All posts tagged: Rachel Farmer

Art In Odd Places: The Crest Hardware Art Show

Your local hardware store could also be the next “It” neighborhood gallery if they take Joe Franquinha’s lead.  

The second generation owner of Crest Hardware in Brooklyn’s north side has been launching an art show for the last few years in this former working class neighborhood that began swimming with artists a decade ago. While the hardware based theme is sometimes stretched beyond plausible connection and Joe’s curatorial method stretches to every artistic ability, the elitists who once mistakenly sniffed at the idea of an art show in a hardware store now find themselves needing to stop by if only out of curiosity, or a pack of light bulbs.

A sculpture by Matthew Warren made with PVC pipes hangs in the garden section. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

And what will they see? Among the mop handles and caulking guns they’ll find work that surprises, disarms, causes a chuckle, and sometimes even looks amazing. Regardless of your expectations, you will not be bored by this collection of about 300 pieces and you’ll find work by some pretty well-known names also. You might also meet Joe and Liza’s pig, a local celebrity named Franklin.

Here are some images from The Crest Hardware Art Show just opened this week.

Chris Stain’s stencil doesn’t stray far from the spray paint. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Max Zorn creates portraits made from packing tape, here displayed on a light box in the front window. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Max Zorn. Detail of the installation. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Street Artist Veng RWK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A portrait of Henry Ford by Daek One. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Quel Beast turns Joe into a scarecrow. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rachel Farmer (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Street Artist General Howe “Super PAC” characters; Obama as Batman, Mitt Romney as Bane.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The “Super PAC” are characters of the 2012 presidential election portrayed as characters in the Batman mythology.  Obama as Batman, Romney as Bane, Gingrich as Penguin, etc… Presidential elections and summer blockbuster movies have become the same thing. There is an epic battle of good vs evil and the fate of the world is up for grabs,” says the artist.

General Howe depicts Michelle Obama as Cat Woman.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jeremy Fish created this portrait of the store celebrity, Franklin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Street Artists Sheryo and The Yok contribute a collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Street Artist Willow contributed a piece. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A sculptural beaver dam by Peter Pracillio (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dan Funderburgh (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lilia Trenkova creates this chess set made with bolts, nuts and color chips. (photo © Jaime Rojo)\

Astrodub (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dave Tree spent some time writing on the toilet. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bernard Klevickas created this sculpture from reclaimed parts of old bikes. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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Crest Hardware Art Show 2012: Preview

A few years ago when we started telling you about this art show in a Brooklyn hardware store, people questioned BSA’s sanity and it’s relevance to the street. Even now, there are some street artists who have not exhibited in this show, but that list will be trimming down to zero in the next few years. That’s because of two things – one is that Joe Franquinha and his family re-imagined their store as artists began to re-imagine the surrounding neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Bushwick. The other is that the existing gallery system needs to change and Street Artists (and others) have been exploring every other alternative to it for the last decade. The only ivy covered walls that should be relevant to this creative spirit are in the garden section behind the store.

Here is a sneak peak at the Crest Arts show that opens Saturday in the store. Everybody is welcome and there will be music, food, art, and community busting out all over the place. Also, Franklin the pig.

Travis Simon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Stain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Willow (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Daek One (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RT Vegas (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RRobots (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Quel Beast (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rachel Farmer (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Peter Pracillio (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Eric Araujo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jos-L (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jim Avignon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Greg Barsamian (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jilly Ballistic (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jeremy Fish (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Enzo & Nio (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Creepy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ben Hipp (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Crest Hardware Art Show opens this Saturday from 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Click here for more details.

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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Sneak Peek of Hardware Inspired Crest Fest, Opening Today

No you haven’t.

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Wayne Heller and Ceder Mannan (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Seen this before.

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Joe Franquinha is creating an operetta of hardware-inspired art by 150 artists in his store before your eyes, and even the jaded cannot claim to have experience such a rich, relevant and comedic art show.  “Joe, did you see the cat in the middle of the plants?” his mom asks about a sculpture during the last rush of installations that has run late into the wee hours every night this week.

In a Wiliamsburg hardware store opened by Joe’s dad and his uncle in 1962, even the curating of a 200-piece art show is a family affair.  A light opera of jazz and syncopated rhythms and even burlesque, as you roll through the aisles the mostly local art sings arias and raps rhymes of the working people from every hook and particle board, dangled  from the ceiling, and, in the case of Street Artist Olek, crocheted entirely around a shopping cart and hand truck.

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Olek (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For a decade Manny and his young son Joe, now in his late twenties, have thrown open the doors of the store to invite the artistic newcomers in this neighborhood to bring their creativity inside. What may be seen as a sly marketing maneuver to court a changing demographic actually morphed into a celebration of community, and comedy, with little tragedy.  Cast on this leveling stage, Joe’s own passion for the arts enables a rare harmonic volley, where new talents never shown in a gallery before are hanging in the same aisle as more established performers with a global audience.  As a participant in this real time interactive play, it’s up to you to discover them among the flat latex paint and gardening gloves.

BSA gives our thanks to Joe as a partner in provoking and invoking the creative spirit, and with this little sneak preview, encourages you to hop on the L train to Lorimer today and check it out.  Follow the sound of bands and DJs and the smell of food vendors and walk past Jon Burgerman doodling all over a car on the sidewalk and you’ll be at the front door of Brooklyn’s own curious ode to hardware.

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Aakash Nihalani (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Bert Shuck (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Erwin Sanchez (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Chris Stain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Street Artist General Howe has been manufacturing arms to sell on the open market. What you do with them is your business. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Mike Graves creates this horny monk-like flasher installed on the aerosol cage. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Mike Graves (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Mike Graves (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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A hardware tiara by Josh Cote (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Rachel Farmer (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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New on the scene Street Artist Radical! gets his hand in the cookie jar.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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A depiction of the historic first space buff by Steve Browning (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Street Artist Veng of RWK has a lot on his head these days (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Street Artist XAM hangs one of his sophisticated birdhouses on a sign in Crest. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Click on the link below for more details about CrestFest and The Crest Hardware Art Show:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=21765

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