Greenpoint Open Studios: 10 Must See Artists
by Jason Andrew
Spring is here! So this weekend get your art groove back with Greenpoint Open Studios (April 29-May 1). Be the first to see fresh work by artists of North Brooklyn as they (and we) emerge from winter hibernation. From paintings, sculptures, film, photography, textiles, ceramics, and more, GOS has it covered when over 300 artists open their studio spaces to the public.Like so many open studios events, GOS is prime time to celebrate the creative communities that make life in Brooklyn so exciting. And like other open studio events GOS is a free uncurated event that allows art lovers to get a glimpse of the process and spaces where artwork is created while engaging directly with its creators. Here's a link to the artist registry and map.
Here are 10 Must See Artist Picks for Greenpoint Open Studios:
Pencil Factory, #10861 Greenpoint Avenue
http://www.kyanderson.com/
I have a soft spot in my heart for painting that has a clumsy-causality about it. Especially when they are as smartly painted as Ky Anderson’s. Through layered forms, colored washes and wandering line, Anderson’s abstract paintings are symbolic narratives that illustrates the visible and invisible connections between the weights, pulls and supports of the landscape around us.
960 Manhattan Avenue, 4th flr
http://ericleebowman.com/
Bowman makes nightmarish collages with butchered faces and re-assembling limbs. These aggressive make overs go beyond skin deep and introduce a dramatic messed up psychology. In Bowman’s new photographs, shot with his grandfather’s camera from the 1870s and developed using his own home brew chemistry, the artist plays with double exposure. And while you are there check out Bowman’s awesome studio mates: Emily Noelle Lambert and Bill Abdale.
Leviton Building276 Greenpoint Ave, Bldg 8-9, 3rd flr
http://www.amandabrowder.com/
Amanda likes to be called the local loud-mouth of Brooklyn. And she definitely lives up to the name in her larger-than-life fabric works that often end up wrapping and draping huge buildings a-la-Christo albeit with her very unique psychedelic flare. And don't miss the pastoral portraits and collages of Browder's studio mate Caroline Burghardt.
Stephan Fowlkes
271 Frost Street, #1 (Corner of Kingsland)
This guy is good with right angles and mitered corners—chopping and aligning found scraps of wood to make simple variations on the circle, the square, and the X’s that imply Jungian archetypes. The complexities of human interaction translated to elaborate overlays and interweavings of patterns and systems in Fowlkes wood assemblages. And over time, these patterns and systems gave way to a more formal interest, where now the material of wood itself has became the primary subject and aesthetic concern. Pure geometry has long been part of Fowlkes’ vocabulary and the result of this as applied to the reclaimed and discarded is not to be missed.
Rebecca Handler
67 West Street, Ste 520, 521 & 524
http://www.rebeccahandler.com/
I’ve always secretly admired Rebecca Handler because she is continuously pushing the boundaries of her medium: photography. With a flare for the vintage and unique lens for the contemporary, Handler mixes photography like the dj's we love to dance too. Her style, like a trendy hipster wardrobe is "kitsch with class." Check out her original images rich in detail, mood and color.
Steve Keister
649 Morgan Avenue, 3M
http://www.stevekeister.com/
Styrofoam and cardboard packing materials make the contours and shapes in Keister’s recent ceramic wall-mounted relief sculptures. All composed of glazed clay components adhered to wooden backgrounds then painted with acrylics. New meets old in a dramatic way as Keister transforms these packing materials into molds to create pictographic representations of animals or pre-Colombian deities. His frequent trips to Mexico (since 1979) have informed and influenced this now growing body of work.
Elisa Lendvay
681 Morgan Avenue, 2nd flr
http://elisalendvay.com/
Thank God for Duchamp. He gave us the ready-made and made open-season on found objects as art. Yet still, it takes a sophisticated eye and gifted hand to pull off art composed of folded and flattened junk from the street. Nobody does it better than Elisa Lendvay. She’s among the best.
307 Eckford Street, 2nd flr
http://robertojamora.com/
Jamora mines color purely from memory making each painting a commemoration—days at the beach, climbing a mountain with a lover, or playing in his parents' backyard. Color triggers recollections. Sometimes Jamora paintings reference sports where offensive and defensive are played out on a canvas like an enthusiastic fan on a fantasy sports league.
Robert Raphael
649 Morgan Avenue, #2A
http://robraphael.com/
Since his return from a ceramic residency at The Shigaraki Ceramic Sculpture Park in Koka City in Japan, Robert Raphael’s work popped. What he accomplishes with porcelain is messy and masterful. He’s picked up the banner of Peter Voulkos and Rudy Autio bridging sculpture and craft. And soon we’ll see the full force of his work when he opens a one-person show at the Bronx Museum of the Arts later this year. Don’t miss this opportunity to see his progress.
Grant Stoops
473 Porter Avenue, 2nd flr, #9
http://www.grantstoops.com/
Stoops makes paintings based on small clay figures that turn the idea of portraiture on its head. Rather than fixating on the familar - the surfaces and the transitions that form the human face - Stoops carves away at representation, searching for the craggy unfamiliar contours that, much like Eric Lee Bowman, trigger the psyche.
Greenpoint Open Studios Schedule of Events:
Friday, April 29 (8-11PM) Launch party at Java Studios, RSVP
Saturday, April 30 (12-6PM) & Sunday, May 1 (12-6PM) Studios Open! RSVP
