Day 19: Never have I ever... explored DUMBO art

Ever notice how easy it is to ignore your local best? The cool attractions directly in our line of sight often just blend into our daily routines. I think this is particularly true for New Yorkers. I always hear of cool events, and think "yeah, sure, i'll go to that thing next weekend." But come next weekend, a friend is in town or I need to do laundry or I'm tired or it's raining or I want to go to brunch instead, and I let another cool experience slip away. And a new experience that would have required minimal effort! Yet I'll block out a Saturday weeks in advance and drive 2.5 hours outside of the city to go to a garlic festival and try 37 varieties of garlic spread, because that takes planning. 

This could not be more true for my next-door-neighborhood: DUMBO. (Note to non-New Yorkers: DUMBO, which stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass is a historic industrial-chic neighborhood in Brooklyn now dubbed NYC's creative capital due to the fact that more artists live or work here, per capita, than anywhere else in the city.) It's just a 7 minute walk from where I live. And it's arguably one of NYC's coolest neighborhoods. And it constantly offers me exposure to cool art and music and culture, and yet I constantly ignore DUMBO. Sure, I've checked out the artsy shops on my lunch hour. But this 8 block radius is teeming with galleries, events, and funky fun. And yet I never walk the 7 minutes down the hill to check it out. 

So when I heard about a new art fair being held in DUMBO this past weekend, I didn't want to let another experience slip away. The event was called Verge: Art Brooklyn. I headed down on Friday early evening and checked it out. 

The streets were bustling only a little more than a typical Friday night in DUMBO. I popped into a gallery in a big lofty office space. There were two long hallways full of exhibiting artists. Photography, painting, sculpture, multimedia... it was a mixed bag. The coolest, in my opinion, was a an artist who creates huge black and white ink pieces so intricate that the viewer needs a magnifying glass to see the whimsical details. He displayed the pieces inside a dark, screened-in cavern, using a moving projection of his work as the only light source. I would have considered buying one, if not for the $1,800 price tags. The oddest exhibition was a live installation piece: The female artist would dress in three different outfits at various points in the evening, with the other two outfits hanging in the background. I asked her about her inspiration and she said that her piece is about identity formation; how our clothes tell the world what our intentions are. It was an interesting take on a somewhat-obvious concept. 

One of my faves: A collage piece called "Teardrop"

Next stop: A giant bookstore-cum-art gallery that served complimentary wine. Jackpot! I had a glass of surprisingly good white wine and browsed the artwork and books. This was the most lively venue thus far (I'm sure that had nothing to do with the gratis wine bar.) The patrons seemed like an interesting bunch. I wanted to strike up a conversation to test the theory of the exhibit I had just seen: Their appearance was telling me "here are some interesting, smart, artistically-minded individuals"... one conversation might confirm their visage. But the thing about this crowd... they were not exactly approachable. So I sipped my wine and mingled with the interesting and very approachable books. 


Next I went down the street to the DUMBO Art Center. There was an artist doing a live diamond-dust work on the floor, which was really neat to watch. I loved a gripping photography exhibit called Tent Life (photos of Haitian post-earthquake living conditions), and did not love the over-sexualized gallery with the melted, mutilated and bloodied silicon mannequin in a lace dress and wig. Just another modern art exhibit. 

A rainbow of miniature human heads.

My last stop of the night. Right away... more free booze! There was a sparse Welcome Table of seemingly unchilled and uninteresting beers. Heineken, Becks, Bud. Ick city. Hello, aren't artsy people supposed to have good taste? But then I thought, wait a sec...free beer!! Who was I kidding, the college kid inside me was elated. The exhibitions here were lovely, and I met an older French painter who reminded me of my artist grandmother. She had come all the way from Paris for this show; I thought about how much my grandmother would enjoy speaking this fellow artist. I really would have liked to post a photo of one of her pieces, but she (understandably) preferred that I didn't photograph them. It was a bittersweet note on which to end my excursion, but my two free drinkies were taking the edge off of my contemplative zone. 

There was also a free party just getting into swing at the Galapogos Art Space, which is one of my favorite venues in NYC. But I had friends coming into town and had to get back up the hill to meet them... 

Results: Free art exhibits+Free booze? Pinch me! It was a lovely half-evening in a lovely neighborhood. I only wished my friends were arriving earlier, as it would have been a perfect excursion for out-of-town guests. Why have I not done this before?!?! 

Status: Success!