It's Not New, but It's Still NEWD: Bushwick's Very Own Art Fair
For the second year, an art fair is joining the Bushwick Open Studios happenings. The NEWD Art Show returns with 11 exhibitors to the warehouse space of The 1896.
For the second year, an art fair is joining the Bushwick Open Studios (BOS) happenings. The NEWD Art Show returns with 11 exhibitors to the warehouse space of The 1896. However, being part of the artist-focused events of this weekend means it’s a fair very much concentrated on creators.
While the exhibitors include a significant portion of mainstay Bushwick galleries and nonprofits, including Regina Rex, Nurture Art, and Sardine, it’s also bringing in some smaller Brooklyn galleries that don’t have as deep a local network, such as the very recently opened Department of Signs and Symbols in Vinegar Hill and American Medium in Bed-Stuy. As Kibum Kim, who co-founded NEWD with Kate Bryan, told Hyperallergic, part of their goal is “to bring in a slightly different audience” and that it’s “by design that we keep the fair really small.”
The installation of all the art was still underway on Friday before the evening’s opening, but already a towering text piece by Corey Escoto was hanging in the courtyard with a short narrative on the egalitarian action of buying bodega lottery tickets. Economics is a focus of NEWD, where resale rights for artists are negotiated for sales, and panel discussions are being held on topics like “Market Is the Medium” and “Beyond Resale Royalties — Pro-Artist Market Maneuvers.”
Below are some early photographs from the fair as it sets up. There are photographs from 1970s and 80s New Age books restaged by Ian James and a diptych by David Alekhuogie with collaged Nike shoeboxes on one side and a cyanotype made from the assemblage on the other, both part of the NEWD curated area. Over at Regina Rex, Melissa Brown incorporated the silvery material from lottery tickets into her paintings, something which she has another artist scratch off, and at the Department of Signs and Symbols, canvases singed by smoke by Rachel Garrard (the process is demonstrated in a nearby video) contrast to Filipe Cortez’s latex pieces which he peels off of abandoned buildings after applying the material. Cortez has installed latex on the 1896 warehouse walls and it will be taken off later as a new work. After last year’s inaugural iteration, NEWD is continuing to establish itself as part of the BOS weekend, and even with its white walls and gallery divisions like a familiar art fair, is adding some engaging artists and pushing questions of economics for artists into the dialogue.
NEWD Art Show continues through June 7 at the 1896 (592 Johnson Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn).
