“Art Under The Bridge”, Dumbo Art Festival

(c) Kyle Goen, studio at 55 Washington Street photograph courtesy of the artist

(c) Kyle Goen, studio at 55 Washington Street photograph courtesy of the artist










(c) Kyle Goen "John Walker Lindh Tea Towels"photograph courtesy of the artist

All roads lead to Brooklyn, as both the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge converge in the little area with big ideas known as Dumbo. The bridge to somewhere indeed a weekend of art at it’s best. “Art Under the Bridge” is a weekend festival of open studios, interventions, strange parades, music and a bit of humor in these tumultuous times. Projects by artists included a video of free floating fetus images projected on the walls of a little alcove of the Brooklyn bridge, a huge strange media organism piece sponsored by Current TV, clone babies in a carnival glass box to win for $2, parades of strange superheroes, dancing participants on grass throwing flowers under a huge grid of color blocks, an infinite wishing well of light and mirrors in a lobby and the open studios at 55 Washington Street.

As the world is turned upside down and inside out, we ride the roller coaster belted in our seats. Artists did not go gently into that good night but rather came out swinging fearlessly. At 55 Washington Streets Open Studios, artist Kyle Goen brings together both message and aesthetic in political art. Working primarily in a combination of painting and printmaking as well as large installation pieces, the works bravely take on the issues of our history and it’s consequences. In Geon’s piece, "John Walker Lindh Tea Towels" the progression of the portraits is chilling. More so for me is the fact that they are printed on a domestic material whose purpose is to “clean up a mess, to wipe it clean”. The texture of the fabric lends itself to the newsprint dot, reinforcing notions of printed media images, identification photos, wanted posters and morgue photos. The orange red tones of the prints and woven material have an unsettling beauty to them juxtaposed to the images.

For the price of a token and a quick train ride, this weekend brought the best views from the Brooklyn side.