Flyer denouncing 17-17 Troutman landord David Steinberg, who has ousted galleries from the building and significantly raised rents this year as real estate market levels surge (all photographs by the author for Hyperallergic)
Those arriving at 17-17 Troutman today may have been surprised to find a small canopy out front advertising free refreshments consisting of dry cookies and minuscule cups of water and lemonade, compliments of the building’s seemingly agreeable management, “David Steinberg and Crew.” But beyond the stunning views of the Manhattan skyline offered by its elevated Ridgewood locale, landlord turbulence is threatening 17-17 Troutman. Despite the rocky fate of many key tenants, an impressive array of participation was on hand for this year’s Bushwick Open Studios. From hard-edge geometric abstraction to messy paintings to video works and photography, the range of the output was vast, and the quality often surprising. Though crowds were thinner than at the centrally-located 56 Bogart, which offers strong galleries but weaker studios, 17-17 Troutman remains a veritable juggernaut, one whose standouts, enumerated below, can hold their own with any studio building in New York.
Rachel Borenstein, untitled works, inkjet prints acrylic polymer on panel (2014)
Julia Bland, studio view with “Untiled” (2013)
Parallel Art Space, gallery view of ‘Off Line On Mark.” From left: Michael Voss, “Rialto” sculpture (2010) & “Salvador” (2014), Lael Marshall, “Untitled” (2014), and Don Voisine, “Till” (2013)
Bruce Monteith, “One Man Show” (1981) at Harbor Gallery’s ‘Lil’ Artworld’ show
Lawrence F. Mesich, untitled two-channel video and audio installation (2014) juxtaposing narratives of the Citicorp building engineering crisis of 1978 with Citigroup’s 2006–08 financial meltdown
Paul Gagner, studio view with “My Desktop” (2013)
Lauren Zaser, partial view of ‘Blander, Thicker, Sweeter’ series of eight photographs depicting framed scenic pictures in Chinese restaurants
Bobby Walsh, ‘Clocks’ series (2014)
Ryan Oskin, “Under Construction” (nd)
Hugh O’Rourke, studio view with “Last Drag” (2013), single channel video
Rory Baron, studio view
Brendan Wallace, partial view of ‘Dirty Little Paper Boy’ series (nd), which features small drawings representing each month of the year, with brief and tragic(omic) entries in a diaristic style
Lawrence Kenny, studio view. Kenny is an architect; his studio at 1717 Troutman displays his endeavors in geometric abstraction
Bushwick Open Studios continues at 17-17 Troutman (17-17 Troutman Street, Ridgewood, Queens) through Sunday, June 1.
The guy at 17-17 who did the big wall of loosely painted watercolors with images of plastic shopping bags and other mundane discarded items in puddles was the stand-out for me. He was at the very end of the second floor. Unfortunately I didn’t get his name and didn’t take a picture. I’m trying to find out who he is via google, but no luck so far.
I think the artist you’re thinking of is Erik Benson. Check his work out here: http://www.edwardtylernahemfineart.com/artists/erik-benson/
Thanks so much Kristen–you are right. I didn’t see the ones from your link, those are nice too. He had put up a wall of small watercolors similar to this one: https://assets.paddle8.com/809/333/24879/24879-1385825975-benson-xl.JPG
Yep. That’s Erik’s work. He’s been working on a bunch of watercolors these days.
The best work I saw was at Fine and Raw on Seigel and Bogart