From the Six Zones of BOS: Gymnastics, Vacancy, Communal Table, and Kings & Queens

Bushwick Open Studios looks to be another huge year for arts in Bushwick! At press time there were 581 online registered events (down only slightly from last year's 598 registered users) filling a weekend with art and performance. We worked over the very user friendly Arts in Bushwick website and compiled Norte Maar's 2014 list of not to miss events, exhibitions, and studios... or at least those that we'll not miss!!!! Similar to last year, all events/exhibitions/studios are divided into six zones stretching the geographic lines which make up the creative neighborhood of Bushwick. Here are our 2014 must sees:Disclaimer: Obvious BOS studio destinations like 1717 Troutman and 56 Bogart will be jam-packed with great stuff, but our selection focuses on spaces that might be unfamiliar but caught our imagination. Those exhibitions with collaborative elements obviously top our chart.Events:Official 2014 Launch Party @ Radio Bushwick, 22 Wyckoff Avenue, Fri, May 30, 8pm-2amThe Official BOS Launch party will feature local bands & DJs all night long at Bushwick's best live music venue! Lineup includes: Silver Teeth, Culture Vultures, Life Sized Maps, Star Rover, Broke MC and visual performances by Gunshee Moving Arts. But don't completely blow it out on Friday 'cause our favorite band Pass Kontrol will be in the house Saturday at 8pm.Maps-N-Mimosas@ Norte Maar, 83 Wyckoff Ave, #1B, Sat, May 31, 11am-2pmThis event has been the obvious tops for seven years running. Stop by Bushwick's longest running apartment gallery, Norte Maar, have a morning mimosa with us, meet up with your art posse and grab your maps. While there, check out the great private collection featuring over 30 paintings, drawings, sculpture and installations by Bushwick/Ridgewood artists. Please say hi to Fern Dog.BOS2014 Community Day @ Maria Hernandez Park, Knickerbocker Avenue at Starr Street, Sat, May 31, 11am-4pmThe BOS2014 Community Day partners with neighborhood organizations, artists, musicians, and performers in Bushwick's well-loved Maria Hernandez Park. You're bound to traverse near or through the park at some point, so stop by and check out what's happening! Or just do a couple sets of pull-ups on the pull-up bars like our illustrious director, Jason Andrew.Exhibitions (our selection features artist curated exhibitions):Zone 1 / BOS#26 / Do it Yourself @ 195 Morgan Avenue (formerly 3rd Ward)If you pick just one studio building to visit this is it. It's our "best bang for the buck" pick. Organized by the collaborating genius, Julie Torres, visiting artists from across the US have curated 40+ Bushwick artists into 10 individual exhibitions under one roof. This is the third and final year of this collaborative project organized by Torres.Zone 2 / BOS#49 / Real on Rock Street @ Rock Street between Morgan and BogartCurated by Deborah Brown and her gallerist Lesley Heller, this outdoor sculpture exhibition is one of the best opportunities to experience sculpture on the scale that exceeds the studio. Now in its second year, the show will be on view continuously for 33 hours (from 9am May 31 until 6pm June 1).We wanna see lots of selfies with these sculptures, many of which were created especially for the show. This site-specific event is ground-breaking for its collaboration between a Bushwick-based business (Frank Brunckhorst Company, a Boar's Head distributor) and artists in the community. Artists include: Fanny Allié, Jesse Bercowetz, Julien Gardair, Will Kurtz, Juliana Cerqueira Leite, Tom Otterness, Kurt Steger, Lynn Sullivan, Tyrome Tripoli, Hans van Meeuwen, Melanie Vote.Zone 3 / OS#85 / VACANCY NYC @ 929 BroadwayVACANCY NYC is a collective space for emerging artists and musicians aiming to foster individual creativity, collaborations and communal projects. For BOS it's sharing its diverse world of wild animal collage, leather fetish painting, classical portraiture, grotesque caricature, and immersive sound installation. Come explore the work and share a drink with the artists in their natural habitat. Don’t miss Paulapart's curvaceous mollusk-shell inspired sound sculptures and the trashy paintings of Solomon Alexander Chehebar. Other artists include: Taha Clayton, Abigail McCreary, Paris Hynes, Ryan Paxton among others.Zone 4 / S#133 / Paintings Differ, or Vary @ 122 Central Avenue, Ground FlrCurated by Talia Shulze and Peter Shear, this show includes work by Palma Blank, Katrina Fimmel, and our neighborhood fave, Tamara Gonzales. Pulled together for their affinity for color that results in a very diverse viewing experience, the exhibition features paintings that range from reference-based representation (Fimmel) to subtractive abstraction (Blank) and experimentation with stencil and negative space based abstraction (Gonzales).Zone 5 / BOS#180 / Communal Table @ 1182 Flushing Avenue, 2nd flrCurated by Björn Meyer-Ebrecht, Communal Table is a show of sculpture only. Björn brings together sculptors who have been in his orbit for the past few years, and who have influenced his thinking about sculpture (and have likely shared a meal or two!). The works by 12 artists, small or midsize in scale, will be presented on one big table made by Meyer-Ebrecht. Some of our favorite artists will be at the table: Andy Cross, Ellie Murphy, MK Maher, Lars Kremer, Ian Umlauf, Rico Gatson, Joy Curtis, and Letha Wilson.Zone 5 / BOS#211 / Harthaus @ 1042 Hart Street, Ground FlrWe think apartment & home galleries rock! Don't miss Harthaus' annual curated group show at the home of rocker Oliver and the ever social Jessica Ralli. Exhibition includes some of our favorite Bushwick artists like the young photographer Michelle Hernandez and veteran collagist Ellen Letcher.Zone 6 / BOS#248 / Kings & Queens @ Lorimoto, 1623 Hancock Str, Ground FlrWho doesn't like a taste of royalty?! Join Lorimoto, our crowned-monarchs-of-the-outliers, for this high quality and well worth the trip exhibition which will include the large scale drawings of ornate fungus by Alex Chowaniec, paired paintings by Max Yawney, two kinetic sculptures by Charlotte Becket, and a larger than life sculpture called “Chainsaw Blue” by Nao Matsumoto. Don't forget to stop by the sovereign studio of Lori Kirkbride.Zone 6 / BOS HUB I / Heart's Gymnastics @ Outpost, 1665 Norman StreetWhen your show features a rock solid artist you can title it anything you want and get away with it. Artist/Curator Yevgeniya Baras was having breakfast with painter EJ Hauser and their conversation shifted from paralleling artists that take risks to back flips in gymnastics. And so therein is your title. Show features EJ Hauser, Melissa Brown, Erin Lee Jones, Yevgeniya Baras, Jackie Tileston, Anna Schachte, Fabienne Lasserre.Studios:Zone 1 / BOS#26 / Studio 306 / Katherine Aungier, Jonathan Eliot, Kristen Jensen, and Jillian Rose, 195 Morgan AvenueFive artists each pushing the boundaries of their respective mediums while similarly working in an abstract vein. Of course we are keen on the work of Kristen Jensen who continues to astound us with her sublime ceramic narratives.Zone 2 / BOS#62 / Gili Levy, Brooklyn Fire Proof, 119 Ingraham Street, #301On a recent visit to her studio, the painter/critic Paul Behnke observed that "Levy's work is resplendent, and gritty as the figurative and the abstracted vie for attention and end up equals comprising a transcendent whole." She just finished up a group show at Valentine with Todd Bienvenu and the illustrious Katherine Bradford. Let's all go check her out.Zone 2 / OS#67 / Ryan Michael Ford 513 Johnson Avenue, #2Ya, ya, ya, we know we featured Ryan Michael Ford last year but over the past few months we've witnessed his work literally explode! He remains one of the most imaginatively gifted and technically skilled artists of the Bushwick scene.Zone 3 / BOS#78 / James Reeder @ Hotel, 796 Broadway, 3rd flrVisit the studio of one of the most experimental photographers we know. His photographs are created through an intriguing combination of drawing and staging miniature scenes which he captures and then pulls his seductive images out through the silver nitrate process. Last year, James opened a project space, Silver Projects, dedicated to analog photography so don't miss it when you visit.Zone 5 / BOS#173: Mary Billyou and Christopher Rose, 160 Randolph Str, 2nd flrMary Billyou is an experimental filmmaker; Christopher Rose is a painter. They are kinda an under-the-radar power art couple. You've seen her films at The New Museum and his paintings at PS 122 Gallery.Zone 5 / BOS#182: Natalie Simon, 382 Jefferson Street, #1BNatalie Simon is one of Bushwick's best kept secrets. We hate to say it 'cause we want her all to ourselves but we can't help it; we just love the work. Simon is interested in how we use patterns and symbols to predict behavior and choose to remember. Whimsical and dynamic her paintings remind us of the great panoramic history paintings populated by heroic figures and the symbols that accentuate their narrative.Zone 5 / BOS#210: Lisa Corinne Davis, Troutman Studios, 1717 Troutman Street, #215We not only love Davis for her ability to run half marathons (she finished her first just this month!), but for her to pull structure from nearly every part of her experience and route it into her paintings. Working much like a poet rather than a demographer, she sets up categories, collects data, codes information, and creates pseudo graphs and charts which play off our contemporary culture.Zone 5 / BOS#207:  Kerry Law, 63 Woodward Avenue, #2412Nobody captures the essence of the Empire State Building better than Kerry Law. No, seriously, the guy paints the building at least twice a week capturing it in all the phases of the day and its changing patterns of its LED lights.Zone 5 / BOS#217: Mike Olin & Joy Curtis, 1459 Green AvenuePainter Mike Olin and sculptor Joy Curtis are two of the most interesting long standing artists in Bushwick. He's a painter and she's a sculptor. We consider them part of the lucky few to purchase a building and lay stake on the neighborhood. Check out their studios in their new digs and don't miss their long-standing 8th annual BOS curated exhibition: Spring Chicken featuring work by Ariel Dill, Matthew F. Fisher and David McBride.Zone 6 / BOS#236 / Andrea Burgay + Andrew Lundwall, Myrtle Avenue Studios, 1465 Myrtle Avenue We love to hear about collaborations and can't wait to check out the work collage artists Andrea Burgay and Andrew Lundwall have created since discovering each other online. Identifying similar approaches they exchanged “starter” collages for the other to respond to and finish.Hats off to the core group of lead organizers who continue to make BOS one of the greatest art events in New York City!__________Bushwick Open Studios, May 30-June 1 / visit www.artsinbushwick.org for more information