Alex Emmert- Miami Schmiami! – Brooklyn is the Schnit! Go to Mighty Tanaka!

December 3, 2009 Artists, Interview

You may have thought that the giant sucking noise you heard was all the street art being pulled down to Miami this week (or Miss California’s video tape turned up to 12).

Have NO Fear – Mighty Tanaka is Here!

Partners Alex Emmart and Caleb James are proud to introduce MIGHTY TANAKA, the gallery

Brooklyn’s Street Art Scene is so gargantuan that we can afford to let Half the Borough go to Art Basel this week and we still have enough amazingly clever artists to OPEN A BRAND NEW GALLERY TONIGHT – which will be packed thank you very much.

Mighty Tanaka Gallery, a labor of love turned a reality with the vision of Alex Emmart, who has been toiling behind the scenes for a couple of years to build a rather strong and fairly eclectic collection of art and artists – many of them fresh out the gate.

Alex also confesses to creating this new gallery in the neighborhood of Dumbo partially to force himself to get off his couch and go to work instead of running his nascent biz out of his apartment. He’s been painting a newly built gallery space in the Brooklyn neighborhood by the water between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges and nearly all his clothes are covered with white paint and his brain has fried, but tonight’s the opening and he is ready.

Avoid (from the Inflation Project) (courtesy Mighty Tanaka)

The inaugural show “Hybridism” gives a nod to oft-expressed opinion these days that the walls between street art and fine art are continually dissolving – as fine art hits the streets and street art hits the living room over your couch.

Emmart brings to the game an education in museum studies, the experience of curating a handful of shows that explore the street-graff-fine art continuum, and a solid dedication to building relationships based on respect.

This too, may be a glimpse of the future of the art world where gallerists treat people fairly and are respected because of it. Just ask any of the nextgen Millenial artists he is working with.

At this auspicious opening, a statement of hope amidst an economy gone ape-crazy, Emmart takes the moment to share the credit on his Facebook page; “Mighty Tanaka studio is one of the finest and most exciting spaces I know of due to the hard work of committed individuals. A VERY BIG thanks to Garrett Wohnrade, Caleb James, Adri Cowan, Mari Keeler, Heidi Alasuvanto, Insuh Yoon, John Michaels, the Mighty Tanaka featured artists and everyone else who has supported Tanaka during this transition. You all inspire me.”