It’s Getting Ugly Out There on Bedford

As part of the Williamsburg Walks series, which shuts down the neighborhood’s busiest pedestrian thoroughfare (Bedford Avenue) on summer weekends, and this weekend’s Northside Festival, our favorite north Brooklyn migrating gallery, the Ugly Art Room, set up a one-day project on Bedford called Opening Rejection.

Designed and constructed by artist Scott Chasse, yes, the man really into 1970s American male icons (particularly if they have facial hair), the pop-up gallery consists of a claustrophobic white cube in the center of the strip as part of their ongoing mission to “challenge the white box gallery tradition.”

The group has created a six foot cube complete with skylight and small works (five inch square) by 17 artists bolted to the walls.

Ugly’s Jen Galatioto explained during my stop that the whole thing came together in a few weeks and the artists accommodated the plan by producing work super fast.

The shack-like installation has the distilled essence of a gallery: white walls, art, interesting lighting feature, even wall text (on a portable chalk board) and a professional looking gallery sign. What I liked about the street gallery was its peculiar scale, not quite child-sized though curiously private in the middle of a busy street.

Did I mention that the work was available for $100 a pop. Sales inquiries can email uglyartroom [at] gmail [dot] com.

The Ugly Art Room’s Opening Rejection was part of Williamsburg Walks and Northside Open Studios and took place from 2-8pm on June 18, 2011.