BushwickBK Culture Editor Anna D’Agrosa behind a piece by Jonah Boaker at Norte Maar. Artists Kevin Regan and Brece Honeycutt in the background.

Last year, Culture Editor Anna D’Agrosa and I made our first ever visit to Norte Maar as our first stop on the BOS tour 2008.  This year, we decided to again kick off the weekend there, and were met with mimosas and and “damn good art” (overheard in the entryway of the gallery), starting the weekend off on an extremely high note.  “Draw: Vasari Revisited or a Sparring of Contemporary Thought” was the exhibition on view (now extended through June) in the beautifully renovated storefront gallery space on Wyckoff Avenue.  If you have not yet been to Norte Maar, I recommend you go and see this thoughtfully curated show.  There is something for everyone — as it stretches across disciplines to include drawings and more by architects, designers, established and emerging artists, choreographers, and composers of past and present — a lineup that correlates to the Norte Maar Mission of creating, promoting and presenting collaborations across artistic disciplines.

I was fortunate enough to tour the exhibition with artist/philosopher Kevin Regan,  prominently featured in the show, who led me through what he referred to as the “little passages” created by the carefully considered installation of works that expressed parallel relationships.  We spent most of our time chatting below a fanciful sculptural work by Tyrome Tripoli (who also did the iron work at Tandem) fashioned from bottle cap, nail brush and other seemingly discarded objects that brought to mind those instances when random arrangements of trash on the street create delicate and beautiful compositions.

The work (above pictured) by Jonah Bokaer of Chez Bushwick, which is installed perpendicular to the wall, is an old map of Coral Gables, Florida, “Points of Interest” in which all of the many points of supposed interest are systematically and uniformly crossed out. As drawings, Tripoli’s and Bokaer’s works certainly revisit the time of Vasari and beg a new definition of disegno in terms of formal qualities.  They are, however, clearly drawings in Vasari’s more conceptual definition: “… a tangible presentation and explanation of a particular thought which originates in the senses and which is imagined in the mind and emerges in the form of the idea.”  Other artists/works I particularly enjoyed were:  Jeremy Sapienza, Kevin Regan, Andy Spence, Paul Siskind (composer), Stephen Truax, and Peter Townsend (architect).

Something sultry was in the air on Sunday night.  Perhaps the Bushwick Action News team was right — a sweeping low pressure zone did make its way into Eastern District on Sunday.  It was a night of low-pressure, easy, come-hither rock n’ roll.  Pass Kontrol played one of it’s sexiest shows yet, channeling the depths of their red-hot, lurid, and passion fueled influences (Otis Redding perhaps?  Iggy Pop?), making the ladies and gentlemen of the audience scream and squirm on a whole new level.  By the time they broke out with Hot Potato, a favorite from the basements of Warsaw, the sweaty room was filled with dancing that threatened the surrounding artwork (thankfully no one was hurt), and closed the weekend with a succession of bangs.  There were many collaborations that night — including a skilled impromptu freestyle performance from an inspired audience member.

I spoke with Michael Cabrera, one of the owners of Eastern District, about the night as part of the Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do event which took place over the BOS weekend.  The concept was the different notes on a scale — different musical performances for each night that reflected the diversity of sound and stage presence of Bushwick musicians.  Earlier performers included “My Sister in 1994” and “NatureBoy.”  The current exhibition, “Home Away from Home,” a series of large scale photograph portraits by multi-media artist Justine Reyes, is an absorbing exploration of family, loss, grief, dislocation and aging.  Its worth a quick trip to 43 Bogart to see the works before the exhibition closes on June 14th.

A collaborative work (Untitled, 2009) by Carla Avruch and Myles Bennett.

I could have spent the entire weekend in Myles Bennett’s studio on McKibbin St. With its wall of light, balmy plants, ink- and paint-stained workspace, and a slim and stealth white cat named Brutus gracefully lurking, it was a place one can’t help but feel the urge to create something beautiful, haunting, intricate, and introspective.

Myles shared his space for the weekend with fellow artist and lovely girlfriend Carla Avruch (who works out of her spacious studio on Catalpa Avenue in Ridgewood), whose large works on primed canvas evoke thoughts and images of the body’s internal workings, flow, and structures… or lack thereof.  The palette she works in is also somehow organic and soft, and fuses shapes and lines in a way that makes the eye sink into seemingly endless depths within the canvas.

Myles’ work, some equally large, some square and smaller were on unprimed canvas in mostly ink and graphite, and also spoke of the body, but from the outside.  His large figurative works were some of the most beautiful paintings I’ve seen.  Starting with ink blotting and finding the figure in the unexpected shapes of the ink, lines, and grain in the canvas, his technique leads to interpretations of the body that evoke pain, pleasure, emotion, and tension.  The canvas itself becomes part of the composition in many of his works as the weave is removed in places, and in others pleated and sewn to reshape the canvas.  A favorite of mine is the (above pictured) collaborative work where both artists are on different paths — Carla making shapes and following them deeper into the canvas, and Myles creating lines following where the surface takes him.

It was one of the highlights of my Spring last year — a memorable night full of guttural laughs over Bjork interpretations, tears brought on by emotional egg puppets climbing newspaper mountains, a full-frontal guitar performance, and so much more. Yet again, with an impressive lineup of five new performing artists/groups, the Bushwick Starr launches their second annual new works performance festival, The Bushwhack Series.

more »

Photo courtesy of Fresh Air Fund.

Remember what summer in Bushwick is like? Sure, we may romanticize it now, toward the end of this miserable winter of my extreme discontent (as I recline on my sick-couch with strep throat), but by August the heavy 97-degree city air becomes the new oppressor and most of us feel the need to get out.

The Fresh Air Fund understands this, and how important it can be for the city’s neediest children to escape the sweltering heat of summer in the city. The Fund helps kids who would not otherwise have the opportunity to go on a trip get out to the countryside and experience small town and rural life. They have partnered with several Bushwick organizations, including Bushwick Impact, in an effort to serve more children in this area.

more »

Well, it’s not exactly an ethnographic study, but in parts it reads like one.  A mysterious New Yorker, who goes by the moniker “Krull” in forum-land, and who has posted over 2000 posts to SkyscraperCity  (once exclusively dedicated to the subject of tall buildings, now all things urban), decided to do a little state report on Bushwick, Brooklyn.  I really do think it reads best if you imagine it slapped on a cardboard triptych on a folding table in a high school gymnasium — with glossy print out images and sticky cut and paste captions below.

more »

No, not that kind of flavor. I’m talking about Flavorwire, a cultural news and critique blog from Flavorpill, with an “international audience” and daily email updates about all things arty in New York (and other towns that are MAJOR).  I’ve been a subscriber for over a year now, and it has struck me from time to time how little (not at all) our neck of the woods is mentioned in their “daily dose.”  Well, in this latest blog post, the culture reporter admits Bushwick has flown under the radar of Flavorwire–until now.  A bi-monthly series will now be included in the flavorful blog,  reported by a Bushwick resident who starts off the series with what reads like a “Who’s Who in Bushwick?” (name dropping abounds).  I guess she really had to prove the hood to the Flava-flavs.

Brothers. The above photo was shot by Taylor Siluwe at the José Sucuzhañay tribute held last Sunday.  More of Taylor’s evocative photos here. If anyone else took photographs or video, please link to them in the comments section.

Brothers. Gallery owner/artist and Bushwick native Robert Weiss discovered works by his recently deceased brother which he thought had been lost long ago.  These, as well as his own works mostly of scenes of Bushwick/Ridgewood, are on display at his gallery in Park Slope through January.  For more on their story, see the New York Times article.

The Interventionist. Juxtapoz Art and Culture Magazine recently posted a video of Bushwick’s own D. Billy, “activating and animating objects on the streets of Brooklyn with balloons and tape.”

more »

Nanook is feeling it. So am I. This new Pass Kontrol flyer, newly posted to their blog and Nanook of New York, makes me feel all Weimar. (While clicking through the PK blog, you should also check out Ronda Carpaccio’s open letter to Axl Rose.

Speaking of Berlin, Dan Brunet is back in Bushwick.  You may remember his impressive series of signs and businesses old and new in the East Williamsburg Industrial Park.  His latest series, “Tour de Berlin,” features “beautiful bloated bicycle bodies blighting Berlin bouelvards…” Simply gorgeous and haunting.

Bushwick Beasts. I found this picture in the Gowanus Lounge, but there is an entire series on flickr of the two be-tentacled beasts, apparently discovered on a walk home from Third Ward.

Aside from the fact that she thought she was in Greenpoint, this was a pretty good summation of the DIY Craft Fair experience at Third Ward last Sunday.  I bought a feather headband and an unbelievably cool clear pyrex kettle.

Fred Gutzeit at Pocket Utopia. Some beautiful pictures were just posted to Jameswagner.com of the  installation, “Love To Fred From Lee Lozano” at Pocket Utopia. Find Kevin Regan and you win a pony!

Another reason we can’t let Polaroids die. Stephanie Land recently featured A Painted Home (that of our editor) on her photo blog. This led me to her most impressive flicker album of Polaroids — mostly scenes of the Bushwick landscape.

Imminent Disaster. Open Space blogger visits Bushwick artist studios, including the talented paste-up street artist from the Ad Hoc show a while back.

Meet the G that killed me. Glory Knit on citynoise.  You are just going to have to click to see what all this means.

River May Come. Last week Pass Kontrol put the Wild Yaks video for River May Come (recently featured in Fader Magazine) on their blog.  It changed me.  I went to see them Wednesday at Union Pool with Frankpollis.  I felt like I might explode. Baptist church revival meets punk rock = Jessica explodes.