"The Stairs The Boys Built": Photo Art Show At Gowanus Ballroom

This Friday, the Gowanus Ballroom, an exhibit space dedicated to art, music, and performance, is hosting a photo art show entitled "The Chairs The Boys Built" featuring the photographs of Jessica Bloom.
The name of the show refers to the boys of Serett Metalworks, an architectural metal work and blacksmithing shop housed in the Gowanus Industrial Park.

From an artist statement:

Over the past year, Jessica has had the pleasure of getting to know the boys of Serrett Metalworks, both professionally and personally.
The boys come from many different walks of life, from the Dominican Republic to the Southwest desert and Midwest plains. Their lives have converged here, in what was once an industrial powerhouse, the Gowanus Canal district, a dynamic zone currently immersed in an evolutionary transformation where artists cultivate themselves and new businesses for a renaissance of modern, urban economic development.

By daytime, they weld, cut, mold, forge, and sculpt staircases, decorative window coverings, railings, furniture, fences and other residential and commercial metalworks. On their own time, these boys cultivate a wide spectrum of passions and hobbies: travel, humanitarian work, art, motorcycle building.
Serret Metalworks is commissioned for some very high-end projects, from the storied Plaza Hotel to Marc Jacobs’ chic Manhattan boutique. Some of these jobs are so complex that other shops have turned the work away, yet the immense talent behind these pieces goes largely unrecognized.

Through this series of portraits, Jessica explores the individuality of the collective beauty these boys produce. The complexity of their pasts, present, and futures are epitomized through their work-worn, hands: the wrinkles, creases, dirt and dust-stained nicks and calluses. The hopes and aspirations the boys convey behind furrowed brows; enigmatic, deep gazes; and steadfast, determined poise.
The Stairs the Boys Built is a reflection of the inspiration these lives have brought Jessica. Her intention is that viewers will think twice about the manmade beauty they experience on a daily basis and consider the people and passion behind the grit.

The show also includes the works of :
Adrian Landon
Brooke Grant
Chris Bido
Ed Akers
Eric Juron
Drew Furer
Jay McDonald
Josh Young
Luke Schumacher
Serban Ionescu
Shayne Webb

The Stairs the Boys Built

September 21, 2012from 6:30 to 8 

Free admittance

The Gowanus Ballroom 

55 9th Street by Smith Street

http://gowanusballroom.com

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Spirituality, Mysticism And Religion Through A Contemporary Lens At Gowanus Ballroom's "Architecture Of Devotion" Show

The Gowanus Canal immortalized in stained glass? Heck yes! At the the Architecture of Devotion show, which opens Friday, June 24th at the Gowanus Ballroom. Read on:

The exhibition features emerging Brooklyn artists working in styles and techniques that recall religious and devotional art of the past. Installations including stained glass, modern reinventions of medieval retables and a cabinet of curiosities transform the nineteenth century steel mill through various representations of the sacred and profane.

Works including stained glass, paintings embellished with gilt adornment, modern reinventions of medieval retables, a cabinet of curiosities, and an enchanted grotto form an installation that explores themes of. Revisiting historic interpretations of divine presence through a contemporary lens allows artist and audience to reconsider what might at first glance appear mundane.

The exhibit will be open until July 3, with performance nights on June 24th & 25th, and July 1st & 2nd.

Artists include Abby Hertz, Adrian Landon, Aimee Lutkin, Amy Consolo, Andrea Biagioni, Andy Smenos, Cristina Rose, Daniel K. Brown, David Aronson, Derek Gregory, Diane Roehm, Eric Gerhard Winzer, Erin Ikeler, Jason Gandy, Jennie Booth, Jenni Crain, Jessica Siemens, Joel Dugan, Johann Nortje, Julie Janicek, Konstantin Sergeyev, Leonidas Chalepas, Maria Berrio, Matt Allison, Matthew James, Matthew Pisacano, Matthew William Robinson, Matthew Shelley, Michael Solomon, Naho Taruishi, Nancy Nicholson, The Objectionists, Patricia Kelly, Peter Waite, Robert F. Rodriguez, Serra Victory Bothwell Fels, Sheena Rae Dowling, and a growing list of others. Performances include Adrianna Mateo, Apocalypse Five and Dime, Crooks and Perverts, Jason Novak, Lady C and Chris Flambeaux, Les Bicyclettes Blanches, Morgan O’Kane, Sullied Accolades, Sleepy Feet, Teen Girl Scientist Monthly, Toy Soldiers, Yula and the Extended Family, and many others.

Gowanus Ballroom

55 9th Street

347.460.2687

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