Nurture Art is one of my favorite galleries, and yet it has been over two years since I have been there. On Friday I attended the opening of “Serial Meditations” at the new Nurture Art space at the edge of the Williamsburg/Bushwick industrial area. This show was curated by Melissa Messina and Amy Brandt and includes the artists Ju Young, Ban, Judith Braun, Janice Caswell, Richard Garrison, Bridget Lewis, Rita MacDonald, David Pierce, Patrick Schmidt, Tina Schneider and Eliza Stamps. I first met Melissa and Amy in the context of the Brooklyn Museum’s show Global Feminisms, which they both worked on. In contrast to that very in your face, political show, Serial Mediations, as its name implies, is quiet. Most of the pieces are black and white, monochromatic or use color in a very subtle manner. Looking at the work has a calming effect and while they often simply use lines and shapes, I felt like I could continue looking at the works and seeing more in them. This was certainly true of Richard Garrison’s spirograph drawing, which created a thick, black line on creme colored paper. By repeating overlapping circles with a ball point pen Garrison created a texture and depth to the image that almost looked like it was produced by an etching. In contrast, Birdget Lewis’ piece of delicate strings of glue suspended from with silver pins is as much about the shadow it creates on the wall and it’s interaction with the light than the actual object itself. In its tranquility this show is very exciting because instead of leaving feeling nothing, despite the minimal nature of the work, I felt revitalized.
I also posted this on the riffrag blog.
Category Archives: Brooklyn
My Trip to France (as interpreted by Flight of the Conchords)
In case anyone was wondering how my recent European sejour went…
Sufjan Stevens and the BQE
On Friday evening I went with my friends to BAM to see Sufjan Stevens perform The BQE, which is a new work that BAM comissioned celebrating Robert Moses’ unlikely monument to automobile culture and “ubran renewal.” With three film screens, dancers with glowing hula hoops and a full orchestra, it was a stunning piece. It reminded me of the ballet I saw in Paris by Robyn Orlin, who also incorporated film into her work in a very dynamic way. The performance made me think about how I relate to Brooklyn visually–what are the sights I see everyday as I move around the city that are actually monuments (or ruins) or a certain kind? The blue gorilla near 9th street and the Gowanus canal? The bright yellow storage warehouse on Atlantic Ave? Sunset Park’s numerous industrial buildings and dentention center? Dumbo and Williamsburg’s new high rise condos? The other effect the piece had on me was it lead me to reflect on a relationship I was in several years ago with someone who lived in Queens. I never thought about it like this before, but our relationship was so much about the BQE. There was always traffic, rough pavement, and construction at unlikely times. I learned very quickly that the BQE was not a road to be trusted; expressway often meant anything but. I knew so many sights in Sufjan’s film from that time in my life- the bridges, the Queens cemetaries, the Manhattan skyline as seen from Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I’m glad it’s been memorialized and analyzed in someway. It made me realize my trips on the BQE are probably my fondest memories from those days.
Fall at Coney Island
G. semi-suprised me with a visit this fall. In honor of the outer boroughs we also took an off-season trip to Coney Island. The beach was way cleaner than in the summer and the water warm enough to wade.
…Let’s Go Where We’re Happy
Jennifer and I spend a lovely, sunny Sunday strolling about historic Green-Wood cemetary, a mere 20 blocks from my home! I made a set on flickr called “Cemetary Gates.” I realized I always compare Green-Wood to Pere La Chaise in Paris. This is probably wrong, as Brooklyn is not Paris and Paris is not Brooklyn. However, I feel like I need to have some kind of reminder of Paris in my days. Nevertheless, Green-Wood shines in its own right and I want to write a longer essay on it one of these days.
The photo of the summer
Waiting for someone or other to play at McCarren pool, Andi snapped this picture of G. and I. I think it’s the picture of the summer, us trading glasses and being generally ridiculous, spending times with friends and trying to enjoy all that Brooklyn has to offer.
A Summer of Rockin’ Out
I’ve been delinquint with the blog this summer… and with all the summer reading I was hoping to do (thanks, Andi, for forgiving my library fines!). And now sumemr is over, though the humidity makes me feel like it’s still July. This photo, of LJ, Andi and Gael rocking’ out at the Ted Leo show at McCarren pool is a representative sample of the free, outdoor summer fun that included an Opera in Prospect Park, Camera Obscura at South Street Seaport, and Ted Leo, the Thermals and TV on the Radio at McCarren pool (not for free there was also Sonic Youth and the Slits and Feist). There were also beach trips, bike rides and barbeques. Every year I feel like I settle into NYC a bit more and am a bit more relaxed about living here. All told, this was only my second summer here. In college I preffered to “summer” in Portland, OR and last summer I had the chance to study in France, which was fantastic. But summer in NYC, despite the heat and no air conditioner in my room, is really, really fun. There is a lightness about and the pace of the city seems to slow down. Like last year, I am working on extending summer through September. In June Andi and I made a pact to “live the good life” in NYC and I think we succeeded this summer.
Birthday Present
Forgive me for blogging about my cat. LJ found this amazing piece of kitch culture on the street by our apartment and presented it to me for my birthday (the cat clock behind Ida, not Ida herself, though she was also found on the street some years ago). I could not resist posing the real cat infront of these two creepy, 3-D fuzzy felines. If anyone wants this, get in touch. Though I’ve recently decided my apartment is “thrift store chique” (or a clutter magnet, if you look at it differently), this doesn’t fully fit the decor. Or so I’d like to believe. Even I have my limits.
July 4 Water Fight
July 4 was cloudy and rainy in Brooklyn, squelching plans for a beach trip and a rooftop barbeque. Instead, I went to Prospect Park with my neighbors, where we witnessed this strange hipster ritual. We were sitting drinking our watermelon juice on a grassy knoll when a herd of hips kids showed up with buckets full of water baloons. Soon they were launching them at each other with makeshift slingshots or going for the jugular with water guns. We soon made out that there were four teams- the British (union jack apparel, such as tank tops and boxer shorts), the colonists (or Americans, blue, which became evident when one yelled “No taxation without representation!”) and two other teams: Red (French??) and Green (Native Americans??). Yes, it was the American Revolution, re-enacted as a water fight. That combined with fireworks exploding right above our heads later that night thanks for local pyrotechnicians definetly made me feel like this is a great country we live in. For sure.
The Good Life in Brooklyn
I returned from Austin with a renewed summer motive: to live the good life in Brooklyn. Meaning, I want to enjoy all that I can access here and the wonderful friends that I’ve made over the years. I think it’s easy to get sucked into a daily routine and I have to remind myself constantly to snap out of it a little. So far I think i am meeting my resolution: an inpromtu rooftop picnic last weekend, a bike ride to Manhattan beach, Faust and Manu Chau (outside of the paying area) for free in the park, making watermelon juice and cucumber salad. I love the cities I’ve visited where “the good life” seems more folded into the fabric of everyday life (Austin, Paris, Portland), but I think it is fully accessible here too, it’s just a matter of attitude.
Killerfemme 