Pocket Utopia

Oh just go to the other blog...

2010-07-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

I thought I would write on this blog...but I'm only writing on this one: http://drawingontheutopic.blogspot.com/2010/07/on-train-with-super-artists.html

Reporting from Camp

2010-07-17T07:54:00.000-07:00

Pocket Utopia is an art project run by Austin Thomas that initiates community by connecting artists.

From July 21 - July 28, 2010, we will be hosted by the community of Rouses Point, NY

For a highlight of camp of events: click

Camp Calendar available on google

Drawing on the Utopic

2008-07-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

In an effort to lessen the density of my online and otherwise life, I am trying to have one blog (Drawing on the Utopic.) I'm posting a collection of photos here and will concentrate on posting in one place.

Pocket Utopia is home to Matthew Miller's studio this summer. I am organizing the second and final year at Pocket Utopia, details to follow.

current show

2008-05-11T07:54:00.001-07:00

Pocket Utopia's current show and public art project:

Pictured here are the images from the current show: Brece Honeycutt and Audra Wolowiec.

Graham Coreil-Allen's Visionary Crosswalks:

Visionary Crosswalks - Graham Coreil-Allen

2008-05-09T12:37:00.000-07:00

Visionary Crosswalks
May 10 – June 1, 2008

OPENING CELEBRATION/project launch, Saturday May 10th 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.

POCKET UTOPIA
1037 Flushing Avenue

Pocket Utopia is pleased to present it’s second neighborhood public art project: Visionary Crosswalks by artist Graham Coreil-Allen. Presented in-situ, Visionary Crosswalks will be a series of interactive crosswalk installations throughout Bushwick.

Graham Coreil-Allen will create five temporary "crosswalks" demonstrating some of the casual paths that pedestrians take when navigating various intersections in the northwest section of Bushwick. Coreil-Allen will also install interactive posters around the crosswalk sites and other locations. The posters will consist of a neighborhood map will detail particular intersections, and will posit this question: "How did you get here?" and "How did you cross the street?". Each map will also include a marking pen so that passers-by may answer the questions. Coreil-Allen will periodically collect these maps and use the participants responses as plans for installing additional crosswalks.

As part of Pocket Utopia’s ongoing “Social Saturday” series, Coriel-Allen will screen a video documenting the crosswalk footage on May 24th from 4:00 pm. The “Visionary Crosswalks Social Saturday” will be a fun and casual opportunity to watch videos, hang-out, and foster discourse on the pedestrian experience in Bushwick.

Interested participants can find maps and installation locations for Visionary Crosswalks at Pocket Utopia.

Brece Honeycutt and Audra Wolwiec exhibition opens May 9th

2008-04-30T14:09:00.001-07:00

Audra Wolowiec, Image: Fabric Wall Drawing 2008 dimensions variable pencil on the wall

Brece Honeycutt, Image: Arachne #1 2008 24 x 24 inches homespun wool & stainless steel pins May 9 – June 1, 2008

OPENING, Friday May 9th 6:00 – 10:00 p.m.
POCKET UTOPIA
1037 Flushing Avenue
[Just off the Morgan L, Bushwick]
Open Saturdays and Sundays 12-6 p.m. and by appointment
Call: 917-400-3869

Pocket Utopia is pleased to present an exhibition of artists Brece Honeycutt and Audra Wolowiec. In conversation with the physical space and with an acknowledgement of history, particularly the history of feminist art (materials, production, and execution), both artists create an open dialogue or a presence.

Honeycutt, literally in attendance, working as a Pocket Utopia artist in residence, knits and weaves within a cultural context, referencing myth, memory, and the web that may or may not hold it all together. Using her fingers to knit and sometimes incorporating plastic bags, she spins the space into a place of permission.

Wolowiec removes and receives space from the architecture and the body, by drawing on the gallery walls, embedding human hair within it and removing circles of it in a wall exchange program or what she terms “points of exchange.” Wolowiec also “exchanges” a freckle with a friend by getting a tattoo; here a circle of ink is shared. Certificates and photographs document her process.

Wolowiec finds; presenting a series of drawings on discarded lottery tickets, investigates and replaces. Whether made in the space, as in the case of Honeycutt, or drawn on the wall or cut out of it, as in the case with Wolowiec, both artists reside in a pocket utopia. A utopia of the egalitarian hand-made and marked. The resulting social fabric of the exhibition is a work space turned worked space where there is a deeper understanding of an artist space.

There will be a salon discussion on Wednesday, May 28th at 6:00 p.m. where the artist will be present to discuss fiber, feminism and ephemera. Refreshments will be served. This discussion is a part of Austin Thomas’s salon series titled, “Excuse me, you have art in your teeth.”

Pocket Utopia is an away-from center, off-center, exhibition, salon and social space run by artist Austin Thomas.

Open door, last day, Libby Montage

2008-04-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

The door opens to the last day of Libby's show.

Excuse me, you have art in your teeth love fest!

2008-04-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

Tonight's salon discussion was titled the "Post-studio Practice and the Artist Residency," and it was essentially me talking about how much I love Libby, Libby talking about how much she loves me, Brece talking about how much Pocket Utopia loves her, Audra talking about how much she loves the space, and how much we all love Rico!

Crazy chocolate chip crackers were served. Recipe to be improved.

Check out this creative post studio residency!

Guest Blog post by Brece Honeycutt: artist in residence

2008-04-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

Austin was away this weekend, so I was minding the gallery. At the end of Saturday, I sent her a report and thanked her for making such an incredible space to work in. As each individual walked into the space, the sense of Austin was apparent in the way they viewed it and felt it. Often the visitor expressed real regret that Austin was not there, and I admit, I too, felt a bit lonely without her. However, the visitors rolled in, some new to the space and many repeat visitors. People stop by on a regular basis on the weekends to see the work and chat, and now they have a place to sit, thanks to Libby’s addition of two beautiful benches.

Visitors included artists, friends and neighbors. Here is a partial list: Libby Hartle (former resident artist and current exhibitor); Audra (former intern and co-exhibitor with me in May); (Lindon (owner of the day care center down the street); Ben (in FAAN exhibition and neighbor); Hung (artist and instigator of new lecture series); Todd (neighbor and writer); Adam (artist and FAAN founder); Graham (neighbor and artist doing an upcoming project in Bushwick): a couple new to the space that “oooed and ahhed” over Libby’s nest sculptures and drawings and later returned with friends in tow.

So thanks to Austin for constructing such a perfect utopia and to the many guests that kept me company over the weekend.

You've seen the print, now come see the show!

2008-04-17T06:23:00.000-07:00

Stonefox Artspace presents: Elissa Levy, Phantom
April 22-July 1, 2008

Opening reception: Tuesday, April 22, 6 – 8 pm
Gallery hours: Monday – Friday, 12 – 6 pm
Location: 611 Broadway at Houston, Suite 405, New York, NY 10012
www.stonefoxartspace.com

In this solo exhibition in the front gallery space, Elissa Levy will present a new installation of assembled photographs, prints, drawings, sculpture, and found objects.

The dominant images in Levy's installation are photographs of athletes, soldiers, politicians, and celebrities, cut from newspapers and magazines. These appropriated images are transformed through isolating, fragmenting, obscuring, and repeating. Fluorescent colored tapes and found objects such as decorative beads, plastic ribbon, and fake barbed wire visually ground, frame, and link these elements together.

Levy abstracts her human figures by excising them from their original context, and then drawing concentric rings of color on top of them, forming a sort of visual aura or halo. This treatment is centered on the cores of the bodies, so that the limbs are visually amputated at the elbows and knees. This colorful superimposition alters the figures into ghost-like apparitions. A phantom presence also is evoked by Levy's practice of high-lighting images that bleed through from the back sides of newspaper pages. The truncation of the figures' limbs from their torsos evoke the plethora of amputees returning from war and the phenomena of "phantom limbs," the reported sensations that amputees feel in the parts of their bodies that are no longer there.

Other pieces in the show incorporate images of the ortolan, a small, endangered bird that is a French culinary delicacy. The preparation of this dish is so cruel that the practice has been outlawed. When eating it, one traditionally shrouds one's head entirely in a cloth, ostensibly to trap all of the aromas, although some believe that this practice was developed by a shameful priest who wished to shield his gluttony from God. Levy incorporates an image of a table full of ortolan eaters, whose shrouded forms resemble stylized ghosts, reflecting the morbid and ritualistic nature of their hedonism.

Levy layers imagery, materials, and references to engage with issues of masculinity, power, privilege, and loss. Soldiers and politicians evoke the two-pronged waging of war from the metaphorical halls of power and the trenches, each isolated from the realities of the other. Athletes and celebrities invoke social hierarchies in which entertainers are cultural idols, and sports matches provide endless dramatizations of heroized men gearing up and going into battle. Her work also addresses the very nature of representation and perception, particularly the flood of media images and the fractured nature of information, as well as the ways the brain pieces together missing information to perceive a whole.

About StoneFox ArtSpace: StoneFox Architects have set aside a portion of their New York office to create StoneFox ArtSpace. This temporary project and exhibition space provides independent curators and emerging artists an opportunity to showcase their work. The art space serves to promote a dialogue among artists, curators and collectors and to support these vital artistic endeavors.

Social Sunday

2008-04-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

It's the day after social Sunday and am I really getting ready for the next show?! Maybe I'm a little ahead of schedule...So I'm gonna go on vacation! Plus I can't get enough of Libby!

Pocket Utopia in Time Out Again

2008-04-12T04:39:00.000-07:00

Press, getting it, being in it has never been my strong suit. I've always been a little camera shy. So it's with delayed proclamation that I link here a slightly obscure article that appeared in TimeOutNY. The article was titled, "No man’s De Land," and profiled galleries and artist-run spaces that might have a relationship to the cultural provocateur Colin De Land.

Colin De Land launched careers and nurtured deep idiosyncrasies that so indelibly changed our cultural landscape that his presence can still be felt today. He helped put together a little art fair now known as The Armory Show.

Here's the article about him that mentions us: click.

Guy Corriero

2008-04-08T20:00:00.001-07:00

I forgot to mention that Guy Corriero from the Pierogi Show, the first Pocket Utopia (official) show, stopped to say hi and droped off this beautiful piece. I hung it up immediately! Thanks Guy!

The opening and the show

2008-04-06T18:54:00.000-07:00

Fun Opening!

Beautiful Show!

An idea turned into art

2008-04-04T07:36:00.001-07:00

About a year ago, I received my first blog-related fan letter from an artist named Libby Hartle. Tonight Libby's solo show opens at the Pocket.

For the past six months Libby has been working at a table in the back, walking to and from the space, collecting detritus and turning it into cast paper sticks. The sticks have become nests. Her drawings, made at the table, now cover the wall. Libby has even created a seating area that extends out from her work table. I feel very fortunate to sit there and watch idea become art.

onto the next show

2008-03-24T20:19:00.001-07:00

Pocket Utopia is pleased to present a solo exhibition of artist in residence, Libby Hartle. Since September, Libby Hartle has been transporting her materials and focusing her art-making to a small table at the back of the gallery, transporting her supplies and transforming her ideas to co-exisit with an exhibition program and a visiting public.

The result is presented here in the form of found papers (parking tickets, lottery stubs, and other detritus), picked up on her walks to the gallery and turned into, through a sorting, soaking and casting process, a brightly colored habitat. Hartle, working in the space and relating to its visitors has also expanded the floor space into a seating area, or a place to perch and drink tea or sip beer (Hartle is an expert "beeramid" builder).

A visitor can join Hartle as she “hosts” a salon of drawn and collaged structures (homes and bus-mobiles), cut and glued through a semi-architectural drawing process or what Hartle has termed “stickitecture.” The space is filled and formed for the viewer to sit and plan their escape.

There will be a salon discussion on Wednesday, April 23rd at 6:00 p.m. where the artist will be present to talk about the post-studio practice and artist residencies. Refreshments will be served. This discussion is a part of Austin Thomas’s salon series titled, “Excuse me, you have art in your teeth.”

Pocket Utopia editions a print with artist Elissa Levy

2008-03-22T07:56:00.001-07:00

We're so excited about the next print by artist E Elissa Levy! It's the first time we issues 3 colors, 3 screens and we really built the print like a sculpture! It's a beauty, edition of 20, $200.00, reserve now!

Another weekend at Pocket Utopia

2008-03-17T07:55:00.001-07:00

People coming into Pocket Utopia seem to be cheered on to be in the fringe of the art looking geography and it also appears there's a consensus that the "center" or Chelsea galleries and the art framed within them looks better online. Attention art viewers, you are free to travel out and beyond, so break your viewing boundaries!

At our salon, situated in Bushwick, the sand in Rubi's installation seems to be making its way back to the sea, it continues to slip off its shelf and onto the floor. Next up, this week I'm working hard on editioning a print with artist Elissa Levy.

My Recommendation is...

2008-03-13T08:23:00.001-07:00

This is to all the artists requesting to be involved in the Pocket Utopia project:

My recommendation is that you come by and talk about what you'd like to do. Since Pocket Utopia is an extension of my art experiments, it's got a 2 year run that is pretty much planned out. Giving myself the opportunity to do all this, I've curated 2 years worth of shows essentially. But since it is a salon space and not a gallery, being open only Saturday and Sunday, I'm asking artists that have asked me if they can do something at Pocket Utopia to think a little differently.

Perhaps there's something event based, performative, discussion-oriented and presentational that you can do. So with all that said, and always being careful not to offend my fellow artists and continue in some way to offer opportunities, you might have something we can work with!

Let's talk soon.

Rain on the outside, sunny on the inside

2008-03-08T17:46:00.001-08:00

Here we go, exhibition #9!

2008-02-29T12:59:00.000-08:00

Danielle's show is officially the 7th show and unofficially the 9th show (with 2 under-the-radar shows in the summer before we renovated). Danielle worked so hard installing out in Bushwick, a very different place then her sunny Santa Barbara, CA. She really rose to the occasion and made a wonderful show!

I'm so proud of her!!! Shots of the opening (fun).

Getting Danielle Rubi

2008-02-28T05:05:00.000-08:00

Picking up Danielle from the airport yesterday, with her work all packed in a surfboard bag, felt like a drive down the block because it was Danielle. She's easy going and a fantastic artist. Today we install, look for more pictures!

Pocket Utopia presents Coast, Photographs by Danielle Rubi
Opening: March 1st - 6:00 - 10:00 pm

Golden Ratio 2007 c-print 15x20 inches
Coast
Photographs by Danielle Rubi
March 1 - March 24, 2008
OPENING, Saturday, March 1st 6:00 - 10:00 pm

In Coast, Rubi shows a group of photographs (color prints and cyanotypes) accompanied by watercolors, drawings, and objects that illuminate the magic of where the water meets the land, and its effect on human behavior and mindset.

A cluster of undeniable, deep-rooted symbols appears in the group of photographs. Water becomes womb-like when a person floats in it (weightless body, weightless mind). Pelicans travel, sophisticated, in a giant,sideways V, a shape that is both the feminine V of earthly fertility, and the phallic pyramid, pointed skyward. The spiral of water off a girls flipping hair draws us into the universal infinity described by Carl Jung, depicted by innumerable prehistoric and indigenous artists, and linked eternally, like the nautilus shell, to the golden ratio.

Post-Studio Life

2008-02-25T07:35:00.000-08:00

I walked into Pocket Utopia yesterday to see a note from Libby Hartle, one of the artist currently in residence, that she was down at Life Cafe and would be back soon. She came back and people kept coming and staying all day. It was an interesting scene. It was the last day of Rico's show. Jerry Saltz and Roberta Smith even joined the party!

Post-post-black etc.

2008-02-22T12:20:00.001-08:00

Certainly was a "post-post-black" crowd last night. The art world doesn't really get too political. The artworld might hold up a mirror to the real world every once and awhile but most of the time the art world exists as a parallel world, and is not the real world.

"Excuse me, you have art in your teeth" Salon: Is Post-Black Still Relevant? Thurs., Feb. 21st 6PM

2008-02-20T12:33:00.001-08:00

As part of my ongoing salon series at Pocket Utopia, I'm organizing a discussion on Thursday, February 21st at 6:00 p.m. where the artist Rico Gatson will be present to talk about the relevance of the situational prefix "post-black." Refreshments will be served.

This discussion is a part of Austin Thomas's salon series titled, "Excuse me, you have art in your teeth."

Thursday, February 21st at 6:00 p.m. (Nina Simone's birthday)

social saturday @ pocket utopia 4pm L train is a runnin'

2008-02-15T08:22:00.000-08:00

We're celebrating our recent press and accolades with a "social saturday" and it's Audra birthday (our first intern)! We'll be serving up cake.

Meet Brece and check out Nina!

SUPPORT POCKET UTOPIA BUY A LIMITED EDITION RICO GATON.

Using your GPS (Gallery Positioning System) in New York

2008-02-13T08:14:00.000-08:00

By Paddy Johnson

from artreview.com

[...] Another fascinating new space is the artist-run Pocket Utopia in Bushwick. It's by far the best gallery in the neighbourhood. Since opening last fall, the still-unfinished space has hosted Not Yet Utopic, a strong photography exhibition
introducing the brilliant portraits of Eric Hairabedian, A Lawrence Weiner salon, featuring a reading room, a re-creation of A 36" x 36" Removal to the Lathing or Support Wall of Plaster or Wallboard From a Wall, (1968), and, up now, Rico
Gatson's intriguing solo show. Gatson delights in manipulating cultural symbols, or simply revealing their fluidity: in Untitled (X) (2008), he leans a wooden cross on its side against the wall so that it ends up looking more like a
negating 'X'. Gatson again plays with slippage in recognition in a small video of a man running, which is played on an indefinite and disturbing loop. The soundtrack similarly repeats, though the track is much longer than the footage,
there by obscuring the length of the video. Speaking to the content of the work Gatson will give a talk on 'the relevance of the situational prefix "post-black"' on 21 February at the gallery.

As the success of Gatson's show and others at Pocket Utopia indicates, what matters is not so much that new galleries should operate with a unique business model or find a particular niche, but rather that the owner has an eye for
talent, and finds the resources to promote it. Even as the number of commercial and not-for-profit spaces continues to rise, the challenges for artists, viewers and galleries remains much the same.

New artist in residence in full spin

2008-02-11T08:12:00.001-08:00

Wearing her grandmother's apron, Brece Honeycutt starts her residency at Pocket utopia by spinning raw wool and weaving it with plastic bags. Come visit her, bring a bag.

Pocket Utopia in Time Out

2008-02-08T07:41:00.001-08:00

Time Out New York magazine publishes Rico's X!

Raising the bar

2008-02-06T08:26:00.000-08:00

Although all the shows at Pocket U have been interesting, educational, emotional, and great, Rico's is by far the best. He has raised the bar by giving us his best.

Now I am in the position of questioning the rest of the program. Rico's showing is a message to the rest of us, for Pocket Utopia wants to see the best in each of us.

Rico Gatson

2008-02-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

Pocket Utopia is pleased to present a solo exhibition of Rico Gatson. It is Gatson’s desire to modulate the conversation surrounding the iconic, the conceptually efficient and the articulation of identity politics through a series of sculptures, paintings, collages and video.

A cross morphs into an “x,” a video reloads and repeats a running sequence revealing the “connection,” and a painted platform becomes a social construction. Gatson shines a light into our collective blackness and reflects a variety of cultural realities where minimalism and the Black Panther Party are on the same plane.

At Pocket Utopia, Gatson enters a relational conversation in a social space where there are no fixed meanings. His complex compositions are an evolving conversation. Pocket Utopia is also pleased to release Gatson’s limited edition print of the musician Nina Simone. This print is the second in a series of limited editions that support the exhibition and social investigations of Pocket Utopia.

There will be a salon discussion on Thursday, February 21st at 6:00 p.m. where the artist will be present to talk about the relevance of the situational prefix “post-black.” Refreshments will be served. This discussion is a part of Austin Thomas’s salon series titled, “Excuse me, you have art in your teeth.”

$$$$

2008-01-23T08:44:00.001-08:00

Of all the creative pocket utopias I've looked at thus far, and please be encouraged to experiment with one yourself, I think that FAAN is the most successful. It might not be realistic to compare ourselves to Lawrence Weiner and the Pierogi Flatfile has Joe Amrhein as a gatekeeper, but FAAN is controlled by the artists that are on it. (Although you do have to be invited by an artist on the site in order to join).

As a participating FAAN artist, I can give away one maybe two works (for whatever reason) every couple of years to a collector that may (for whatever reason) not be able to buy it for full market value. It's that simple. Other artists may choose to put work on the site for a variety of reasons and that's there choice at the moment, but I think for me it works to keep it simple, for it's a gift to be so.

Money and the art world: A Salon, Wed., Jan. 23rd, 6pm

2008-01-21T10:27:00.000-08:00

As part of my ongoing salon series at Pocket Utopia, I'm organizing a discussion about the workings of the Fine Art Adoption Network and issues of money and the art world. It should be interesting. Here's all the info:

"Excuse me, you have art in your teeth" Salon and discussion of FAAN and $ in the art world January 23th @ 6pm

Please join the originator of the Fine Art Adoption Network (FAAN), Adam Simon and the curator of the show Audra Wolowiec and the exhibiting artists in a discussion of this wonderfully generous and genius project called-FAAN

Refreshments will be served (Pernod and cupcakes).

View of the Fine Art Adoption Network Show @ Pocket Utopia

Pocket Utopia editions a print with artist Rico Gatson

2008-01-10T08:53:00.000-08:00

Pocket Utopia supports itself by selling prints by more established artists (meaning they have gallery representation).

For Pocket Utopia, Rico Gatson has made a Gocco print of Nina Simone. It's printed in silver, gold and black ink on black or white paper. It's an edition of 20, $200 each, and it's awesome!

Rico Gatson will have a show at Pocket Utopia in February.

An artworld refuge

2008-01-06T06:32:00.001-08:00

After going to an opening on the lower east side last night and not being able to get into the small, over-crowded space to watch a performance of spandex-clad women passing a golden fish in the dark, and standing on the sidewalk in the rain, it dawned on me that I've created a real world refuge for artists out in Bushwick. While I thought the lower east side opening was pretty awful, bordering on mild torture and another, attended at an exclusive Charles Street gallery, relatively boring and mind-numbing, I thought the FAAN opening at Pocket Utopia pretty blissful!

At the FAAN opening, which was 4 hours long, we popped champagne, bottle after bottle, and of course talk about art , money, politics, and share recipes in a supportive environment! It was sooooo fun! What a blast we're having!

Installing the FAAN Show

2008-01-03T08:49:00.001-08:00

After working until 12:30 am last night, the FAAN show is installed. It looks great, I can say that since Audra curated it. Now the adoptions can start.

I just want to go to bed, but there's more to do-find homes for art!

FAAN opening Friday

2007-12-31T10:06:00.000-08:00

Pocket Utopia presents The Fine Art Adoption Network (FAAN): January 4- 27, Opening Jan. 4th 6:00 - 10:00 pm

Artists selected from the online network where all of the artworks on view are available for adoption:

Matt Davis

Laura Devendorf

Danielle Dimston

Marcy B. Freedman

Ben Godward

Jill Henderson

Matt King

Dave Krueger

Jacob Rhodes

Analia Segal

Jason Simon

Tattfoo Tan

January 4 – January 27, 2008

OPENING, Friday January 4 6:00 – 10:00 pm

POCKET UTOPIA

1037 Flushing Avenue

[Just off the Morgan L, Bushwick]

Open Saturdays and Sundays 12-6 and by appointment

Call: 917-400-3869

Pocket Utopia is pleased to present an exhibition of the Fine Art Adoption Network (FAAN). FAAN is an online network that uses a gift economy to connect artists and potential collectors. Pocket Utopia will function as a clearinghouse and will facilitate the adoption process. Post-studio artist and Pocket Utopia intern Audra Wolowiec selected the works on view. The adoption of artworks between the artist and collector will be finalized through the website (http://www.fineartadoption.net/); no purchases will be made.

"Ideally, the work is going to people who would not otherwise own the artwork," says Adam Simon, the Brooklyn, N.Y. artist who set up Fine Art Adoption Network (FAAN) with the support of Art in General. Adopters might be institutions with no art budget, individuals with little disposable income, or families who haven't considered making art a priority.

One of the goals of FAAN is to help increase and diversify the population of art owners and to offer artists new means for engaging with their audience. The artist determines who can adopt the artwork.

Adam Simon got the idea for FAAN when his mom moved from a house to an apartment, and he found himself regaining possession of two large paintings he had made years before. That’s when the light bulb went on: Artists have more art than they can store, while plenty of people who love art have no way of owning it. So why not use the Internet to facilitate art adoptions?

This exhibition of FAAN is the third in a series examining creative pocket utopias that began by opening a file at Pierogi (The Pierogi Show at Pocket Utopia in September 2007). Then in December 2007 with a show titled “Etsy,” Pocket Utopia ventured into the crafty commerce of the online place to buy and sell all things handmade with the same name (http://www.etsy.com)

There will be a salon discussion held on Wednesday, January 23rd at 6:00pm where Adam Simon and FAAN artists will talk about money and its role in the art world. Refreshments will be served. This discussion is a part of Austin Thomas’s salon series titled, “Excuse me, you have art in your teeth.”

Pocket Utopia is an away-from center, off-center, exhibition, salon and social space run by artist Austin Thomas.

The next exhibition will feature work by Rico Gatson (opening 2/01/08). For this occasion, a limited edition Gocco print will be produced.

Pictured above: David Krueger

(This piece is from the Journeys, States & Locations show waaaay back at Joel Beck & Jessica Murray's Salon 75 on Roebling. This was the first showing of my work which blended murky pop colored liquids and surreal light sources, with landscapes, portraits and psychologically loaded objects. #1 of 5, cibachrome mounted to plexi. It's a til-a-whirl. Or is it? Roll up for the chemical carnival tour.)

Additional Information
Photograph
Completed in: 1996
28 x 20 inches
Near or in New York, NY / United States

Intern Appreciation Day

2007-12-20T10:13:00.000-08:00

Today is intern appreciation day! Here's to Audra Wolowiec, out there collecting posters of Lawrence Weiner's (before they are pasted over) Whitney retrospective from blue walled-in construction sites, and to Matthew Miller who's giving and receiving his final critic of the semester right now!

I love both of you! Team Pocket Utopia rocks! We've eaten enough egg rolls to last a lifetime! Thank you for supporting this post-studio, post-gallery, and now post-curatorial salon space. There's a lot coming up. We've got more tours of all kinds (studios, galleries, and collectors homes), prints to produce, shows to hang, pack, ship, and talk about.

The next show will delve into another pocket utopia, the Fine Art Adoption Network. Everything in the show will be available for adoption. Next up will be Rico Gatson's show. Pictured above, are test prints for the edition he will produce for us. Then there's Danielle Rubi, artist extraordinaire from California, Libby Hartle will show the fruits of her post-studio residency in April, followed by a service-oriented exhibition by our Audra and spring, post-studio artist in resident Brece Honeycutt, and then we'll finish up with a summer photography show.

Preview photos are as follows, representing the FAAN show: Tattfoo Tan
Rico Gatson working on his edition for Pocket Utopia, titled "Nina Simone"
Danielle Rubi's example of a cyanotype process and Audra cutting Brece's hair!!

Salon space of a gallery

2007-12-14T20:09:00.001-08:00

Last Sunday turned saloning when Fred Gutzeit (his photo above) walked in with old time art school pal Dick Immarino. Sal Randolph and Libby Hartle chimed in and the night continued long after the gallery closed.

Easy Etsy

2007-12-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

Weekends at Pocket Utopia have been filled with folks reading zines and buying butterflies .

Etsy is installed, even if it's missing a piece...

2007-12-01T18:15:00.000-08:00

It's not just a show about craft or craft-based artists, it's a show about Etsy! I'm trying to shake it up a little bit. Last month it was high concept with a salon organized in Lawrence Weiner's honor and now it's origami butterflies and ceramics.

The artists are from all over; Philadelphia, and smaller Pennsylvania towns, towns in California, some place in Tennessee, Montreal, Maine, California, Cambridge, UK, and Chicago.

In a not so specific order here are the artist stores to check out and some images of the show above.

Erin Partridge
Janice Lagard
Abby Glassenberg
Corey Ramsey
Irene Suchocki
Megan Bogonovich
Cathy Nichols
Karen Switzer
Kim Westad
Shannon Rankin
Xusah
Susan Angebranndt
Tiina Burton
Dan Grzeca
Peter Cunicelli
Hal Hahn

It's also Arts in Bushwick Day tomorrow and our Audra is doing a project!! It's titled "Instruction Sites" and you'll find it around Bushwick, you'll have discover something to do.

Sal Raldolph "texts" the context of instructional art and Lawrence Weiner

2007-11-26T12:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Sunday Pocket Utopia held a closing party for Lawrence Weiner and an "Excuse me, you have art in your teeth" salon with Sal Randolph.

Sal Randolph read from Lawrence Weiner's statements and those of other artists including Robert Barry, Alan Kaprow, Ben Kinmont, Alison Knowles, Lee Lozano, Yoko Ono, and La Monte Young. She opened with a discussion on the relationship of text statements to physical embodiment in conceptual and performative artwork with the Pocket Utopia's re-creation of ("A 36" x 36" Removal to the Lathing or Support Wall of Plaster or Wallboard From a Wall,"1968) as the star example. We served Pernod and Fig Newtons.

Sal presented parts of her gathered anthology of instructional based artworks and antedotes of actually "doing" an instructional artwork or just reading about doing it, and all that it implies. The afternoon was liberating in that, yes, life sometimes (and art) comes with instructions. Thanks Sal!

A collector's utopia

2007-11-24T19:19:00.000-08:00

While in Chicago I visited an art collector's home utopia and admired this newspaper collage by Jean Dubuffet in the bedroom. All the other pictures I took didn't really come out right; the pieces Richard Tuttle made especially for the entrance way were to blurry, the Maya Lin custom stools I chopped short, the Sol Lewitt coffee table picture had too harsh a reflection from the flash, and the Klint came out too dark (I should have used a flash).

Nothing quite captured the home or the artwork just right because there was little distinction between the two. The house was built around the art and the art was installed perfectly in it's home. It was an experience.

I returned to my home last night to find a package from Lawrence Weiner waiting for me. A little utopia of my own in an envelope.

Social Saturday with Libby's "Beeramid"

2007-11-18T17:31:00.000-08:00

These pictures of building the "beeramid," one can at a time are courtesy Joy Garnett since I somehow deleted all of mine. Violet, Libby Hartle's daughter, helps stack a form then used to gather a group to drink and talk. That's what we do at Pocket U., build pyramids of color coded beer cans!

Worth repeating (from today's NYT, weekend arts section)

2007-11-16T07:28:00.000-08:00

Lawrence Weiner: As Far As The Eye Can See This retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art consists mainly of phrases in large letters. Also above, a work in which spray paint was applied directly to the floor

By ROBERTA SMITH
Published: November 16, 2007

So here we are. Just about any scrap of canvas or even paper by Andy Warhol is worth at least a million dollars and usually several. Richard Prince’s retro “Nurse” paintings have cleared $6 million less than five years after they were made. And Jeff Koons’s least-interesting baubles, despite glimmers of anti-bauble intent, go for as much as $23 million.

Be grateful, then, for Lawrence Weiner’s mind-stretching 40-year retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art, which is respite, wake-up call and purification rite all in one. It should be required viewing for anyone interested in today’s art, especially people who frequent contemporary art auctions.

A Reading Show

2007-11-14T07:38:00.001-08:00

People walk in and read. They might be graduate students from Columbia, neighbors, Lawrence Weiner fans or those who are soon to be fans.

Ebay and beyond

2007-11-10T04:19:00.000-08:00

In a fit of commerce last week, I put the entire show on ebay. We'll see what happens for the auction ends tomorrow.

A collector called from Texas requesting any Lawrence-related ephemera from the show, which we don't really have but we are thinking about making a zine. I've never made a zine so Audra is researching the artform. Now it's time to start organizing the next installment at Pocket Utopia, the Etsy Show.

Reading and working on Sundays at Pocket U.

2007-11-06T03:12:00.000-08:00

Libby Hartle worked at her residency station on Sunday while visitors read about Lawrence Weiner. Libby and Lawrence make a good pair.

The opening featured an awesome, very funny performance by Andrew Hurst. Could it be that it was the best opening because their was no "official" artist there to measure oneself against?? Everyone just thoroughly enjoyed themselves. There wasn't an ego to negotiate around. There was the art and the performance and a good time.

When I spoke with Lawrence Weiner about the salon, he said, "...thanks," and "I'm honored..." But really I'm the one that's honored to present his work and the other things that go on at Pocket U, and I'm the one that is thankful.

A Lawrence Weiner Salon opens

2007-11-04T04:41:00.000-08:00

A Lawrence Weiner Salon opened Friday night with a reading room, a re-creation, and a text piece. Special guest artist Andrew Hurst performed brillantly. Lawrence would have been pleased.

The show presents an installation of books by and about Lawrence Weiner, a re-creation (“A 36” x 36” Removal to the Lathing or Support Wall of Plaster or Wallboard From a Wall,” 1968) and a text piece. Weiner has long pursued inquiries into language and art-making and posits a radical redefinition of the artist/viewer relationship and the very nature of the artwork. Here too, the venue or gallery and its relationship to the artist also gets redefined.

By transporting his investigations to Bushwick's Pocket Utopia, the viewer will discover a comfortable and unobtrusive means to read and experience Weiner's work and make their own assumptions about the nature of the art object. Working with the Weiner's grateful acknowledgment, Pocket Utopia democratizes access to his work. Although the artist here is all but invisible, the viewer will be able to see even farther, think a little more and read a lot.

Re-creating a Lawrence Weiner

2007-10-31T17:38:00.000-07:00

Using the helpful instructions provided by Temporary Services, Mike and Audra went to work the other night re-creating a Lawrence Weiner "removal piece." Temporary Services is an amazing organization based in Chicago and working world-wide.

Above is the process of removal in pictures!

Lucas and now Lawrence

2007-10-29T08:43:00.001-07:00

Lucas Reiner spoke at his closing salon yesterday to an intimate grouping. Then we took down the show and now are batteries (for the drill) are charging to install "A Lawrence Weiner Salon" with reading areas, a re-creation of a piece from 1968, and a text "drawing." And...an opening performance by Andrew Hurst that will suprise us all!

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:

Pocket Utopia presents A Lawrence Weiner Salon; a reading room, a re-creation, and a text piece, Opening Fri. Nov. 2nd, 6:00 - 10:00 pm

with opening performance by Andrew Hurst

POCKET UTOPIA, 1037 Flushing Avenue (Bushwick), Brooklyn, NY 11237

Please join us for the opening of A LAWRENCE WEINER SALON
OPENING: Friday, Nov. 2, 6-10pm
DATES: 2 November- 25 November, 2007
DIRECTIONS: Take the L train to Morgan Ave. Exit from the front of train, leave the station on the right and you will be at the corner of Morgan Avenue and
Harrison Place. Walk south on Morgan Ave. crossing Grattan, Thames, and Rock Sts. Turn left at the light onto Flushing Ave. 1037 Flushing is the 4th building from the corner of Morgan Ave. and Flushing Ave.

Open Saturdays and Sundays 12-6 and by appointment, call, 917-400-3869

A LAWRENCE WEINER SALON; a reading room, a re-creation, and a text piece

Pocket Utopia is pleased to organize an experimental salon of conceptual art's key figure Lawrence Weiner. The salon will feature a reading room, a re-creation (“A 36” x 36” Removal to the Lathing or Support Wall of Plaster or Wallboard From a Wall,” 1968) and a text piece. Weiner has long pursued inquiries into language and art-making and posits a radical redefinition of the artist/viewer relationship and the very nature of the artwork. Here too, the venue or gallery and its relationship to the artist also gets redefined.

By transporting his investigations to Bushwick's Pocket Utopia, the viewer will discover a comfortable and unobtrusive means to read and experience Weiner's work and make their own assumptions about the nature of the art object. Working with the Weiner's grateful acknowledgment , Pocket Utopia democratizes access to his work. Although the artist here is all but invisible, the viewer will be able to see even farther, think a little more and read a lot.

"Excuse me, you have art in your teeth" Closing Salon/Lucas Reiner Talk October 28th @ 4pm

2007-10-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

"Excuse me, you have art in your teeth" Closing Salon/Lucas Reiner Talk October 28th @ 4pm

Please join artist Lucas Reiner at Pocket Utopia as he discusses his on-going fascination with trimmed trees -- and the photographs, paintings, drawings, and film that have resulted from this, refreshments served.

above Lucas Reiner, installation view

Directions to POCKET UTOPIA

1037 Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn, ground floor.

Directions:

Via subway:

1. Take the L train to the Morgan Ave. stop (board the first car in the front of the train).

2. Exit the platform at the front of the train and exit the station on the right and you will be at the corner of Morgan Avenue and

Harrison Place.

3. Walk south on Morgan Ave. crossing Grattan, Thames, and Rock Sts.

4. Turn left at the light onto Flushing Ave.

5. 1037 Flushing is the 4th building from the corner of Morgan Ave. and Flushing Ave.

Via car from Manhattan:

1. Take the Williamsburg Bridge (inside lane) to the Humboldt Street exit.

2. Turn right onto Humboldt Street, go 7 blocks and turn left onto Metropolitan Avenue.

3. Go several blocks and turn right onto Morgan Avenue.

4. Follow Morgan to the point where it become a V, stay to the left, and turn left at the light onto Johnson Avenue.

5. Turn right onto Porter Avenue. Go 5 blocks and turn right onto Flushing Avenue.

Pocket Utopia gets another post-studio artist in resident

2007-10-21T22:08:00.000-07:00

I arrived at Pocket Utopia to find Libby Hartle, our artist in resident, hard at work. I sat near her in the back and began emailing out notices for Lucas Reiner's upcoming closing salon that will happen next Sunday, October 28th at 4:00pm.

I finished emailing just in time to welcome Christine Catsifas our other fall post-studio artist in resident on her first day. Christine and Libby will share the small table, the floor, the chairs, a tea, and ideas.

I had to leave the artists at their table and dash off to the lower east side for a Pocket Utopia gallery tour. Pictured above are tour participants at gallery Number 35 and at Orchard. Also pictured is a shot of the sand from Mike Nelson's installation at Essex Market. Mike Nelson's piece definitely set the tone for the tour, which ended with a group visit to Fred Gutzeit’s studio.

Seed Bombs Explode

2007-10-19T07:16:00.000-07:00

Megan Whiteford's Green Bomb is exploding! Neighborhood kids stopped by thanks to a planting effort by Trees Not trash lead by the unstoppable Kate Gilliam. I can't wait until spring (even though it feels like July now)!

A visit to Fred Gutzeit’s Studio

2007-10-14T09:21:00.000-07:00

On Friday, I visited Fred Gutzeit’s studio where he has been making art since 1970. He also lives there and has remained very engaged in the art community around him while continuing to mine his imaginary worlds. I will lead a tour to his studio after we make our way around some lower east side galleries. We might stop for Chinese food and catch Mike Nelson's installation at Essex Market.

My weekend has been spent at Pocket Utopia listening to the Leaves of Grass passage that accompanies Lucas Reiner's film "Trees." At the moment this is my favorite line, "Long have you timidly waded, holding a plank by the shore, now I will you to be a bold swimmer, to jump off in the midst of the sea, and rise again and nod to me and shout, and laughingly dash with your hair."

Matthew Miller reviews Lucas Reiner

2007-10-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

Matthew, Pocket Utopia's intern and the "post-studio" artist in resident coordinator and curatorial assistant, has written a review of the current show, Lucas Reiner, below:

At the second ever Pocket Utopia show in Bushwick, a mid-career L.A. artist sheds light on the heavy-handed habits of his city’s municipal tree-trimming efforts.

Over the course of the past few decades, an wide assortment of trees have been imported from exotic international locations to the star-studded concrete desert of L.A. Lucas Reiner, a painter and photographer, takes note of the peculiar, if somewhat perverse, nature of the program. These adopted trees are nourished by the city’s acid rain and limited fertile soil. However, Mother Nature has never been much of a pushover, so many of the exotic transplants blossom into a gorgeous height and fullness despite the poor conditions of city living. Go trees.

Of course, city municipal workers - green thumbs with chainsaws – occasionally roll around pragmatically hacking the hard-nosed trees into overgrown bonsai formations. Reiner is satisfied to document the curious spectacle and integrate it into his art practice.

The show takes a contemporary multi-media format: a short film, a wall-sized computer print, a painting, and an editioned series of small hand-worked gocco prints. Reiner takes up the documentary role in the film (a survey flick of short clips dubbed over with elegant Walt Whitman prose) and the wall print (a banal shot of a tired tree pinned to a neighboring industrial building). The editioned print depicts a tree in litho-black silhouette against the atmospheric backdrop of hand-painted blue and gold hues. However, the centerpiece and strength of the exhibit is the large painting.

The painting is as puzzling as the phenomena of the city’s tree project. Most of the large-scale panel is rigorously worked up from it’s slightly visible underpainting into a texture which nearly evokes a sublime bluish ether, but is upstaged by the decorative surface resolution. The deftly painted tree with its thick branches—slashed and overgrown with new spring leaves—appears stamped onto the stylized ground. The collage idiom and the paint handling create a potent visual tension central to the work. Reiner mediates the molested tree with a setting in which it remains fundamentally displaced. Maybe the city is the only suitable habitat for this exiled tree. Or perhaps this tree is a metaphor, a sort of delegate, for our negotiations with the natural world. Go trees.

The post-studio artist begins her residency

2007-10-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

After securing the perfect table at a nearby junk shop, Libby Hartle, Pocket Utopia's first post-studio artist in resident got down to work. I think I was more excited than she was after screwing the legs into the bottom of the table and then watching her make art.

I was also pleased with the response that Megan Whiteford's Green Bomb public art piece was getting, with folks picking up their seeds and planting them. Lucas Reiner stopped in and all was perfect at Pocket Utopia until it became a little more perfect when Jerry Saltz and Roberta Smith walked in and paid us an enthusiastic visit. For a short time my Pocket Utopia looked a little bigger then my pocket.

Pocket Utopia inaugurates it's first public art project

2007-10-07T07:54:00.000-07:00

Here are journal entries from Megan Whiteford's online journal describing the thoughts behind her greenbomb public art project and it's process to date.

The Green Bomb Project

the night before
Posted on 2007.10.06 at 00:23

1973: Liz Christy throws seed grenades made of vegetation, fertilizer, and water over New York City fences, sparking the Guerrilla Gardening movement
After 35 years the space she targeted is still managed and protected by the city park department

As an artist, I am interested in the relationship and distance between modern human and her/his environment. With this gardening piece, I hope to bridge that gap. An interesting and pertinent artist to check out is Kathryn Miller at greenmuseum.org. Her pieces approach similar ideas to the Green Bomb Project, such as the issues of native species, habitat, and ecological concern. I feel that we are both concerned with the life support local communities, not to mention she had a similar project of seed bombing at Pomona College, one of my Claremont College alma maters.

My piece took on the name 'green bombs' but really I'm more concerned with getting people involved with their community of Bushwick and with gardening than with the history and science of green bombing. Before the concept of this piece I was completely unaware of the history of 'green bombing.' If these seeds aren't successful, I hope that everyone still keeps an interest in bringing native vegetation back to this city. Not every lot has to become American Apparel. This is a community-building piece and a push to encourage everyone to envision open spaces as opportunities for true growth, to take on space as their own (rightfully), and to challenge the notion of public space with active public participation.

Hope to see you tomorrow

The Beginning
Posted on 2007.10.03 at 00:20
The Green Bomb Project is brought to the streets of Bushwick, Brooklyn, NYC through the mind of Meg Whiteford with the help of Pocket Utopia Gallery. This public arts initiative is a highly conceptual attempt to bring native species back to Brooklyn through guerrilla gardening. The idea is for folks to pick up a ‘bomb’ at Pocket Utopia, located at 1037 Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn. They will then drop the ‘bomb’ in any desired location: preferably someplace partially sunny to sunny in an area that looks like it could use some flora! There will be a map at the gallery for guerilla gardeners to pinpoint the location of their plants. Gardeners are highly encouraged to take photos, write to greenbombs@gmail.com and post to this blog! It is my hope that through this project, we can bring some green back to the city, to beautify our everyday lives, and to being to live backwardly again: from the root up.

Happy Planting

Nature of the seeds: Columbine

Columbine is native to New York City. Choosing native plants is highly important when planning a garden, as not only will they naturally thrive with minimal care, they won’t disturb other plants and wildlife. In addition, native plants attract pollinators to spread the seeds, propagating growth on numerous levels. Native plants clean the air, act as natural erosion control, and contribute to the general health of our ecosystem.

Only 62% of the original 2, 179 native plant species of New York City exist today.

Columbine will do well in the dry soil of NYC. Because it occurs naturally in our growing region (Zone 7), it can withstand the humid summers and freezing winters. Just be sure to keep the plant well watered and you should enjoy beautiful flowers, bees, birds, and butterflies.

The seeds like being cold so planting them around the first frost is a great idea. Hopefully, with a little patience and care, the plants will bloom in spring. If not, don't despair; many perennial (re-occurring) plants can take up to a year to bear leaves!

Just enjoy the process and I encourage you all to expand your gardens.

success!
Posted on 2007.10.06 at 21:49

I installed the piece today at Pocket Utopia in Bushwick. The response was really encouraging. This gallery is such a warm and unique space that truly understands the social purpose of art making. The highlight was digging in the dirt directly outside the gallery with a pair of scissors and teaching a visitor the basics of planting. Hint to those who pick up a bomb: the seeds are on top so pour the contents gently into the soil and not too deep. Also, make sure to come back and map the location on the map! Overall, the buzz and positive engagements compounded my faith in Green Bombs. Bushwick is an untapped resource for art, not to mention greening. Just down the street is an initative called "Trees not Trash." The mission statement of this group is to plant trees throughout industrialized east williamsburg to provide public green spaces. check out treesnottrash.org.

finally...Please stop by and pick up a bomb!

KABOOM

Lucas Reiner making his print

2007-10-06T21:07:00.000-07:00

Pocket Utopia editions its first print!! Using a Gocco printer and working in Rob Burke's studio, Lucas Reiner produced 20 beautiful prints. I love the picture above with Rob's big paintings in the background and Lucas at the printer in the foreground. I also love the print!

The road to pocket Utopia is a two-way street

2007-10-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

Thank you Audra for the above picture. Thank you artists that call, email, and meet me halfway. I appreciate learning from you. More importantly, I am grateful to those of you who share with me. You understand that I am not a sole provider. Pocket Utopia is a place to give not take.

I also want to thank, Rob Burke, right here, for building out a beautiful gallery space, for that I am grateful. I also want to thank the neighbors Victoria and Yvette for bringing my family and I dinner last Sunday afternoon. Yum! And thank you, "great teacher", whoever you are next, for teaching me that the most important thing is for me to make my art!

Lucas Reiner completed the first ever Pocket Utopia print edition last night! Miracles can happen. Thank you, Lucas! There's an opening tonight, so come out!

Oh, and I almost forgot to thank Lawrence Weiner for calling me and saying "thank you!" So, if you're driving, don't go the wrong way on a one way street, it's not good for your art career.

Cleaning, unveiling and talking

2007-10-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

The last day of the first show started off by vacuuming the floor and fixing radiators and ended with Michelle Ha speaking so eloquently about her photo series titled "Universal Substances." She spoke so candidly about her process that I really need to go back to her Pierogi File and have another look. I kind of feel like that about all the Pierogi artists, that they are all really worthy of another look, and another, and another. They all do such interesting work that this is not the end of a show but the beginning of a collaboration, stay tuned. Also pictured above, Bill Gerhard unveiling his window installation. This is just the beginning.

"Excuse me, you have art in your teeth" food and art based salon #9

2007-09-26T18:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, there wasn't a lot of food at tonight's salon, but there was some great art. Coming in from Ohio, Hildur Asgeirsdottir Jonsson brought us additional samples of her beautiful work and described the process of weaving, painting and needlepointing. I brought along some files (Peggy Cyphers's file, Kate Drendel's, and Manfred Fuchs) from Pierogi. I passed the files around with a pair of white gloves so that folks could get a closer look at some of the artists.

Bethany Bristow described some of her other projects and clued us into Glowlab. This was the first salon that started at 6:00 pm and ended by 8:00 pm. It's probably the most serious one yet, but still informal and very artist-to-artist.

Working in a different vein

2007-09-25T13:06:00.000-07:00

After a studio visit yesterday, I decided that I need to concentrate on showing artists that don't necessarily
have a studio-based practice. I need to show artists that work more like me or rather artists that work in a different vein.

The studio I visited yesterday could have been the studio I worked out of 10 years ago. It was like a pastiche of an artist's studio, with tea pot, seltzer water, and postcard images on the wall. If Pocket Utopia is a different type of space, then I need to show different types of artists; one that isn't so comfortable in their surroundings. I believe good art doesn't come out of a comfortable place. It doesn't make sense to take your average studio artist and put them in an unusual gallery space.

Pocket Sharing

2007-09-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

The wonderful, fabulous interns, Audra and Matthew, are in charge this weekend (expect a guest blog to follow by Matthew). I am spending the weekend researching

pocket utopias. I will have more to report this Wednesday night at the next "Excuse me, you have art in your teeth," salon.

Pictured above are my mom and Carter Foster from the Whitney!

Pocket Utopia's Neighborhood

2007-09-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

I come home from being at Pocket Utopia and I have drawing on my mind. One practice influences the other. Sunday at the gallery was neighborhood day, which ended with a studio visit to Andrew Hurst, who lives and works across the street.

I've met more neighbors, in addition to Andrew, from the day-care operator on the corner to Yvette, who's lived in the hood for over 25 years, and her 13-year old daughter Victoria who brought in her sketchbook. It's a process, or as the next artist exhibiting at Pocket Utopia, Lucas Reiner, refers to it as a work in progress. Pocket Utopia and ATfreespace are ever-changing and evolving.

#4 Pocket Utopia is my artwork

2007-09-16T07:40:00.000-07:00

Pocket Utopia is an extension of my social practice (from perches to pocket utopias). It is a social sculpture. It is also a gallery and a post-studio residency for artists that blurs the lines between artist, dealer, gallerist, viewer and participant. My blogs, this one and ATfreespace are my written and conceptual or theoretical companions to the spaces and the practices.

My work doesn't always contain an object, the viewer plays a part. Sometimes I serve up art, life and/or egg rolls. I don't want any artist to feel used by these fertile and flexible movements of my life and work. I like helping other artists and try to say "yes" to them and their ideas. I am going to keep it interesting. At Pocket Utopia we don't blame or criticize, we fix and do. There are several ways to support Pocket Utopia and many ways to get involved.

Saturday, Social Hour 4 to 5 pm

2007-09-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

Pocket Utopia presents Saturday, Social Hour, 4pm to 5pm:
Cold drinks, hot egg rolls

Come, enjoy "The Pierogi Show" - 22 artists from the esteemed Pierogi Flatfile

L to Morgan Avenue

Utopia #3: Self-Define

2007-09-12T12:48:00.000-07:00

Although the skies are blue over Pocket Utopia right now, the ground underneath me is looking a little muddy, so let's clean it up. I think a lot of artists out there aren't finding what they're looking for and chances are they're not going to find it at my Pocket Utopia. My suggestion is, make your own Pocket Utopia (and that's really the ultimate goal). Draw it, define it, and share it, just do it.

Now back to my Pocket Utopia where I've decided to try and say "yes" to artists and that is proving difficult at times. Rewarding but difficult because what I am really asking is for artists to say "yes" back. Why is that so hard? It seems to mean trouble (not all the time) but I am reminded of Dr. Seuss's "I had Trouble in getting to Solla Sollew." The main character comments about his journey and I concur, "I learned there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. So I said to myself, 'Now, I'll just have to start to be twice as careful and be twice as smart. I'll watch out for trouble in front and back sections. By aiming my eyeballs in different directions.'"

Where are my glasses? Now back to my own self-defining, trouble-free, quiet-time, during Grant's nap-time!

The Opening and the day after

2007-09-10T05:39:00.000-07:00

Guest Post by Pocket U. intern Audra Wolowiec

2007-09-09T06:11:00.000-07:00

The show contains a variety of work from drawing and painting to
collage, prints, and photography. In a true democratic spirit, Austin
pulled the names from a hat, using a formula to choose an even
sampling of work from over 900 artists represented in the Pierogi Flat
Files. One would expect a muddled show of incongruous work, this is
not the case however. The show is strong and visually flowing. There
seems to be an overall theme of visual mapping where systematic
processes emerge. In a way, the pieces all exist as drawings. And
drawing is just that, marks revealing maps, interiors and movements.
Like little hidden worlds, drawing allows artists to work out what
can't always be worked out in real life. Paper allows us to defy
gravity. It allows us to dream.

With childlike urgency, Claudia Barthoi mixes stitching with paint and
pencil, drawing circles around legs and raindrops (perhaps teardrops?)
grappling with ideas of preservation and fleeting moments. Peggy
Cyphers uses a process of concentric rings meticulously drawn on mylar
overlaying two structures at once to reveal abstract biological growth
patterns. And Bill Gerhard, using the sun as drawing tool, exposes
black construction paper to form minimal shapes, a recording device
reminiscent of Olafur Eliasson's Sun Machines. And there are more,
from cubical desks to magic marker robots. How do I choose just one?

As I was closing shop, grabbing the padlock and keys, trying
desperately to narrow my decision, I noticed a small light coming from
the corner. A world within in a world. The most captivating work in
the show is the space itself, like a drawing, revealed from an
unexpected discovery. In trying to make sense of what is at our
fingertips yet just out reach, holding on the desire that things can
be different—a truly utopic idea.

More views, sideways and moving

2007-09-06T12:17:00.000-07:00

Real artists put pins through their drawings

2007-09-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

I have numb-thumb this morning after an evening of pushing thumb-tacks gingerly into the walls to hold up 24 drawings. I've decided that real artists put thumb-tacks through their drawings.

In the end, the most interesting part of your artwork might be the back. Like this anonymously painted picture of Christ pictured above from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I love this backward view. I think the show at Pocket Utopia (or as Grant says "Pocketofia") looks great!

Finishing the floor

2007-09-03T13:26:00.000-07:00

Labor Day found the family at Home Depot. A clean and freshly painted floor is going to do a lot for the space.

Before and after we open this Friday night, a few other artists showing at Pocket Utopia have other openings. Theresa Hacket is having a solo show at Florence Lynch Gallery, Fred Gutzeit is showing at the Mansfield Arts Center in Ohio, Clement bagot has a show at Galerie Premier Regard in Paris, and Hildur Ásgeirsdóttir Jónsson is showing at the William Busta Gallery in Cleveland, Ohio. Artists showing in New York, Ohio, and Paris, are my type of artists!

#2 The Pierogi Show - the backstory

2007-09-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

Grant (2 year old) is sleeping (mothering effects my social space practice and gallery-running as much as it does my other art-making practices). When I first approached the Pierogi Flatfile I was totally overwhelmed. Even by the third time I approached the File I was totally overwhelmed and really every time I walk into Pierogi I am totally overwhelmed. Thank god they serve vodka at their openings!

The file has 900 artists in it, maybe more. I had to come up with some sort of structure to review it. Mike (husband) entered all 900 names into a spreadsheet, then we determined that 88 artists was a representative sample, so he had a computer program select 88 artists randomly. With a list containing the 88 artists in hand, I went looking through the files and guess what? I was still overwhelmed. I sat immobilized for weeks as the opening date of Pocket Utopia approached. Finally, I selected 20 artists from the 88 randomly selected artists because that's the number of artists that Pierogi showed in their first show at Four Walls.

My process might seem random, but I think that's how the art world works. Funny, the computer didn't select my name. I've had work in the Flatfile for about 10 years. I always try to put new and my best work in, and maybe that's why the 20 artists I chose are consistently good. It took me awhile to figure out how to choose them and then how to contact them. I had to bully the staff a little when Joe wasn't around but finally I got in contact with everyone and am looking forward to meeting them.

When I told them about Pocket Utopia and asked them to participant in my first official show out in Bushwick they ALL said yes! And for that I am grateful for curating carefully and taking my time to look.

The image above is by Peggy Cyphers, Bio Brain

Utopia #1 (a brief introduction)

2007-08-30T14:55:00.000-07:00

Pocket Utopia will open next Friday night, Sept. 7th, with a selection of artists from the esteemed Pierogi Flatfile:

Hildur Asgeirsdottir Jonsson
Clement Bagot
Claudia Barthoi
Lee Boroson
Bethany Bristow
David Brody
Tamar Cohen
Guy Corriero
Tamar Cohen
Peggy Cyphers
Kate Drendel
Miriam Dym
Bruce Edelstein
clyde forth
Manfred Fuchs
Bill Gerhard
Fred Gutzeit
Michelle Ha
Theresa Hackett
Michelle Marozik
Mike Miga
Team Lump
Mika Yokobori

September 7 - September 30, 2007
OPENING, Friday September 7th 6:00 – 10:00 pm

POCKET UTOPIA
1037 Flushing Avenue
[just off the Morgan L, Bushwick, directions below]

Open Saturdays and Sundays 12-6 and by appointment
Call, 718-303-2047

Pocket Utopia is pleased to begin its inaugural season with a selection of artists from the esteemed Pierogi Flatfile. Pocket Utopia opens the file and presents 20 artists and their various styles, all works on paper, and one site-specific installation.

As an artist-run space, Pocket Utopia seeks to pay homage to a pioneer of artist-run spaces in Brooklyn, Joe Amrhein. The Pierogi Flatfile, which now holds art from over 900 artists, also started by showing 20 artists in 1994 at Four Walls, another artist-run space. Pierogi is very much the same place as it was 13 years ago and it is also a very different place in an aggressive contemporary art world. Joe knows all 900 artists. I am presenting a pocket of Pierogi for us to get to know anew (a different 20), at a new artist-run space doing things in a very similar vein in a similar neighborhood, Bushwick, filled with artists. We serve egg rolls, not pierogies.

Pocket Utopia is an away-from center, off-center, exhibition, salon and social space run by artist Austin Thomas. Please also join us for a discussion with the artists on Wednesday night, September 26th, 6:00pm.

Directions to POCKET UTOPIA
1037 Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn, ground floor.
via subway:
coming from Manhattan take the L train to the Morgan stop. (the 6th stop in Brooklyn).
Exit at the front of the train. You will emerge on the corner of Morgan Avenue and
Harrison Place. Walk on Morgan, heading south towards Grattan Street. Cross
Grattan Street, Thames Street, and Rock Street, and turn left on Flushing Avenue.
Pocket Utopia is the 4th buildings on your left.

via car from Manhattan:
take the Williamsburg Bridge (inside lane) to the Humboldt Street exit. Turn right
at Humboldt Street, go 7 blocks and turn left on Metropolitan Avenue. Go several
blocks and turn right on Morgan Avenue. Follow Morgan to the where it become a V,
staying left, and turn left at the light – Johnson Avenue. Make the first right,
onto Porter Avenue. Go 5 blocks and turn right on Flushing Avenue.