At the new gallery Site/109 on Norfolk Street recently, the photographer William John Kennedy and his lovely wife Marie, now advanced in age, walked me through an extraordinary collection of Mr. Kennedy’s prints on view for the exhibit Before They Were Famous: Behind The Lens of William John Kennedy running through May 29. They were telling me the story of how they met and came to photograph Andy Warhol and Robert Indiana as emerging American artists.
Category: Visual Art
Casey Scieszka and Steven Weinberg were strangers when they met in Morocco as exchange students in 2004. Now, Casey, a writer and native Brooklynite, and Steven, an artist, originally from Maryland, both 27, are Park Slopers–they are enjoying the fruits of their unexpected life path. So what happened between then and now?
LaunchPad is an arts-based community center in Crown Heights. Started by Mike Kunitzky last winter, the space transforms depending on what neighborhood groups want to use it for. “I wanted a place where people could exchange ideas and make things happen,” says Kunitzky, a constantly smiling 35-year-old. “There’s potential for magic in those unexpected talents and interactions.”
For the last nine years, artist Trevor Wentworth has made work at studios in Bushwick, Williamsburg, and most recently Carroll Gardens. His third floor studio on Bergen Street is eight feet wide and twelve feet long, just enough room for the bare essentials. It’s here that Wentworth creates his bracingly complex paper sculptures and miniature tabletop installations, which form at the intersection of the physical and metaphorical definitions of the lens.
Ever fantasize about a baby-headed Karl Rove cuddling a duchess Ronald Reagan or perhaps a handsome Jesus-Reagan cradling a little Glenn Beck lamb? Greenpoint artist, Michael Caines has dedicated the past year to doing just that.
If you remember the good old days of Manhattan Neighborhood Network’s (MNN) public access television extravaganza, then you might remember seeing one Diane Dwyer, DIY circus performer and local artist, whose 1994 lo-fi video production of her very own circus hit the airwaves before YouTube was even a twinkle in our eyes. These days her program, Diane’s Circus, is on it’s way to making a comeback – digitally.
According to Laurie Cumbo, founder and director of the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporic Arts in Fort Greene, gentrification is our 800 pound gorilla in the room. In their new exhibit, “The Gentrification of Brooklyn: The Pink Elephant Speaks” it is her hope that the 22 participating artists will utilize the power of their voice to address it.