The scene at Bushwick Schlacht!, in which New York and Berlin artists “competed.” — Photo by Stephen Truax

This past Saturday was Bushwick Schlacht!, a two-day-only pop-up show on Boerum Street. A quasi-unfinished glass-walled ground-floor condo that is presumably rented out for events — as much an open house as anything else — consists of one large, 30-foot-high empty white wall, from which protrudes an enormous black I-beam. Thirty or forty paintings were arranged around it, ignoring it, all the way up to the large heating pipes by the ceiling.  The opening party was a crush of PBR-guzzling Brooklynites doing bumps off keys in the corner of the weird vacant and windowless basement.

The show examined new work in painting from the US and Germany in our “urban war zone.” Schlacht means “battle” in German; Bushwick is an adaptation.  The curators billed the show as a competition between Germany and the US, presumably New York versus Berlin, but there was no way of telling (besides one’s own personal knowledge of the artists’ work) which works were American and which were German.  The competition was a stalemate, but as a survey of contemporary painting, the show was a great success.

The large, salon-style installation was a unique approach to contemporary painting, which has recently been characterized by sparseness (Tomma Abts show at the New Museum) and regulation (Josh Smith at Luhring Augustine, Raoul de Keyser at Zwirner, and Thomas Nozkowski at PaceWildenstein).  However, it seemed far more sincere and serious than the painting/installation combinations as of late (Guyton/Walker at Greene Naftali). It emphasized the physicality of the objects themselves: one was deeply aware which were painted on paper, and which were on substantial, thick stretchers.  Many of the works called attention to their own objecthood by protruding three inches from the wall, or featuring exposed stretchers, or being tacked up precariously with push-pins.

However, as this kind of show goes, there are clear winners and losers; not Germany vs. the US, but work to work comparisons were easy to make.  It did not have the “anything goes” lightness of the Brucennial or other more laid back (less art-worldy) Bushwick shows.

This relatively tiny Bushwick opening for only a two-day show was loaded with star power: Chris Martin, William Powhida (whose drawing was thankfully hung at eye-level so one could read it), Wendy White, Eddie Martinez, and Rico Gatson (who has been exhibiting in Bushwick at various galleries for years) were some of the stand-out artists of the show.  Half of the galleries in Chelsea seem to have donated an artist: Bushwick Schacht! included artists represented by Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Leo Koenig, Stefan Stux, Mike Weiss, Ronald Feldman, and Schroeder Romero & Shredder, to name a few.  The commercial viability of an entire wall filled with established artists’ small works in a massive group show cannot be denied.  The price list, as I overheard at the opening, was by request, and not even printed out.

Perhaps this can be attributed to the fact that Guillermo Creus — who conveniently lives across the street from the exhibition space, and also curated Fortress to Solitude – Tom Sanford, and Marcel Huppauff curated the show together, all of whom are artists in their own right (and Sanford and Huppauff are painters).  The emphasis of Bushwick Schlacht! was definitely on the work rather than the scene or the sales.

It is my observation that in general, artists that show at major commercial galleries don’t often make appearances in Bushwick. What does this signify about the changing importance of our still relatively small art community?  Furthermore, what does it mean for these artists to be participating in a show that probably will not sell any works?  It is worth note that this show was held in an in an empty condo that will probably not be purchased in the immediate future, and mostly included works that were not for sale or most likely would not be sold.