a night of music and dance, with performances by Ninjasonik, Howardian, Jocko Weyland, Cathy de la Cruz, and DM Kinch. Scott Sternbach and violinist Andrei Matorin will host an artist talk & performance on August 30th from 6 – 10 PM. Continue reading →
Kate McQuillen greets me from the driveway of her charming and noteworthy Greenpoint house, directing me into the garage where her fluorescent printmaking studio is set up. Her companion Kassie, a sterling herding dog, is attentively surveying the area and happy to have another to look after. The inherent New York City ankle weights have already slipped away, leaving us to speak candidly in Kate’s kaleidoscopic space. While we talk, the garage door remains open and Kate periodically greets her neighbors passing by. I feel as if I have crossed a portal into an alternate dimension, or at least am no longer in the city.
Kate and her dog Kassie in her Greenpoint garage studio. Photo: Ian Hartsoe
Greenpointers: When were you first exposed to art as a child?
Kate McQuillen: My dad studied painting in graduate school, and during my childhood worked as a graphic designer in Boston. We always had an art studio in the house, which allowed me the opportunity to experiment with literal cut and paste tools like transfer paper. I’d imagine this is what initially pushed me into printmaking. I think of printmaking processes as the perfect place between design tools and fine art tools. I always had a lot of interest in drawing, but was never super into oil paint. I think my new work is taking on a form reminiscent of paintings, but I can still use the printmaking tools I’ve grown to know and love.Continue reading →
The infamous Insane Clown Posse and presumably, their posse of clown-faced juggalos, are bound for Brooklyn with a show at Villain (303 Kent Ave) in Williamsburg on October 23rd where they will perform their classic hiphop album The Great Milenko in its entirety. Why should you be afraid? Well, according to Wikipedia, these are some of the identifying characteristics of juggalos: Continue reading →
Design and architecture buffs abound here in Brooklyn, and Greenpoint has even been called the home design capital of the borough, but Talking Tropics, a new series of discussions at A/D/O, the creative design hub at 29 Norman Avenue, is putting Tropical cities like Shenzhen, Rio and Chennai at the center of “a conversation about climate change and the future of design, architecture and construction in island and waterfront cities.”
via Knockdown Center (52-19 Flushing Ave):
Knockdown Center Seeks Short-Term Project Proposals
Deadline: September 15, 2017
Do you have a performance, workshop, or series of events in need of a home? Send us your proposal by September 15th for consideration of our 2017-2018 programming!
Short-term projects can take the form of temporary installations, dance, theater, readings, talks, screenings, etc. This open call does not limit scale, scope, or format of submissions. Continue reading →
This Wednesday, August 9th, Evil and Love (211 Franklin St) will be hosting a Drink n’ Draw. Live figure drawing and beer provided by Old Blue Last. Starts at 8! $10, BYO art supplies.
RSVP: [email protected]
GAMBA Moving Fundraiser, July 29. Photo: Lucie Levine
Since last September, when the art space and creative incubator GAMBA Forest opened its doors at 231 Norman Avenue, it has hosted artists working in nearly every medium and genre. Last Saturday night, over fifteen of those artists came out to support the first of two fundraising events GAMBA is hosting as it gets ready to head to new digs. As artists shared their music, poetry and dance, one attendee welcomed others by passing out flowers.
GAMBA Forest and its welcoming vibes will be relocating in September, and is asking for your help to ensure that “the artist community that has united at GAMBA Forest will not be lost or displaced.” To do that, Melissa Hunter Gurney and Chris Carr, of Brooklyn Wildlife, who run the space, need “to raise the money for the ridiculous amount of funds attached to putting down on a new commercial space in Brooklyn.”
His royal highness of disco soul, Nicky Siano, has been popping up in North Brooklyn recently, having just DJ-ed Good Roof at Dobbin St (64 Dobbin St) this past Sunday. He’s thrown down the funk all over the world since he was 16 years old: he was an original resident DJ at Studio 54, helped launch Grace Jones’s career, and these days he’s still killing it on the dancefloor. You can dance your ass off for six hours as he spins at Good Room (98 Meserole Ave) on Friday, August 25th. We were lucky to be able to ask him a few questions about DJing, Brooklyn and politics.
GP: How is the Brooklyn club/dance scene different from Manhattan? Is the vibe different?
Nicky: The Brooklyn club scene is more like Manhattan in the seventies, exciting and fresh. I love the vibe all over the city; unfortunately, no great clubs are opening in Manhattan, or they can’t exist there… I am loving the Brooklyn scene. After all, I live in, and was born in Brooklyn, but back then it was a dangerous, racist, prejudice place. I was mugged regularly, and constantly called faggot—it was a painful time for me. I would walk down the street afraid to exist—that’s why I moved into Manhattan at sixteen. Continue reading →
Aaron Zulpo amongst paints in his Greenpoint studio. Photo: Ian Hartsoe
Aaron Zulpo‘s Greenpoint studio is a multitude of raw canvas hung on paint-stained walls. In the middle stands a table topped with piles of paint, smelling rich of linseed oil. His work looks immediately relatable, a style he later describes to me as “Cartoon Realism”. The divisions of brightly colored vignettes create elaborate narratives, enticing the viewer to engage further.
GP: When were you first exposed to art as a child? Are there visual influences from your childhood that currently influence your work?
Aaron Zulpo: I grew up in the Midwest and wasn’t exposed to a lot of art until high school. I was always a doodler, however, replicating imagery from comic books and a duplicated bronze Remington cowboy statue we had in the house. As far as visual references from my childhood go— action movies, bright colors, cowboys robbing a train—these are all things I liked as a child and I still like now. I took art classes in high school and really loved a specific sculpture class. After that I decided to apply to art school. This was the first time where all my classes related to one another. I could be in 2D Design in the morning, and learning about the same concepts and principles in afternoon art history. It was very exciting.Continue reading →
