Twelve of Greenpoint’s best art spaces will open their doors to show off their latest projects and exhibitions tonight. Scott Chasse (Calico Brooklyn) and Lia Post (Fowler Arts Collective) created Greenpoint Gallery Night two years ago in “an effort to connect the spaces here with each other, as well as to bring more attention to the neighborhood gallery scene,” according to Chasse.
“One of the great things about the galleries in this neighborhood is that they each have their own personalities,” says Chasse. Dakota Sica, the Director of The Java Project, one of the participating galleries, agrees. He says that gallery experience in Greenpoint is “quieter and more thematic” than in any other neighborhood. He tells me that this is partly because of the sheer number of studios and art spaces that Greenpoint surreptitiously hides. “There are many seeds hidden just below the surface,” Sica says. From the outside, a building might seem like a simple townhouse when in truth it’s the creative work space for many local artists.
Compared to the oversaturated artistic atmosphere of neighborhoods like Bushwick and the LES, “Greenpoint is still finding its identity,” says Sica.
“The smaller community gives it a nice dynamic,” says Owen Houhoulis of the Owen James Gallery. For tonight’s event his internationally focused gallery will showcase the work of Norwegian artist Elin Rodseth, a print-maker who works both with photopolymer and with woodcut. The effect of her printing process gives her pieces an ephemeral, almost ghostly quality. Her exhibition, “Passerby,” focuses on the distant yet familiar world of strangers. Houhoulis says the tight-knit community in Greenpoint is the perfect place for international artists who are attempting to break into New York City’s artistic scene. It transforms what might seem like a harsh, backbiting environment into a network that they can immediately feel at home in. “There’s a certain stability in the Greenpoint gallery scene which I think is unique to the neighborhood,” says Chasse.
Maya Taylor of the Booklyn Artists Alliance says that her gallery is unique in the sense that all of their shows involve books. At the event, they will be showcasing work by Brooklyn artist Jonathan Campolo, who has created a photo-zine and an artist’s book printed on a risograph machine. The exhibition is titled “Greater Hits.”
Taylor explains that the Greenpoint gallery scene is a small community, but one that’s growing. “I just saw a sign for a new gallery today, actually,” she tells me. But it’s events like the Greenpoint Gallery Night that keeps this blossoming community cohesive.
The Greenpoint Gallery Night begins at 7pm and ends at 10pm on Friday, March 20. A list of participating galleries can be found here.
