« Beyond "Brooklyn Matters": compounding and complicating the indictment | Main | CE SOIR: Vous êtes vivement attendu au Salon des Refusés de las Bibliothèque de Brooklyn »
February 22, 2007
Not lost in gentrification
Artists make sure Brooklyn’s landmarks — and diversity — aren’t forgotten
MetroNY
By Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond
An artist who grew up in Brooklyn contemplates the changes in the borough that used to be his canvas and now is his subject:
“When I was growing up, there certainly weren’t places to show work,” [Adam] Suerte says. Now, instead of trooping his canvases to Manhattan galleries and art dealers, he can show his pieces at neighborhood spots such as two-level nightclub Sputnik, where he, photographer Keith Thomson, satirical cartoonist Willy Paredes and comic artist Omar Sanchez will be displaying their work in conjunction with BAM’s “Brooklyn Next” music festival. Paredes’ band Pagoda will perform before ceding the sound system to DJ Premier.
But on the other hand, with Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz petitioning Mayor Bloomberg to tear down the Brooklyn House of Detention and developer Bruce Ratner’s plans to build 16 high-rises and an 18,000-seat basketball stadium for the New Jersey Nets, the Brooklyn that Suerte grew up tagging as a young graffiti artist and then documenting in paintings is slowly disappearing.
“You can see the clock tower … Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building all in one shot,” Suerte says of a view from Atlantic Yards where Ratner intends to erect the stadium. “It’s amazing, and it’s going to be gone.”
Posted by lumi at February 22, 2007 7:30 AM