Monday, April 18, 2011
Art
In Case You Missed It: Photos from Gowanus Ballroom's Epic Spring Exhibition
Posted
by Benjamin Sutton
on Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 4:28 PM
- Among the surreal structures in the Gowanus Ballroom's spring exhibition: a giant duck/goose, a wooden igloo, a tree fort and a giant portrait of Bruce Lee with streamers coming out his eyes.
Most of the time, Building 61 at 55 9th Street on the east bank of the Gowanus Canal right underneath the Smith-9th Street station houses the Serett Metalworks workshop, but for a few weeks this year and last it became the Gowanus Ballroom, a huge exhibition and performance space for art, architecture and music. Yesterday was the last day of their epic Spring 2011 Art + Architecture show, which we were very happy to catch and photograph extensively...
- Pieces from The Objectionists' installation "Full City, Migrant City and Object City" on the left, and textile garlands by Domestic Construction on the right.
- A full view, in sections, of The Objectionists' "Full City, Migrant City and Object City" installation from the gallery floor up to the 50-feet-high ceilings.
- A sculpture assembled, collage-style, from slices of steel I-beams by Jay McDonald.
- Tiny ladders inside a tiny wagon, part of The Objectionists' installation.
- A quasi-organic hanging steel-and-light sculpture by an artist whose name I didn't catch.
- Really liked these pieces on found materials by LMNOP.
- This creepy portrait made of construction materials like insullation foam, possibly by an artist named "Little," made use of the warehouse's filled-in windows as a proxy picture frame.
- Up on the second floor the architectural portion of the show took over, including the wood crate igloo by Nicholas Chatfield-Taylor (left), the giant waterfowl by Vanessa Cronan (although there was also a great series of paintings by Matthew William Robinson, top left).
- If there was a centerpiece, it was Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels' tree-fort house thing.
- You could actually climb up and into Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels' house (it was pretty sturdy).
- There was a great view of the upper portions of The Objectionists' hung installation and Raylene Gorum's climbing red stars from the mezzanine.
- This little steel piece, like a metal version of an Aakash Nihalani tape trapezoid, seemed to predate the exhibition.
- Left to right: A hanging sculpture of found materials by Ben Wolf, a giant metal gourd by Andrew Schrock and Adriana Atema's giant portrait of Bruce Lee.
- Bruce Lee's deadly eyes, as portrayed by Adriana Atema.
- Ben Wolf's incredible hanging sculpture.
- And at the base of the Wolf piece, this funny little figure looked concerned.
- Drawn lights by Dave Sena and an amorphous blobby sculpture by an artist whose name I missed.
- A pair of excellent smaller pieces, one of which (at bottom) recalled several pieces by Faile.
- Out into the Gowanus-adjacent backlot, with the Williamsburg Savings Bank building in the distance.
- The dark alley that leads to the Gowanus Ballroom. You'd never guess.
- Right round back of the Gowanus Ballroom space, this awesome graffiti piece of Joan of Arc by Bigtime.
No word on what or when the next Gowanus Ballroom project will be, but we recommend you stay tuned as it'll surely be another one not to miss.
Tags: Gowanus Ballroom, Brooklyn art, Architecture, Gowanus, Ben Wolf, The Objectionists, LMNOP, Nicholas Chatfield-Taylor, Vanessa Cronan, Matthew William Robinson, Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels
