Tag Archives: brooklyn

We Asked Leon Reid IV A Few Questions After His Studio Was Destroyed By Hurricane Sandy

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IMG_6005Leon Reid IV Studio Hurricane Sandy

Last September, we visited Leon Reid IV‘s studio and brought back some photos. Less than a month later, Hurricane Sandy blew through the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, leaving so many of us devastated. Leon’s studio is located right up against Newtown Creek in Greenpoint. When the storm hit, the creek flooded the studio with nasty, polluted water; damaging equipment, artwork, and the space itself. Slowly but surely, Leon’s working to bring things back together. We recently talked briefly about his rebuilding process and where things are headed going forward. Click past the jump for Leon’s account of the ordeal and some news from his studio. And stop by his booth at the Fountain Art Fair (March 8-10, 68 Lexington Ave.), where he’ll be showing some of the flooded works.

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The Clay Street Art of MRtoll

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Street art has undergone some interesting developments of late.  While not entirely forsaking its aerosol heritage, street art has definitely become more adventuresome in terms of medium in the past few years.  Artist MRtoll exemplifies this well.  While MRtoll’s aesthetic may resemble that of a stencil or poster artist, his medium is a bit more peculiar: clay.  MRtoll works the clay into various images or texts then installs them on walls throughout Brooklyn.  He often uses his clay in a nearly painterly manner creating impressive two dimensional work.  Other times, his work is text based, seemingly a text or a tweet, playful much like its medium.

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Mike Perry’s Shapes and Colors

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Mike Perry is of the artist/illustrator/designer/art director/teacher/typographer/zine-maker breed who have put all their energy into making a living off of creativity. Taking inspiration from Steven Harrington (an LA contemporary), cartoons, and mid century ad copy, Perry’s work is all about enjoying life and encouraging others to live more creatively à la Sister Corita. He has a show up right now until November 20 in Brooklyn called Wandering Around Wondering. I use the term “show” loosely, Because keeping in the spirit of 100% outward-directed positivity,  it’s equal parts original work, workshops, and open community events, all of which are free. His press release describes it pretty well:

“Wandering Around Wondering is a free three-month community exhibition and series of events that will coincide with the launch of my monograph, published by Rizzoli. The event space will host workshops, screenings, gatherings, open discussions, and much more — conducted by me and a select group of design and illustration professionals. The space will become a dynamic environment for continuous creation, where visitors will be able to explore freely and create their own unique experiences.”

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Daniel Heidkamp’s Contemporary Impressionism

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Daniel Heidkamp uses combines the styles of old timers like David Hockney and Claude Monet to paint the people and places around him in the 21st century. The results are fresh, energetic, and 100% joyful to look at. If you’re not careful you could end up staring at these all day. Not that that’s a bad thing. 

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Gaia- Large Prints of Animals Wheatpasted on the Street

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Gaia (Brooklyn and Baltimore) pastes huge lino cut prints of animals and other naturally infused imagery onto walls. Massive in scale but not overly so, the works cause us to question our role in nature and our connection to animals. Gaia’s also referencing a lot of renaissance art lately, and the newer works bring a really calming element to the locations in which they’re installed. The artist recently took a degree from MICA — maybe production will be amped up now that the artist has more freetime?

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Studio Visit: Leon Reid IV’s Public Art

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I stopped by Leon Reid IV‘s studio in Greenpoint to see what he’s been up to lately. He’s been pretty busy. Last month, he installed “100 Story House” a public art piece created in collaboration with Julia Marchesi. And he released a new sculpture series less than two weeks ago. On top of all of that, he’s in the midst of raising funds for “A Spider Lurks in Brooklyn”, his proposed project to put a giant spider between the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge during October of 2014 (you can get involved with the project here). So I was pretty psyched that he was able to make time to show me around. Leon’s been creating public art in some form or another for eighteen years now, and his studio was full of past projects and concept sketches.

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Jaye Moon’s Evovled Diorama Sculpture

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Interesting series of sculpture from Brooklyn artist Jaye Moon. The boxes almost look like evolved versions of those dioramas you had to make in elementary school to depict scenes from some novel you had to read for class. Except whatever scenes these are meant to reproduce are so much more cerebral. Clean, almost marble-like materials mingle with glowing elements of subdued color to make you wonder. I Could stare at these for a long time coming up with my own scenarios. See more of the artist’s box work after the jump.

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Reva Castillenti’s Gruesome Textile Sculptures of Open Wounds and Deformed Children

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Reva Castillenti is a Brooklyn-based artist who creates gruesome textile sculptures that focus on the gritty, physical side life. “Visceral” is a word that’s often over-used within the lexicon of art-speak, but I think Castillenti’s work merits the description. We’ve all experimented with stuffed stocking figures before, but I’m not sure we’re all as wonderfully twisted as she seems to be. Castillenti is currently showing a small number of works at Illuminated Metropolis Gallery in New York. That show, entitled Mercy, is up until the 29th, and features minimalist drawings and gouache works in addition to the artist’s singular sculpture.

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