“The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition” at The Brooklyn Museum

 The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art was an invigorating display of over 200 artists who have lived in Brooklyn the past five years. Walking through the space, an array of ideas is presented through painting, sculpture, video-installation, drawing, and textile. The description of the show leaves much to the viewer's discretion, which ties together the exhibited pieces through guiding themes such as migration, memory, identity, history, uncertainty, turbulence, healing and joy. While it was remarkable to see such a wide range of ideas being explored, it would have been nice to see more accompanying material to explain the context for some of these pieces. Walking through the exhibition with no prior knowledge of the artists or their work made it challenging to get to know the very artists that made up the show. 

The Book Club, Bergdorf Goodman "Destination Extraordinary", Holiday 2016

Context plays a big part with Johanna Burke’s Green Monkeys. Upon first glance the bright green embroidery beaded monkey grasped my attention. The manipulation of material was exceptional, as it read as natural organic material at a distance. However, after further research I realized that this piece had been commissioned by the designer luxury department Bergdorf Goodman as a holiday display in their storefront. Because this work is essentially an ad for a high-end fashion store, the potency of the piece was extinguished. Looking back, it feels like a big jump between that piece and other works which shared the same room, such as Qualeasha Wood’s woven tapestry which explores personal identity against the technological gaze. This show made me wonder about the process used to choose the artworks. Why were these pieces chosen as Brooklyn's best, out of the 4,000 applications? That being said, this exhibition made me excited for what's to come in the art world.