BOS, a volunteer-driven, “non-hierarchical” organization, enjoys its ninth annual event.  It is also the second year of NEWD, the “counterpoint to the existing art fair model” in which “strong local curatorial voices” of the sub-borough, whether collectives, galleries, non-profits or artist-run ventures, lay out their wares in an art fair-like environment in the 7000 square feet of the 1896, a stunning 19th-century warehouse space at 592 Johnson Avenue close to the Jefferson Street L. Look out of the two person curated booth of works by artists Rachel Garrard and Filipe Cortez at the imaginatively titled venture, Department of Sign and Symbols, a Vinegar Hill-based gallery, residency program and arts club.

Bushwick is a cultural notion that encroaches well into Queens, as one of the sub-borough’s more imaginatively titled galleries, Rex Regina (since decamped to Manhattan with its cheaper rents!) acknowledged. The gallery pays a return visit to the old hood as participants in NEWD. Rex Regina, named for the Latinized official names of Kings and Queens counties, was initially an offshoot of shared studio space of ex-Chicago graduates who formed a peer group in New York,

Art Helix, the sprawling gallery at the raw industrial space of 299 Meserole Street and now a cultural mainstay in the area, offers a couple of shows opening this busy weekend, and are also hosting a group show beyond its own premises, curated by Wilson Duggan and Julie McKim, and fittingly titled “La Gioconda” as it takes place at Mona Liza Fine Furniture.  A line-up of dozens of artists includes Amanda Millet-Sorsa, Beata Chrzanowska, Claudia Chaseling, Ehren Clodfelter, and, pictured above, Patricia Fabricant who also has work included in another group show in the neighborhood running through the BOS weekend, Thrice Legendary, or Forever Thens at Centotto at 250 Moore Street, #108.  This is a venue usually open only by appointment so the weekend is a good chance to catch up with works by the likes of Fran O’Neill,  Todd Bienvenu, Lawrence Swan, Lori Ellison, Ben La Rocco, Paul Behnke, Anne Russinof, Enrico Gomez, Riad Miah, and Barbara Friedman amongst the dozens of mostly painters selected for this exhibition. The title is also pretty intriguing, but in the department of wacky monikers the prize this year must go to Westernized, Watered-Down Zen Philosophies, a nine-person sculpture, sound and motion show at 18-66 Troutman Street.

Where can artcritical start in singling out studios to visit amongst the hundreds whose doors are open and walls are spruced up for our delectation?  Why not with our own people: artcritical writers and editors participating include our digital arts correspondent Carla Gannis who has work on view at Studio 303 at 41 Varick Avenue, and longtime editorial associate Nancy Elsamanoudi (see image) whose Ridgewood studio is at 63 Woodward Ave # 2409b.

For a full list of studios and other events, visit artsinbushwick.org

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This weekend sees a significant expansion in the stunning and sprawling annual three-day festival, Bushwick Open Studios, put together by the volunteer Arts in Bushwick organization.  In addition to the 677 shows on offer, some in labyrinthine studio complexes, others in storefronts and private dwellings around the eastern Brooklyn neighborhood, this year sees the launch of a new art fair in conjunction with the festival, one that promises the literal opposite of business as usual.

NEWD brings together artist collective, project spaces, nonprofits and artist-run galleries in a show sharing 7000 square feet of industrial space.  As befits its acronym, the fair strives for a new level of transparency.  Besides bringing collectors into less mediated contact with artists, NEWD is introducing “negotiated resale royalty agreements” with the sales that take place under its roof.  The event takes place at the 1896, an historic warehouse space at 592 Johnson Avenue close to the Jefferson Street L.

Participants in NEWD are naturally open for business in their own premises, too, over the weekend.  At 56 Bogart Street, for instance, hub of such galleries and alternative spaces as Momenta Art, NURTUREart, and Life on Mars, THEODORE:Art, the latest gallery incarnation of Soho veteran Stephanie Theodore, continues a sensational show of sculptor Joyce Robins that emphasizes her roots in painting—by actually including stunning early 2D works alongside her pigmented clay reliefs.  Upstairs from these galleries, meanwhile, are good old-fashioned open studios by individual practicing artists.  Check out luminous abstractionist Delfina Nahrgang,.

Another sculptor active since the 1970s, Paris- and New York-based Alain Kirili,  inaugurates splendid new premises of ArtHelix at 299 Meserole Street, near the Montrose Avenue L.  Describing Kirili’s new steel wire and rubber tubing drawing-in-space sculptures in the brochure accompanying this show, artcritical’s David Cohen detects “an almost fugue-like relationship between elements chasing and embracing each other like lovers.”

Cutting edge new media artists Man Bartlett and Carla Gannis are part of a five-person open studio at Studio 303 at 41 Varick Avenue.  While their work engages in literally splicing together traditional and innovative techniques and protocols, a group show with an emphasis on painting draws on splice as its organizational metaphor. MIXTAPE, curated by Sophia Alexandrov and Todd Bienvenu, draws a parallel between curatorial efforts and the making of a good party compilation.  Their show, at 195 Morgan Avenue, No. 4 Studio, brings together the likes of Katherine Bradford, Margrit Lewczuk, Gili Levy, Sangram Majumdar and Kyle Staver.

And talking of parties: Twenty-Three Artists From In and Around, in the garage at 386 Jefferson Street, which includes Paula DeLuccia, Lori Ellison, Lawrence Swan and Richard Timperio in their number, has an opening Friday sponsored by Hendrick’s Gin, as if such company weren’t sufficient guarantee of a wild time!

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In the heart of the bustle, on Troutman Street, stop by map #144 to see Claire Lachow’s eerie inks on paper.  At a glance these black and white paintings may seem like straightforward studies of abstract composition and gesture, but you quickly notice a swirl of smudged faces emerging from the weightless ovals that populate the work.  Farther North you’ll find #75 at 41 Varick Street, a delight for those interested in process, abstraction, installation and unconventional materials. Here you will meet Will Hutnick, Nikki Nolan, Caitlin Peluffo, Polly Shindler and Kelly Worman.  Between these artists, visitors will likely come across glitter, faux fur, velvet, spray paint and gobs of tape in addition to oil and acrylic.

Studios are open this Saturday and Sunday, noon to 7 pm.

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For the third time in its five years history, the annual Bushwick Open Studios festival will be hit this weekend with a recurring mass transit nightmare, a shuttered L-train.  The L line on the MTA subway system is the lifeline from Bushwick to civilized points west, whether Williamsburg, Manhattan or – to adopt a Brooklyncentric, Saul Steinberg-style geography – the rest of the USA and the world. No L and Bushwick really is the bush—although artistically the neighborhood is increasingly self-sufficient.

And it isn’t just Bushwick’s artists and musicians who view their ‘hood as the new epicenter. Bushwick Open Studios is a major cultural event with statistics that speak for themselves.  The festival comprises over 380 shows in over 180 locations, all within a three square mile area, and many of these events are large studio complexes with dozens of presenting artists in each venue.  Based on prior years’ attendance, the organizers of the event, Arts in Bushwick, expect a turnout of over 10,000

The Metropolitan Transit Authority explains that it has little alternative to closing the L for summer weekends.  Because the 100 years old L is a two-track line the whole system has to close for the removal of its old signals system.  They can’t work at night for visibility issues, as a span of the line is above ground, nor in winter for the same reasons.  Working during the week is ruled out.

But the signals system between New York’s mass transit authority and its cultural organizations also needs to be upgraded.  A call is sent out to political leaders around a year ahead to ask of weekends when major events are planned; the appeal needs to be broader and the timing realistic.  So too should alternatives if the subway is shuttered: three shuttle buses and a spell on the J is not feasible.  (click here for Arts in Bushwick’s alternative alternatives.)

The mentality that subways only exist to take people from the outer boroughs to Manhattan to work is an anachronism: Manhattanites also need to get to Brooklyn – to see art.

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