Photographer Meryl Meisler and writer James Panero discuss "Bushwick Chronicle," their exhibition on view at Stout Projects, Brooklyn, October 1-30, 2016.

BUSHWICK CHRONICLE

Photography by Meryl Meisler

Writing by James Panero

Exhibition: October 1 – 30, 2016

Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 1 – 5pm and by appointment

Opening reception:

Saturday, October 1st, 4 – 6pm

Gallery Talk & Podcast:

Saturday, October 1st, 5pm

STOUT PROJECTS

55 Meadow St. #310 Brooklyn, NY 11206 L train to Grand Street

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PHOTO: Bushwick Chronicle: Meryl Meisler and James Panero © Meryl Meisler 2016

BUSHWICK CHRONICLE: Photography by Meryl Meisler, Writing by James Panero, an exhibition at Stout Projects opening over Bushwick Open Studios and on view through October 2016, recognizes Bushwick as a historically significant artistic community now in need of documentation.

Over the summer of 2016 through a series of open calls, Meryl and James invited the artists, gallerists, journalists, and organizers of Bushwick to gather for group portraits inspired by Nina Leen’s 1950 portrait of the Abstract Expressionists in “The Irascibles,” Timothy Greenfield-Sanders's 1985 series “The New Irascibles,” and Art Kane’s 1958 portrait of Jazz Musicians in “A Great Day in Harlem.” These photographs were taken with a medium format camera using black-and-white film, returning Meryl to her analogue roots and printing in the dark-room. The exhibition of these new photographs is now paired with Meryl’s illustrative painted photographs of Bushwick from the 1980s on, and James’s writing on the neighborhood.

New York is unsentimental. It pushes and pulls, attracts and repels. The only constant is change. For artists these dynamics can be particularly extreme, both inspiring and challenging. For a short time in the long history of this neighborhood, Bushwick, Brooklyn became a place for artists to live, work, and exhibit together. Emerging after the 2008 recession on the periphery of the city’s cultural center, the arts of Bushwick came to be identified with self-creation: a sudden flowering nurtured by a network of self-made institutions, from apartment galleries to non-profit collaborations. Just as in Montparnasse a century ago, no one style dominated the neighborhood’s artistic scene. Instead a spirit of collaboration and DIY experimentation defined it.

As with other historical arts neighborhoods, from Montmartre to Tenth Street, Bushwick will one day cease to be a place of artistic relevance—not necessarily as artists are pushed out, but as non-artists push in. History is often lost in such transitions, which is why the Bushwick community now rightly regards documentation as among its important, lasting self-creations.

 

Meryl Meisler is a photographer who taught art in the Bushwick schools from 1981-1994. Carrying a point & shoot camera to capture what she saw going to, from, and during work, Meryl created the largest known photographic documentation of Bushwick during the era. Upon retiring from the NYC public schools, she began releasing large bodies of previously unseen work. Her monographsA Tale of Two Cities Disco Era Bushwick (Bizarre, 2014) and Purgatory & Paradise SASSY ‘70s Suburbia & The City (Bizarre, 2015) received international acclaim. Meryl is represented by Steven Kasher Gallery.

James Panero is the Executive Editor oTfhe New Criterion , where he writes monthly on art and culture and serves as the magazine’s gallery critic. His “Gallery Chronicle” column has been praised by writers, artists, and collectors for its coverage of the outer boroughs of New York and their alternative art scenes. As a curator he has organized the “The Joe Bonham Project” at Storefront Gallery and “Joe Zucker: Armada” at the National Arts Club. He is a contributing writer to the 2016 Arts in Bushwick publication “Making History.”

Peripheral events:

October 1, 2016– January 1, 2017

BIZARRE, ASSORTED MADNESS & THE UNEXPECTED Photographs by Meryl Meisler, Jean Stéphane Sauvaire and Gregory Baubeau Bizarre Black Box Gallery – 12 Jefferson Street, Brooklyn, NY
Bizarre BOS Opening Party, Saturday, October 1, 9pm – 4am

October 14, 2016 at 4pm

Arts in Bushwick panel discussion with James Panero, Deborah Brown, Loren Munk, and Cynthia Tobar, moderated by Lisa Corinne Davis at DAVID & SCHWEITZER Contemporary – 56 Bogart Street. Brooklyn, NY

Contact:

stoutprojectsnyc@gmail.com

Websites:

stoutprojects.net

jamespanero.com
merylmeisler.com

IN THE NEWS

Bushwick is a historically significant artistic community. I am grateful for the interest around our project of documentation:

BUSHWICK DOCUMENTATION PROJECT with Photographer Meryl Meisler Organized by James Panero, This program was recorded June 4, 2016 in Bushwick Brooklyn.

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