Our Top 10: The Stops To Make During This Weekend’s Bushwick Open Studios

The sixth annual Bushwick Open Studios officially takes over the lofts, studios, streets of Bushwick this weekend. With a whopping 500+ events happening today through Sunday, you won't be able to venture far in the neighborhood without stumbling upon some enticing visual art. 

As it'll be equally hard to decide which of those events you want to check out, we've compiled 10 we feel you shouldn't miss. (There are certainly plenty more worth your time, but look at this as a start.) For further guidance, we recommend Hyperallergic's overview, Art Fag City's Recommended BOS profiles, Benjamin Sutton's top 20 on Artinfo.com and some insider tips from L Magazine. For the whole shebang (and a crucial Google map), hit up the official BOS directory. And when you're in the midst of the action, keep your bearings with the BOS iPhone app.

So now for our picks. Godspeed, art seekers!

Defying Devastation: Bushwick in the 80s at The Living Gallery:

Bringing together the photography of Meryl Meisler, who snapped shots as a Bushwick art teacher in the 1980s, the words of Vanessa Mártir, a writer who recognized her own seven-year-old self in one of Meisler's photographs, and the design of Patricia J. O'Brien, who also taught art in Bushwick in the 80s--Defying Devastation offers an extraordinary account the neighborhood's difficult past. All weekend.

Moustache Man.Street Art Pop-Up Store at 174 Bogart:

Writer, curator and 3rd Ward teacher Robin Grearson's latest project is "a curated collection of super-affordable artwork and artist-designed merchandise by well-established and emerging Brooklyn artists." It will be the first chance to snatch up "(legal) work" by the infamous Moustache Man and prints by Enzo & Nio, as well as new work by Quel Beast and the last pieces of the deconstructed QRST/Criminy Johnson mural from Dreaming Without Sleeping. All weekend. 

Holy BOS! at Bobby Redd Project Space:

Taking place in and around a beautiful church, Holy BOS! will present a weekend full of live music, film, art performances, yoga, food and more. All weekend.

Bushwick Open Studios T-Shirt Project at Brooklyn Fire Proof Cafe:

BOS and local studio BKtees offer up live t-shirt printing of works by select BOS artists. Friday June 1st, 2012, 6pm-10pm.

Feather Weight at Studio 307:

3rd Ward's own Allison Wall will join seven other artists for a studio visit turned group exhibition featuring sculpture, painting, photography and video. Saturday and Sunday.

Daniel Bejar, Stretchin a Dollar, 2008. One hundred U.S. cents flattened by freight trains 1" x 14.4'. NURTUREart presents new works by Bejar at Bushwick Basel.

Bushwick Basel at Starr Space:

Taking its name the influential international contemporary art showcase Art Basel, this is an "art fair" organized by renowned French artist Jules de Balincourt, who recently told Gallerist "I hate art fairs." Obviously this isn't your typical art world shindig. Rather than lining the wallets of the Gagosians and Saatchis of the world, Bushwick Basel showcases homegrown galleries like Norte Maar, English Kills and Storefront Bushwick. Saturday and Sunday.

Rafael Fuchs at 49 Bogart:

The accomplished photographer and well-known man-about-Bushwick, whose work we featured back in September, presents work "exploring the border between what is 'proper' to photograph, what is 'proper' to show, and what is a 'proper' way of showing." All weekend.

Rafael Fuchs

24 Hour Dialogue on Art and Life with Bushwick at Thames and Varick:

Like to talk? Stop by the traffic island at Thames Street and Varick Avenue between sunset on Saturday and sunset on Sunday. "Peter Boswijck of HEAVY WOODS" will serve as moderator for quite a lengthy discussion. Saturday and Sunday.

3D Buildings Bushwick at 538 Johnson Ave. #401:

Self-proclaimed as "a project of outrageous scope and pointlessness," 3D Buildings Bushwick is an ambitious and fascinating attempt to create and upload accurate virtual models of the neighborhood's landmarks to Google Earth. Saturday and Sunday.

Sculpture Garden at The Onderdonk House.

Sculpture Garden at The Onderdonk House:

A collaboration between Bushwick artist and gallerist Deborah Brown and Lower East Side gallerist Lesley Heller, this project has populated the grounds of the historic Dutch farmhouse with lots of locally-made sculpture. All weekend.

-- John Ruscher

The Unabashed NADA Art Fair NYC Trend: Color Blocking

 

With each season comes a new set of trends, and in that respect, the art world is no different from any other market. Jerry Saltz--New York Mag's resident art critic--pointed out several in his recent, excellent piece on "How to Make It in the Art World." Amongst the listed trends: Trash, "Cindy Sherman-esque," neon words, candy-colored sculpture, video-game art, busted open canvases and art about the art market. Sure, there was a great deal of that on view at NADA NYC, but we'd like to add one more to the list, and that is: Color blocking.

In general, the showing at NADA was unexpectedly colorful, but these bright, blocky compositions were clear standouts. In particular, Sadie Benning's untitled Gouache works on collaged newspaper drew us into Vogt Gallery's booth. Benning had several pieces on view alongside the super-flat figurative paintings by Mernet Larsen, who took traditional color blocking for a spin with Sit Ups Leg Lift, a depiction of two people stretching on exercise mats (as featured up above.)

The showing from Galerie Christian Lethert continued the painterly take on the trend with Joe Fyfe's wood and acrylic Pursat. Fyfe's other work is similarly rough in technique but more involved and often incorporates a variety of media like fabric and large planks of wood. In fact, out of all his pieces, Pursat seems like the least representative of his work, but despite its extremely DIY appearance it attracted a flock of potential collectors. 

The Rome gallery 1/9 unosunove was the most direct in their boldly color block-only booth, with three pieces by Dan Shaw-Town and a smattering of Jamie Shovlin's take on the famous Fontana Modern Masters (above), a series of pocket guides on writers, philosophers and thinkers. First published in the 70's, the guides became better known for their cover art than for their content. Art director John Constable was one of the first to use a sans-serif typeface on his abstract and op art compositions. The last book was published in 1995, but from 2003-2005 Shovlin reinterpreted the 48 covers "as a series of flawed paintings" with missing titles and running colors. While he was working on these he discovered 10 titles that, for whatever reason, were never published; amongst them Fuller by Allan Temko and Sherrington by Jonathan Miller.

In related news, consider checking out our Color Theory course, in which we prep you and your work for imminent NADA dominance (or the actualization of your individual, artist-oriented goals, which we feel is probably more vital.)

Essential Event: The Armory Show Returns For Its 14th International Art Showcase

It's March, and here in New York that means its prime art season, from major retrospectives of Cindy Sherman and John Chamberlain to premier showcases like the Whitney Biennial and The Armory Show, which is happening this Thursday, March 8 through Sunday, March 11 at Piers 92 and 94.

Not to be confused with the original Armory Show (the infamous 1913 modern art exhibition that prompted such reactions as former President Theodore Roosevelt's "That's not art!"), The Armory Show is an international art fair that started in 1994 and quickly grew into one of the world's largest and most important contemporary art showcases.

This year the fair has implemented "sweeping changes to the fair layout, amenities and services." They've enlisted renowned architectural firm Bade Stageberg Cox to design a new floor plan, and there will also be a new Media Lounge hosting "a curated performance series and film screenings that will feature artists' films and videos" as well as discussions and panels. This year's Armory Focus, which highlights a different art scene each year, will feature galleries from the Nordic Countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. With its Armory Artist Commission the fair has also enlisted the work of Chicago artist Theaster Gates to serve as the fair's visual identity (he's also "holding court" at the Pier 94 cafe Thursday through Saturday).

If you're looking for an exhaustive preview of the Armory Show and all of its related counterparts, this ARTINFO article has you covered. If you're like us, you might want to just grab a ticket, head to 55th Street and 12th Ave. and explore all of the latest art from around the world. We were particularly excited, though, to hear that Bjork and Icelandic performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson will be teaming up for a discussion on Thursday.

-- John Ruscher