CULTURE

Inside the Sprawling, Balloon-Filled Scene at Bushwick Open Studios

Written by Steph Eckardt
Photographs by Jonah Rosenberg

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Jonah Rosenberg 2016

The Brooklyn art scene has really taken off since a group of local gallerists and artists first got together to organize Bushwick Open Studios a decade ago — so much so that its organizers decided things were getting a little too happening. This year, for its tenth edition, they scaled back the accompanying festivities to New York’s biggest open studio event, putting the focus back on interacting one-on-one with Bushwick’s thriving artist community. But artists like Matthew Callinan kept things festive: He deluged his tiny studio with so many balloons — nearly 700 — that it became a sort of walk-through latex swimming pool. The scene stretched over to neighboring Ridgewood, too, where an anonymous collective called Poissonblanc presented works involving flip phones and potato chips atop pedestals from the Guggenheim’s Peter Fischli and Eric Weiss retrospective, while a spooky, dimly lit performance took place in the basement underneath. See the best moments from it all, here.

1
Ryan Patrick Martin at 56 Bogart Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
2
“Chthonic,” a performance by Bert Bergen and Mariya Dimov, at Factory ArtSpace.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
3
Adam Frezza and Terri Chiao at 56 Bogart Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
4
Kelly McCafferty at 56 Bogart Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
5
Hiba Schahbaz at 56 Bogart Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
6
Seren Morey at 56 Bogart Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
7
Matthew Callinan at Bushwick Open Studios.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
8
Ryan Patrick Martin at 56 Bogart Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
9
Kirsten Kay Thoen at 1717 Troutman Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
10
Eric Lindveit at 56 Bogart Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
11
Kelly McCafferty at 56 Bogart Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
12
Lulu Yee at 1717 Troutman Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
13
Vanessa Castro at Reservoir Art Space.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
14
Lizzie Wright and Alyssa Gorelick at 1717 Troutman Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
15
At 56 Bogart Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
16
Bushwick Print Lab at 1717 Troutman Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
17
Lulu Yee at 1717 Troutman Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
18
At 566 Johnson Avenue.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
19
Lulu Yee at 1717 Troutman Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
20
At Factory ArtSpace.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
21
Nick Greenwald at Bushwick Open Studios.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
22
Bushwick Print Lab at 1717 Troutman Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
23
At Factory ArtSpace.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
24
“Chthonic,” a performance by Bert Bergen and Mariya Dimov, at Factory ArtSpace.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
25
At 56 Bogart Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.
26
At 1717 Troutman Street.
Photo by Jonah Rosenberg.