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sam benezra

Nine Essential Art Galleries In and Around Park Slope

January 8, 2020 By Sam Benezra Filed Under: Reader Recommendations Tagged With: sam benezra

Park Slope and its surrounding neighborhoods have a long history of fostering art and housing a diverse list of artists that includes ‘80s art world wunderkind Jean-Michel Basquiat, renowned abstract painter and printmaker Joan Snyder, and A Series of Unfortunate Events cover illustrator Brett Helquist. In 2019, this tradition is alive and well. Park Slope retains a close-knit, diverse, and grassroots art community, held up by a wealth of supportive and adventurous gallery spaces.

Here’s a look at nine essential art galleries in and around Park Slope:

Leroy’s Place

(http://www.leroysplace.com)

A unique space on 7th Ave in Park Slope, Leroy’s Place is a whimsical interactive gallery and shop, managed by a small art company of the same name. The space is less a traditional gallery than an exhibition space for the Leroy’s Place collective, a collaboration between illustrator Serene Bacigalupi, puppet artist Jacques Dufforc and fabric artist Whitney Raynor. The collective’s fantastical sculptures, paintings, puppetry and films conjure a magical, Burtonesque world in the heart of Park Slope. 

Open Source Gallery 

(https://open-source-gallery.org) 

The Open Source Gallery takes its name from the open source software movement and its philosophy of open collaboration. “In this spirit of free exchange of knowledge, we provide a forum where art intersects with the community and the world at large,” states the gallery’s mission. These principles are reflected in the gallery’s program, which features a diversity of international artists, who often come in contact with the gallery typically via the internet or outside referrals rather than local connections. In addition to their regular program, Open Source also runs a children’s art program called KOKO, as well as a free-of charge, town-hall-style event series called the Church of Monika, inspired in part by the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas.

Winter Exhibitions: Void & Co. / February 26 – March 28

Ortega y Gasset Project

(https://www.oygprojects.com)

This artist-run space in Gowanus is named for Spanish writer and philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset and dedicated to his maxim, “yo soy yo y mi circunstancia,” or, “I am myself and my circumstance.” In the spirit of the pragmatist’s famed observation of the struggle between the individual and its environment, the gallery prioritizes exploratory practice. The not-for-profit gallery is run entirely by working artists, who manage the gallery collectively and democratically, without a specific curatorial objective. In this communal environment, artists are encouraged to experiment, and given the freedom to pursue ideas without regard for profit.

Winter Exhibitions: Far x Wide, Young Space, and Art Start / January 3 – 5

Pioneer Works

( https://pioneerworks.org)

One of the most unique spaces in all of New York City, Pioneer Works is more than just a gallery. Founded in 2012 by LA-born and Brooklyn-based sculptor Dustin Yellin, Pioneer Works is an artist-run, not-for-profit cultural center and events space located in a three-story converted iron factory. The 27,000 square foot space once produced railroad tracks and large-scale machinery; now it houses an ambitious and eclectic arts program inspired by intellectual unicorn Buckminster Fuller and Black Mountain College, the experimental college at which Fuller taught.  Over the years, Pioneer Works has presented stunning exhibitions and performances, held lectures and workshops on science and technology, built a 3-D printing lab, and so much more.

Winter Exhibitions: Check website for Winter exhibitions.

Trestle 

(https://www.trestlegallery.org)

Located on 3rd Ave in Gowanus, Trestle is a non-profit contemporary art gallery and art space that provides studio space for over 130 Brooklyn artists. It was founded in 2012 by a team of Gowanus artists including Rhia Hurt, Mary Negro, and Ajit Kumar, who wanted to produce a space that would foster a supportive environment for local artists. Trestle hosts a variety of programs such as workshops and educational programs in addition to its exhibition slate. The gallery holds 8-10 exhibitions per year and has showcased thousands of local and international artists from across the world in its seven-year history.

Winter Exhibitions: Check website for Winter exhibitions.

Ground Floor Gallery 

(http://groundfloorbk.com) 

Founded in 2013, Ground Floor Gallery is a commercial art space run by independent curators Krista Scenna and Jill Benson. The gallery, which focuses on showcasing under-the-radar local artists and fostering connections between them and new buyers in the Park Slope community, has a convenient location in central Park Slope on 5th St. and 5th Ave, about a block away from the Old Stone House.

Winter Exhibitions: 7th Annual Holiday Show: Gifts by Artists 

440 Gallery 

(https://440gallery.com)

A small gallery and events space located on 6th Ave in the heart of Park Slope, 440 Gallery is run by 16 local artists, who exhibit work in a variety of mediums and styles. The gallery has a cooperative model, in which the artists represented by the gallery work together to manage the daily mundanities of the space’s operation (sweeping floors, writing press releases, etc.). In return, each artist is guaranteed a solo show once every two years and free reign over their exhibitions. It will be celebrating its 15th year in operation in 2020.

Winter Exhibitions: Check website for Winter exhibitions.

321 Gallery 

(http://321gallery.org)

Located in Clinton Hill just a couple blocks away from the Pratt Institute, 321 Gallery is a small, artist-run contemporary art gallery situated in the basement of a brownstone painted in the fashion of a white cube. Since its founding in 2012, it has regularly hosted exhibitions as well as performances, screenings, readings, and talks. Since 2013, it has also served as the site of SEMINAR, a monthly discussion of texts selected by a variety of philosophers, writers, scientists, and artists.

Winter Exhibitions: Check website for Winter exhibitions.

Thomas Nickles Project

(https://www.thomasnickles.com)  

The Thomas Nickles Project is a Washington Heights gallery space focused on showcasing Cuban contemporary artists. The gallery was founded in 2016 by gallerists Kristen Thomas and John Nickels after a trip to Havana. Today, it represents 15 Cuban artists and regularly holds exhibitions in Park Slope and other locations around the city.

Winter Exhibitions: Check website for Winter exhibitions.

Filed Under: Reader Recommendations Tagged With: sam benezra

An Insider’s Guide to Celebrate Brooklyn!

June 26, 2019 By Sam Benezra Filed Under: Park Slope Sounds Tagged With: Celebrate Brooklyn, free events, Live music, sam benezra, summer events

Tortoise

Celebrate Brooklyn!, New York’s favorite summer concert series, returns this year with a lineup that is as potent as ever. 2019’s edition features icons of indie rock, a Cuban jazz legend, and a tribute to Marvin Gaye among a host of other performances from up-and-coming stars and pop music luminaries. Here are ten performances you won’t want to miss.

6/12 and 6/13- The National / Courtney Barnett

The National are teaming up with Courtney Barnett for two consecutive nights that promise to be high notes in the Celebrate Brooklyn! concert schedule. Over the course of their two-decade career, The National have developed near-icon status in the indie rock world on the back of their compellingly melancholy sound. Providing the opening entertainment is Courtney Barnett, who returns to Celebrate Brooklyn! after a killer performance at the bandshell in 2018. The Melbourne-based singer-songwriter is known for her clever lyricism, but don’t overlook her shrewd guitar work, which, recalling at times Neil Young and/or Joey Santiago of the Pixies, is pure rock’n’roll.

Tank and the Bangas

6/20 – Tank and the Bangas / Cory Henry & the Funk Apostles

Tank and the Bangas come to Brooklyn all the way from N’awlins. Led by Tarriona “Tank” Ball on vocals, they’ve quickly risen to prominence after winning NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2017. Their new school NOLA sound brings together bouncy neo-soul with old-school funk. Ball’s spoken word vocals tie it all together in a compelling package. Not to be forgotten, Cory Henry of Snarky Puppy is a genius on the Hammond B3 Organ and a powerful vocalist to boot. With the Funk Apostles, he takes center stage as bandleader and frontman.

6/22 – Tortoise: TNT / Emily Wells with Metropolis Ensemble

Back in 1998, Tortoise changed the game with TNT, a genre-busting post-rock masterpiece that brought together hints of free jazz, rhythmic groove, funk, krautrock, electronica, and ambient music. In June, they’ll perform TNT in its entirety. Brooklyn-based singer and multi-instrumentalist Emily Wells, whose forward-thinking brand of pop is no less visionary, will kick the night off backed by the Metropolis Ensemble.

6/26 – Chucho Valdés – Jazz Batá / Dafnis Prieto Si o Si Quartet

In a night that brings together the past and present of Cuban jazz, percussionist Dafnis Prieto and his quartet will open for Chucho Valdés. Valdés, the son of Bebo Valdés, himself a towering figure in Cuban music, has been performing since the early 1960s. Over the years, he has won six Grammy and three Latin Grammy Awards and helped define Afro-Cuban jazz. He comes to Celebrate Brooklyn! at the ripe age of 77 for a performance that’s sure to be unforgettable. 

Mick Jenkins

7/5 – Mick Jenkins / Leikeli47 / Leven Kali / Joy Postell

On July 5, Celebrate Brooklyn! will bring together some of the most unique young voices in hip hop and contemporary soul. Mick Jenkins has yet to reach mainstream status, but is nevertheless among the most inspired figures in hip hop. His most recent release, 2018’s Pieces of a Man, takes its name from a Gil Scott Heron album, which should show you where his ambitions lie. His production sounds fresh, even bold, but his intellectual lyricism is rooted in old school hip hop. Brooklyn native Leikeli47, who has worked with everyone from Pussy Riot to Ghostface Killah to MF DOOM, is compellingly mysterious. She is never seen in public without a balaclava or bandana masking her face. Her music is as bold as it is celebratory — her most recent album a testament to her upbringing in Bed Stuy. Down the bill, LA’s Leven Kali and Baltimore’s Joy Postell are both steadily developing a name for themselves as up-and-comers in the contemporary R&B world.

Salif Keita

7/13 – Salif Keita / Courtnee Roze

Salif Keita is a towering figure in African music. Known as the “Golden Voice of Africa,” Keita was born a traditional prince of Mali’s Keita Royal Family. Cast out of his family for his albinism, Keita began working as a professional musician in the late 1960s. By the 1980s, he was renowned across the world as one of the most recognizable figures of African music. Before he takes the stage, Courtnee Roze, a masterful percussionist who has worked with Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, J.Cole, and others, will kick the night off with a performance by her band.

Nilufer Yanya

7/25 – Surprise Headliner / Nilüfer Yanya

Celebrate Brooklyn! is keeping things mysterious with a surprise headliner on July 25. The intrigue alone makes this show worth attending, given Celebrate Brooklyn!’s pristine track record. Regardless, opener Nilüfer Yanya alone makes this a potentially special night. The prodigious British artist began her music career as a teenager. She has an exploratory ethos and a phenomenal ear for pop melody.

8/3 – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon / Lou Reed Tai Chi Day

On August 3, Celebrate Brooklyn! will screen Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a martial arts epic set in 18th century China. A phenomenal flick, no doubt, but the real show takes place before the film, with the first annual Lou Reed Tai Chi Day in honor of the late rock legend. Master Ren Guang-Yi, Lou Reed’s teacher, will demonstrate Chen style tai chi forms, to the soundtrack of Lou Reed DRONES, a sound work featuring Lou Reed’s guitar feedback, along with special guests Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, Sarth Calhoun, Stewart Hurwood, and others.

Felicia Collins

8/9 – What’s Going On featuring Felicia Collins, Toshi Reagon, Siedah Garrett, Keisha Lewis, and others

For one of the final Celebrate Brooklyn! events, an all-star band led by Felicia Collins, a renowned guitarist and vocalist who performed for nearly two decades with David Letterman’s house band, will play Marvin Gaye’s 1971 classic What’s Goin’ On in its entirety. A remarkable concept album that has had an outsized influence on soul music, What’s Goin’ On, a concept album which tells the story of a Vietnam veteran returning home, remains culturally and politically relevant to this day. A once-in-a-lifetime show, to be sure!


Filed Under: Park Slope Sounds Tagged With: Celebrate Brooklyn, free events, Live music, sam benezra, summer events

Barbès: The Challenge of Making Art in a Changing Neighborhood

January 22, 2019 By Sam Benezra Filed Under: Park Slope Life Tagged With: avant-garde, Barbès, Eat Local, jazz, Park Slope, sam benezra

Fairly small and sparsely decorated, Barbès is unassuming, but the bar and performance space has grown into a Park Slope institution since its opening in May, 2002. 

Barbès is well-known and well-loved locally for staging a unique combination of jazz, avant-garde, world, and classical music. Yet going into its 17th year of operation, the owners of Barbès, Olivier Conan and Vincent Douglas, are counting their lucky stars that the bar is still open. In May, 2017, the bar was nearly forced to shut down after accruing over $70,000 of debt. Like so many other local institutions in Brooklyn, Barbès had nearly fallen victim to ever-rising rents and changing demographics in the neighborhood it calls home.

In a last ditch-effort to keep the bar open, Conan and Douglas launched a crowdfunding campaign and hosted a series of benefit concerts from musicians on their record label. In an incredible show of support from community members and local musicians, Barbès managed to raise the $70,000 they needed to continue operating. 

Nearly two years later, Barbès is still chugging along and making ends meet, but its owners still express concern for the future. 

Conan and Douglas, a pair of French musicians, opened Barbès on May Day in 2002 with the goal of creating a grassroots performance space.

“It was based on an idea–we wanted to have a place that was very community-oriented,” said Conan. “The community at the time was very different from what it is now. There were a lot of musicians, a lot of artists who lived in Park Slope and we wanted to created a place where the people we wanted to play were also the people who hung out or who wanted to see the music that we brought.”

From the beginning, Conan and Douglas were committed to programming an eclectic variety of performers, representing different cultures and musical traditions from around the world. Barbès is named after a neighborhood northern Paris known for its large North African population and for the record stores that helped introduce Raï music, a form of Algerian folk music, to Western audiences.

Like its namesake, Barbès is defined by its multicultural character. In the same night, you can see Andy Statman, a prodigious Klezmer-influenced mandolin player, and Guinean Afro-jazz courtesy of the Mandingo Ambassadors, who play every Wednesday night at Barbès.

“We had an almost generalist cultural offering, but with a very special identity, and often we didn’t do the kind of bookings that most people did at the time,” said Conan. “We really tried to bring creative musicians who would want to come back and start projects at Barbès. A lot of things were born there, a lot of projects started. [It functioned] kind of like a lab.”

Recurrence is something that Barbès has prioritized over the years. The bar has given a number of artists weekly residencies over the years, creating a comfortable and communal dynamic between space, performer, and audience. “The idea of place is very important, and the audience would come see people specifically at Barbès because they thought something special would happen,” said Conan.

Barbès has also prioritized keeping costs low for its audience. Unlike many jazz bars and performance spaces in New York, Barbès does not have a drink minimum. The modest cover charges–most events are $10–go to the performers. Conan and Douglas prefer not to operate by the profit motive, though that business model has been increasingly difficult to sustain in recent years.

“The New York economy has obviously changed tremendously [since Barbès opened],” said Conan. “The model that worked in what was then an outer borough don’t work anymore. Rents have gone up, the price of doing business has gone up, the kind of clientele has changed. We still cater to the same kind of people, but they don’t live in the neighborhood anymore.”

Conan, a Paris native, moved to Brooklyn in the mid-80s. His first rent was $200 a month, a price that is pretty much unfathomable nowadays. “[Cheap rent] enabled you to be a slacker, and being a slacker is what enables you to be a good artist.”

He said that he has noticed something of an exodus of artists and musicians out of Brooklyn. There are increasingly few spaces dedicated purely to creative endeavors, and many of those that are have been pushed further into Brooklyn or into Queens. 

New York has long been known as a creative hub and a cultural center of the United States, but Conan said that he has noticed many artists fleeing city’s ever-rising rents to live in more affordable cities in the US and other part of the world–cities like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Berlin, and even LA.

“It’s hard for young musicians to live in New York, or artists in general–people in general if they’re not in finance,” he said. “It’s become super hard to move there and actually make a life there. A lot of people are moving to New York and spend two or three years and get hungry and move on to wherever.”

The compounding pressures of doing business in Park Slope nearly forced Barbès to close in 2017, but the bar managed to stay open due to an incredible show of support from the local community.

“We were wondering whether we could continue, because we owed like $70,000, which for people like us is a huge amount of money,” said Conan. “We decided to do a crowdfunding campaign, which worked beyond our wildest dreams.”

Conan and Douglas started an Indiegogo campaign, offering vinyl and CDs from the Barbès record label and concert tickets in exchange for donations. Over 800 people offered contributions. They also organized a number of benefit concerts with bands that often played at Barbès, the biggest of which took place at DROM on June 9, 2017.

“We brought in like 300 to 350 people I think. It was an amazingly beautiful night for me personally,” said Conan. “There’s something very humiliating about going to people and saying, ‘Hey, I need money, I’m broke.’ The response was just amazing, it was, ‘No, we’re a community and we care.’”

Between the Indiegogo campaign and benefit concerts, Conan and Douglas were able to raise the entire $70,000 dollars needed to lift the bar out of debt and keep it running for at least five more years. Their lease runs out in 2022, and it is still unclear whether they will be able to keep it open beyond then. They want to avoid transitioning to a more profit-oriented business model, fearing it would change the atmosphere.

“In order to be successful financially, we’d have to get bigger players, for one thing,” said Conan. “We’d also have to impose a lot of drink minimums and rules about how much you should spend and how quickly you should spend it. We’d have to get more capitalistic than we are and that would totally change the vibe, it would totally change the way people play, and the kind of talent we would get.”

Conan said that he is unsure if they would be able to keep Barbès open beyond 2022; the bar’s survival depends on how much their rent goes up when it comes time to send its next lease. 

So Barbès looks ahead to an uncertain future, but for now it is still going strong and supplying the Park Slope community with unique musical offerings on a nightly basis. The back room is still bumping. Check it out while you still can.

Filed Under: Park Slope Life Tagged With: avant-garde, Barbès, Eat Local, jazz, Park Slope, sam benezra

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