Bienniel shows wild art from below the Slope
By Julianne Cuba It’s art of this world!
A new exhibition will celebrate
the otherworldly sculptures, paintings,
and tapestries of artists from across
Southern Brooklyn. Many of the creators
included in “Bric Biennial, Vol. III:
South Brooklyn Edition,” opening on
Feb. 6 at the Bric House in Fort Greene,
use their work to reject the status quo and
substitute their own reality, said one of
the show’s curators, leading to the show’s
theme “The Impossible Possible.”
“The main trend through a lot of
their work is artists thinking about utopian
or dystopian ways of being — an
alternate reality,” said Jennifer Gerow,
who lives in Fort Greene. “Instead of
current political issues we’re facing,
they’re thinking outside of that realm,
of what could possibly be, even though
it seems impossible at the moment.”
The show features 19 artists, most
of whom live and work in the neighborhoods
of Park Slope, Gowanus, Sunset
Park, and Bay Ridge. Among the local
creators creating fantastic worlds is
Frank Wang Yefeng, who made the digital
image “Crossing the Alps,” featuring
a helmeted figure riding a giant dog with
the head of a phonograph horn.
A piece from another artist, “Ascent
of Lamarckism,” looks at human bodies
in alternate realities, according to artist
Laura Bernstein, who lives and works
in Bedford-Stuyvesant, just outside the
borders of Southern Brooklyn.
“It came from this project I’ve been
working on the past couple years, which
looks at ancient and medieval bestiaries,
like different mythologies of these past
COURIER L 46 IFE, JAN. 25-31, 2019 24-7
half-human creature figures,” she said.
Bernstein’s sculpture features five
human-like figures scaling a column,
evoking questions about evolution, how
humans will develop, and whether the
current human body is sustainable,
according to the artist.
“I was looking at the Pompeii bodies
and thinking about the evolution of these
medieval creatures,” said Bernstein.
“What if in the future, when our current
landscape no longer supports out current
physiology and biology, we need to
take on these oversized characteristics
and traits of these beasts?”
The title is a nod to French naturalist
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, who theorized
that animals would evolve characteristics
to help them survive, such as
giraffes developing long necks to reach
high trees. The sculpture questions
whether the same evolution will happen
with humans, said Bernstein.
“When our landscape does not support
us anymore, will we take on some
of these exaggerated traits, like one long
foot, or extremely long necks?” she said.
The show is the third iteration of the
Bric Biennial. The inaugural exhibition
in 2014 focused on neighborhoods
Downtown, and the second concentrated
on artists in Bedford-Stuyvesant
and Crown Heights.
The artists’ work will be on display
at Bric and at five satellite exhibitions
scattered throughout the featured neighborhoods.
Bric Biennial: Volume III, South
Brooklyn Edition at Bric House (647
Fulton St. at Rockwell Place in Fort
Greene, www.bricartsmedia.org).
Opening reception Feb. 6 at 7 pm. On
display through April 7, Tue–Sat, 10
am–6 pm; Sun, noon–6 pm. Free.
By Bill Roundy The “Bric Bienniel III: South
Brooklyn Edition” will feature
five satellite exhibits scattered
throughout the neighborhoods it covers,
in addition to the main display at
the Bric House in Fort Greene. Here
are our three favorites:
La Bodega Gallery
Check out a solo exhibit of objects
and prints by Glenn Goldberg, titled
“The World is Not the Thing (a shop
at La Bodega).” Many were created at
the gallery’s community studio.
La Bodega Gallery 695 Fifth
Ave. between 21st and 22nd streets
in Greenwood Heights, (520) 409–
4751, www.labodega-gallery.com.
Opening reception on Feb. 8; 7–10
pm. On display through March 6.
Green-Wood Cemetery
Inside the chapel at Green-Wood
Cemetery you will find a solo exhibit
of photographs by Cinthya Santos-
Briones. The images in the “Living
Inside Sanctuary” exhibit feature
immigrant families who have taken
refuge inside houses of worship while
they fight deportation orders.
Green-Wood Cemetery (500 25th
St. at Fifth Avenue in Greenwood
Heights, www.green-wood.com).
Artist talk on Feb. 20 at 6:30 pm. On
display Feb. 6–April 7.
Nars Foundation
The exhibit “Women’s Work” at
the Sunset Park gallery space will
feature pieces by 10 women artists
from Brooklyn, each of whom has
created work on the theme of domestic
labor and its links to craft.
Nars Foundation 201 46th St. at
Second Avenue in Sunset Park, (718)
768–2765, www.narsfoundation.
org. Opening reception on Feb. 8;
6–8 pm. On view through Feb. 20.
By Colin Mixson One of these dancers will get a leg up!
A group of Kings County jitterbugs will
compete in an epic, two-day dance-off in a
Park Slope church beginning Feb. 1, where the audience
members will decide who waltzes away as the
prima ballerina.
“It is very democratic,” said Elise Long, artistic
director at the dance studio Spoke the Hub, which
sponsors the event.
Each night of the Winter Follies, hosted at Old First
Reform Church on Carroll Street, will see between
25 and 35 solo dancers and ensembles performing
five-minute routines to vie for the audience’s affection
— and their vote.
The winner will nab 50 hours of free rehearsal time
at Spoke the Hub’s studio in Park Slope, and more
importantly, will star in a showcase performance that
is fully produced and marketed by Spoke the Hub in
the fall of 2019, giving new artists a prime opportunity
to break into the Brooklyn art scene, according to the
studio’s programs coordinator
“The fully produced showcase means Spoke takes
care of tech direction and publicity, and they just get
to do their work,” said Dalienne Majors.
Popular up-and-coming performers have been
known to stack the decks in their favor by inviting
friends to the show, said Majors, but the Winter Follies
also offers an option for talented introverts. Artistic
director Long chooses several competitors to share
starring roles in a Director’s Choice showcase, ensuring
that all of the event’s best performers walk away
winners — regardless of any social advantages.
“We added the Director’s Choice showcase, where
I choose four to six artists that stand out to me, but
may not get the popular vote,” said Long.
Long launched the annual Winter Follies competition
in 2001 to give young performers an opportunity
to strut their stuff before a live audience — and as a
way to show ticket holders a good time.
“Winter Follies is always a fun, kind of wild, and
unpredictable event,” said Long. “We do not curate it
at all — but the cream generally rises to the top, we
have found.”
Winter Follies at Old First Reformed Church (729
Carroll St. between Sixth and Seventh avenues in Park
Slope, www.spokethehub.org). Feb. 1 and 2 at 7:30 pm.
$20 ($15 in advance, $10 students and seniors).
His master’s voice: Frank Wang Yefeng’s digital photograph “Crossing the Alps,” with its
hybrid dog and phonograph, is one of several images in the Bric Bienniel that evoke fantastic
alternate worlds. Frank Wang Yefeng
Victory dance: Dancers will go toe-to-toe at Winter Follies
2019 in Park Slope on Feb. 1 and 2. Marcia Bricker Halperin
Stepping up
UNREAL ESTATE
Southern showcase
Bklyn hoofers compete
in a two-day dance-off
In balance: The photo exhibit “Living
Inside Sanctuary,” by Cinthya Santos
Briones, will be on display in Green-wood
Cemetery as part of the Bric Bienniel.
Cinthya Santos Briones
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