Tag Archives: Bushwick


The Laundromat had a gallery opening the other night. And I just couldn’t resist buying a particular piece. It is Blackout by Liz Atzberger. If you remember, we have a piece by her already. It’s using black paint and magnets and it’s a beautiful small piece. I like how the edges are washed in a rusty red and green haze, and add to the light and depth of the black. Liz mentioned that it would make a good companion piece to the other work we have. I didn’t really think of that, but I have to agree. The variation in mediums makes me want to position them in a way where they will oppose each other, black and white… I’m still throwing around some ideas in my head. I’m still trying to figure out where to put it. Kevin hopefully will walk over and install it for us. I’m used to associating her with plastic cable ties (which I dealt with way too much when I worked for the NYS Dept. of Ed.) and bright neon colors, so it’s funny that we have pieces that are primarily white and black.
I was telling Ryan that I was a little against getting a second piece, once I found out it was her, because I didn’t want to have a “thing.” I am fundamentally a little allergic to the idea of having a “thing.” The only thing more ridiculous is to make “not having a thing,” a thing in of itself, so I ignored that and went with my gut.

The show itself was along similar lines as the The burger show they did last year. Basically the showing artists create concepts that people will consume. There were some really great burger ideas last year. There was some talk about doing a hot dog show, but they settled on drinks. I think practically that that is the better idea. However, I was a little excited a for the idea of hot dogs. This, I think was a winning idea. They had an extensive menu of tasty treats and cute names.
Ben Godward’s drink seamlessly melded with his sculpture, which consists of buckets and globules of paint creating something of a neon phallic mountain-scape. His corona bottles were mini little sculptures that one of the prop stylists that attended the show bought for a famous day time talk show host/cook. (And coincidentally Ben was so sweet and gave us a bottle to have, which we are a little hesitant to open. We have something this semi-famous person has. HAH.)
We also had a Creamaster, which was a white russian, inspired by the video artist Matthew Barney by Artist Bob Scheib. (Who, by the way, enthusiastically made us the drinks and didn’t charge us exclaiming, “Art should be free!”) Another notable whiskey and soda green drink with a plastic shark was “The impossibility of a hangover in the mind of someone getting drunk…” Liz created a drink with coffee grinds, anise and vodka, which was pretty frightening, but went down pretty easily. Finally, I had the bacon salt rimmed pickle martini with a pickled brussel sprout, because it has everything I love. And it was surprisingly creamy and pretty damn awesome. Late in the party, I was running around shouting, “LICK THE RIM” pretty enthusiastically. That’s what happens to me when you mix bacon, martini, pickles, and brussel sprouts with me.

Finally, there was this beautiful delicate piece by Maiko Susu Shioda. I’m annoyed that my iphone couldn’t capture the details of the dress, which was made out of a certain type of packing tissue. It was delicate with dress like creases, a peter pan collar, and beautiful intricate details done in collage form.
Amy and Kevin purchased this piece (which was inquired about by other patrons, as well…), but they showed me an alternate piece that she did, pencil and paper of a bird, that was delicate, intricate with its wings splayed. Her lines are amazingly skillful with its texture and fineness. I was tempted to buy the piece, but it felt too impulsive. I might brood on it.

Brooklyn is a very distinct place. I remember the fragmented image I had of the place right before I moved in. In High School, it was either residential, scary, or bare. I ventured into the borough only 3 or so times. By the time I went to Graduate school, it was a hip hip place that all the people in my program moved into (that and it’s low rents). I think that was the time that I really explored Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Prospect Park, and not yet gentrified Flatbush area…

I remember bringing my mother over to see my apartment, walking from the train station through warehouse neighborhoods. She called it a “Slum,” and I just said that she didn’t understand. I live in a residential street with tons of local families and new transplants living together. For the most part, for the three years I’ve been here, there have been couple of incidents that made me feel shitty (like local kids throwing things), but for the most part the good out-weigh the bad.

Although I have been told that Bushwick has immense hipster clout, for the most part, I think the outside media imagines most of it. Most people here are down to earth, living here because the rent is right. We’re just riding the coat tails of some of the transplants from Williamsburg, who are probably just too cool for words, but spends most their time hiking it up to Bedford. In fact, East Williamsburg feels more like a young artist’s commune than party central. For example, there is this article I read a few weeks back in the Style section of the NY Times about Bushwick Collectives that is really great. It dissects the food, art, and living communities that exist in this hub between Montrose and Dekalb.

I personally really connected with this neighborhood after discovering and patron-ing a lot of the great watering holes that exist now. Before that, I felt a little like I was stuck.

There has been several articles in the New York Times romanticizing or condemning Bushwick. There was an article a few months ago about commune living here, where poor artists live in bed bug ridden warehouses with no doors or no privacy for super cheap rent. I think it fascinates a larger part of the Times audience that lives in Manhattan. Yes, I know of many occurrences where this happens. However, a lot of people in Bushwick are 30s-near 30s, living social responsible, non-communal lives.

Of course, for responsible family living, Prospect Park area/Park Slope is known for the mommy carriage invasion. Bushwick, seems to attract, perhaps because of the living spaces, singles and youths. Park Slope, on the other hand, seems to have sprawling beautiful brownstones and new complexes being built (which is also happening in Bushwick, though) that seems more condusive to family life.

Bushwick/East Williamsburg really grew on me. The kicker are the great bars and restaurants (because that’s really where my priorities are at) that are popping up all over the place. Bodega Bar, the Narrows Bar, and Momo Sushi Shack just to name a few recent notables. I mean, it’s to the point that we are scheduling bar crawls in my neighborhood, starting with Wreck Room, Narrows, and then Tandem, eventually ending up at Bodega Bar. Seriously.

Anyway, the article does a good job of summarizing the collective mindset that exists in a lot of the businesses in the area, which I think is amazing.

Roberta’s, for example, the locavore pizzeria near the Morgan Avenue L stop, acts as a kind of community headquarters for area residents and local business owners. In a backyard tent, the managers of the Wreck Room bar and the Deth Killers of Bushwick, a fashion company, can be found doing inventory on their laptops…

In addition to food advocates, Bushwick is loaded with artists. Many have formed collectives to combat the isolation of the studio, the disappearance of state arts funding and what they see as the commercialism of the art world. Rather than petition fruitlessly for Chelsea gallery representation, these groups exhibit their work wherever they can — bedrooms, stairwells, street corners.

Although the article features the Times darling, Roberta’s, I think they should have done some more research in the new places opening up and creating communities. There is the Loom Space, which I first discovered during Bushwick Open Studios. It is a large beautiful space filled with odd stores (Better Than Jam – great dress shop, Knitting Stores, Hair Salons, Bike Shops, Furniture Stores, and a Shabbat) and a HUGE rent-able bar with a sprawling beautiful back door space. It’s like a re-conceived notion of a mini-mall. Really, like a Brooklyn interpretation of a small business owned mini-mall, within a beautiful art gallery. You shouldn’t let the stark outside fool you. Come in doors and prepare to be a little impressed. When there is a party going on inside, definitely peek in. It’s pretty happening.

Another group that I feel should have been mentioned is Laundromat Gallery. I’ve spoken about The Laundromat before, which is a community apartment loft converted as a gallery, run by Kevin and Amy. It features local artists and as well as visiting artists, such as their many featured international artists. They have a lot of ties to the artist community in Bushwick and got a lot of press for their Burger show.

Finally, another group the Times should have included is the burgeoning theater group, Hybrid Theater Works, which did a huge collaboration with Brooklyn performance artist at the end of August. Although I think their headquarters is downtown Manhattan, Tracy who runs it is a recent Brooklyn-ite that runs these great shows on Bushwick rooftops.

A real community is continuing to develop here that’s pretty exciting and I hope to be celebrating it here, on this blog.

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Ryan: Sometimes I see things like that on our street and I feel like I am living in a Murakami novel.
Umi: Yeah, that’s a pretty regular occurance, like, “Yes, there is a giant severed elephant head on our street that randomly appears one dark night. Yes it won’t get cleaned up for another few weeks, probably.”

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Last weekend I was black and blue after I was run over by a 10 year old on a bike. I was stepping off of the steps to my apartment and the boy launched his bike into my knees. Ryan turned and saw the whole thing in slow motion. Little boys now target me. : ( In the end I couldn’t even scold the kid I was bowled over with pain. It was a great way to start my birthday weekend.

This week, the bruise was a pretty purple and is quickly fading.

At least no kid threw rocks at me…