“The coolest neighborhood in the world” for the moment, Greenpoint has hurtled past stroller-friendly Willamsburg as the post cool, chic zeitgeist of jetline magazine meccas. This is a miss-if-you-blink minute to see a stretch of ground on the last phase of a makeover turned over faster than a dozen Missions and Wicker Parks. We’ve seen this before, but now is the time to witness an updated example of landslide gentrification, and with this particular hinge of blue-collar to creative class to expendable leisure, a mosaic on a pintip.
So what is happening in Greenpoint now? Are the artists and studios here going through a revolving door? Ugly Art Room, at The Yard, will demonstrate otherwise with Greenpoint Now, a group show of artists currently working in Greenpoint. And this is a thriving group. The wide variety of styles and medium only superficially appears random and gerrymandered. The diversity is actually very representative of a situation balancing marble slabs with nerfball offices.
These aren’t carpetbaggers changing Greenpoint. The creative element moved in initially finding the cheaper extension of Willyburg’s L to Manhattan (on the G) but joined and grew with an already lively growth. The photography, drawing, and painting in Greenpoint Now all share the cusp of hybrid fine art tossed with commercial and illustrative appearance that the area itself exploits so well. Showing in an office that itself was once considered Greenpoint, the body of work is the palpable moment of Greenpoint, now.
Written by Martin Esteves
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