A slice of the DUMBO Arts Fesitval

Here are five pieces from five different shows in DUMBO.  This weekend is the DUMBO Arts Festival so this represents just a sliver of the opening night.

Pizza
By Flora Rocco
Pochron Studios
20 Jay Street (DUMBO)

Pizza features a series of photographs of the artist consuming an entire pizza, box, roasted chilies and all.  The highly saturated images capture the action of eating this cheesy treat and manage to make the viewer hungry at the same time.  Flora Rocco said the inspiration behind her photo project was to show a woman eating alone, something she views as different then when a woman eats in front of other people.  Not only does this series capture the spirit of stuffing your face, but Rocco’s use of bright reds separated this piece from other works in the gallery.

Illusions of Shadows
By Chang-Young Kim
Chang Young Kim Open Studio
55 Washington St. (DUMBO)

Comprised of a series of shadow paintings, Chang-Young Kim’s bright red, blue and purple images have a ghostly charm to them.  At first glance, you might mistake them for basic blocks of color, but a deeper look reveals Kim’s hand, shown in various layers of silhouette.  While one of these paintings proves intriguing, a whole display of them leaves the viewer underwhelmed.  If he had undertaken the task of painting different parts of the body, the exhibition would have been more successful.

Ice Works
By Gav Barbey
Gallery Space 220
111 Front St. (DUMBO)

The process Gav Barbey goes through turned out a lot more interesting then his actual product.  In Ice Works, Barbey uses blocks of melting ice and paint to create circular images of colors with a residue around the lump of pigments on a series of rectangular pieces of paper.  Some of them come out neat, like the tiger’s eye looking circle, and others just look like blobs of color.  Even though the images are repetitive, Barbey included a video at the gallery that shows him at work, which really added to the show.

Alina Tenser
111 Front St. (DUMBO)

Among the galleries at 111 Front St., this one was dark, unmarked, and completely bizarre.  The reason for its strangeness had less to do with the odd sculptures inside, but instead, the hand written name by the open door lead to questions about the authenticity of the exhibit.  Even so, this Kleenex sculpture, which looked like a crumpled piece of wrapping paper shaped like a wall sconce containing a tissue dispenser embedded in it, intrigued the passerby.  Not sure if it was a real show or a guerrilla attack, the mystery around this functional sculpture turned out to be rather well made, even though we expected someone to jump out of the room at any moment.

The Artist Project
By Peter Sumner Walton Bellamy
Henry Gregg Gallery
111 Front St. (DUMBO)

Often times a photo remains just a photo.  But Peter Sumner Walton Bellamy’s photos captured a special time in the art world and the people who were just making headway.  His portraits included Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Louise Bourgeois, as well as others.  In particular, the photo of Haring captured an angle of this muralist that is not often seen.  He looks so young and fresh.  While the photo doesn’t maintain the sharp contrast of blacks and whites that are so popular in contemporary (and even new prints of classics) photos, the sepia tones worked well to communicate an era.

Dennis McNett Art Show

Visual artist Dennis McNett unveiled his newest creations at The Stanton Chapter  (176 Stanton St. btwn. Clinton and Attorney Streets) this past Friday.  Titled The Old Horned Deity, McNett utilized artists to pen in his dark ideas.

I asked McNett where he got his inspiration from and he said it was during a road trip.  The endless sky stimulated him and he wanted to convey how overwhelming it was.  This was why he decided to cover the gallery walls in almost pastel psychedelic patterns.

The art on display is fantastic and extremely detailed.  From the giant paper mache tiger, which is decorated in black and white tiger faces, to the large eagle, also paper mache, the tiny gallery felt overwhelmed with images.

McNett’s dark and sinister drawings will have you staring at the walls and sculptures for hours, rocked in the spell of immense nature.

Art Parade Party

This year Deitch Project’s Art Parade was canceled due to the hurricane induced weather.  Read about the party here and check some of my photos!

Coco Dolle kisses unicorn on stage.

The House of Xtravaganza (model below)

Lauren Darling brought her Busy as a Rainbow Brigade of unicorns.

One of Coco Dolle’s zebra clad Amazons.