With an emphasis on locally-focused production and distribution, the alternative economic model of the CSA (community-supported agriculture) has expanded from fresh produce to contemporary art over the past few years. In 2010, the standard for community-supported art was set by the Springboard Center for the Arts, a nonprofit located in St. Paul, MN. Since its inception, this CSA model has spread to at least 40 locations nationwide, from Miami, FL to Fargo, ND, and now, for the first time, to our very own borough of Brooklyn.
A sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a national nonprofit providing a variety of services to the independent arts community, CSA+D (Community Supported Art & Design) provides an alternative way to collect art and sponsor emerging artists and designers. Funded through a subscription service and shareholding model, artists and designers selected by a jury are commissioned to create 50 pieces for CSA+D. A full share includes six pieces from a variety of media – painting, sculpture, textiles, decorative objects, ceramics, prints, lighting, t-shirts, and music are all prospective options. Not all shares are identical, and the exact contents of each share are not revealed until pick-up. While an element of surprise still remains, information about the artists and designed who have been announced so far can be found here.
In making contemporary art and design available to the community through local involvement and support, CSA+D directly connects artists and collectors as an alternative to more traditional means of art sales, such as galleries or online retail. The inaugural pick-up event is open to the public and will take place at Recession Art from 4-7pm on September 21st. Although shares have sold out for the first event, a number of artists and designers will bring additional pieces for sale. We hope to see you there!
Opening Reception: October 11, 7-10 pm
On View: October 11 – October 20
Featuring the nineteen artists selected to participate in Recession Art’s printmaking portfolio exchange – Fluctuations. The works included in this exhibition, correspond to limited edition prints, created by each artist for the sake of exchanging with each other.
The Fluctuations portfolio highlights artists working directly with printmaking processes, and also artists working with print concepts. The consideration of producing multiples, and the processes investigated in doing so, make Fluctuations both an exercise in coproduction and experimentation. With the help of our guest jurors Kyle Simon and Jon Irving, Fluctuations was curated to give representation to various contemporary and traditional artistic approaches, studio practices and interpretations of our theme.
Please join us for the opening reception of our exhibition on October 11, 2013, from 7-10pm at the Recession Art Gallery in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. Prints from each artist will be available for viewing and for sale.
Fluctuations is a portfolio consisting of original works by…
Recession art is located at 47 Bergen St, Brooklyn New York. Visit us during our hours of operation Thurday-Saturday, 1-7pm and Sunday 1-5pm.
Images are copyright of: Above- Jennifer Dayton. Slideshow – Namwoo Bae
In Stillness This Fiction Is Real, Megan Berk’s second solo exhibition at Recession Art, opened last night to great excitement. Thanks to all the Megan Berk friends and fans who came out for our season opener. For those who didn’t make it, come check out the show through October 6th and enjoy our photo gallery from the reception. You can also purchase work from the show in our online store or email us with any inquiries.
Opening September 7, 6-10 pmIn Stillness This Fiction is Real, Megan Berk’s second solo show at Recession Art, includes new paintings, prints and sculptural objects by the artist. Berk draws on personal photographs, movie stills, clippings from home & garden magazines, as well some of her earliest memories to create works that present an imperfect encounter with grace. Berk states, ‘It is very difficult to find a way to talk about the problems with beauty. It seems better to try to present something of beauty and let the problems show themselves. Beauty is complicated, and coming face-to-face with those complications draws us further in, closer to its core.’
The works in the exhibition are related both formally and thematically. The subtly textured, organic surfaces of Berk’s layered paintings on panel are echoed in a new series of silkscreen prints, created with the generous support of the Lower East Side Printshop’s Keyholder Residency program. In both, Berk wrestles to capture the tension in the quietest moments in the home and garden. The Almost Nice Domestic Device series, Berk’s first exhibited sculptural work, collapses the artist’s investigation of the relationship between nature and architecture down to a playful, tabletop scale.
Megan Berk was born in Los Angeles and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She received her MFA from Pratt Institute and has exhibited her work at Recession Art, Long Island University’s Salena Gallery, Silas Marder Gallery, Bowman/Bloom Gallery, Scope Art Fair and the German House of the German Consulate. Her work has been mentioned in the L Magazine, California Modern, Psychiana and the New York Times.
Image: Megan Berk, Dinner Hour, 2013. Silkscreen, variable edition of 10, 33” x 24”
Fluctuations was initially conceived as a way to stimulate a discussion between artists and collectors, allowing for individuals to perhaps play both of these roles. Focusing on the very idea of giving and receiving, or rather fluctuating between two points of view, our first ever art-exchange decidedly called upon the capabilities of media containing inherent qualities relating to dissemination, and ‘collectibility.’
Our exclusively printmaking, and print-related portfolio exchange, Fluctuations, examines the reflexively public qualities of printmaking, and does so within a collection of nineteen, limited edition, artist prints, each from a different artist. Each participating artist has been selected by curator and Recession Art staff member Anthony Tino, along with alumni artist and printmaker Jon Irving, and collaborative printmaker and artist Kyle Simon. We are pleased to announce the participants of the Fluctuations Print Exchange.
The Artists
About the Curator
Anthony Tino is an aspiring curator and artist and has been a contributor to the efforts of Recession Art since the fall of 2012. He received his BFA in Printmaking from State University of New York at New Paltz, where he immersed himself in inter-disciplinary collaborations with artists working in printmaking, sculpture, video and sound. Since joining Recession Art, he has co-curated the exhibition American Daydream, and is scheduled to curate select programing in the fall/winter of 2013.
About the Jurors
Jon Irving
Jon Irving was born and raised in the Washington DC area and recently received his MFA degree at SUNY New Paltz in Printmaking. Irving showed with Recession Art in our American Daydream exhibition, held in the winter of 2012. Irving is featured, for the second consecutive year, in the prestigious Internation Print Center of New York’s annual juried exhibition, which will be on display through August. Irving is currently working on his contribution to the Transmogrify Print Portfolio Exchange.
Kyle Simon
Kyle Simon is an artist, printmaker and illuminator living in Brooklyn, NY. Simon was born in Philadelphia and graduated from The College of Santa Fe in New Mexico. He currently works as a collaborative printmaker at Pace Prints in NYC. Simon’s works are narrative in nature. He tells original stories through diverse techniques and mediums. Most recently, his work has been shown at 31 Grand, Eyelevel BQE, Spin Magazine, Pace Prints, and Element Editions. He was featured in a solo exhibition at ARTJAIL. In summer 2011, Simon’s prints and sculptures were presented at Galerie allerArt in Blundenz, Austria.
slideshow photo is copyright of Jennifer Dwyer
