Popular Subculture

An exhibition of recent work by Bushwick artists, Mark Bouthilette &

Daniel Derwelis

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, February 3, 2012 7-9PM

Botanic

150 Wyckoff Avenue, Brooklyn New York, 11237

Gallery Hours: Saturday/Sunday 1–5PM & by appointment

Popular Subculture work will be on display at Botanic Gallery through Feb 19^th

Mark Bouthilette is showing a new series of works influenced by the illustrated natural history books and music culture from his youth.Bouthilette’s works employ representational images of animals painted with an earnest amateur naturalist's sensibility placed on top of abstract glossy foundations. Using radical juxtaposition, he combines archetypal imagery from competing hobby's from his rural New Hampshire childhood; on one hand in hispsychedelicbackgrounds blend and swirl in the muted tones reminiscent of 1970's album art, simultaneously various animals atop sit indifferent to the chaotic surroundings.

Daniel Derwelis' recent paintings are inspired by the artist’s dreams; in these visual transcriptions he shares his own questions about the meaning and substance of the dream plot. Appearing almost cinematic in nature, Derwelis’ cathartic paintings invite participation through ambiguous narratives waiting to be filled with meaning.

Botanic Gallery is generously sponsored by Vinos en Wyckoff

Mutatis Mutandis:

EMI BRADY & NIKKI ROMANELLO AT BOTANIC GALLERY

January 6^th – January 27^th, 2011

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, January 6th, 2012 7-9PM

150 Wyckoff Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11237

Gallery Hours: Saturday / Sunday 1:00 – 5PM or by appointment

In a changing neighborhood, a warring microcosm has emerged where drawings and sculptures enliven Botanic, a provisional gallery space in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. Lithographed birds fly off the page to escape being affixed as prostheses to hybrid mammalian monsters. Crystalline skeletons rest on white gallery pedestals transformed into examination tables. They hold fossilized evidence of the violence of which echoes an upheaval happening all around us.

This exhibition is the first major collaboration by Emi Brady and Nikki Romanello. While divergent in their approach, each artist posits an alternate world full of oddities, mutations and deviations from the objective artifact. Brady’s excised print images seem to flutter around the room and come alive; flat & linear; they simultaneously maintain their “drawingness” while fully engaging the interior of the three dimensional gallery space. Romanello’s sculptures, skeletons composed of various animal bones re-cast in glycerin soap. They become inanimate objects of existential contemplation. Though derived from things once animated they are motionless objects whose fragility is heightened by the nature of their material. The whole installation is an environment where the viewer is permitted to walk among the remnants of a primordial land.

Brady and Romanello’s creatures are carefully considered down to the last detail where each bone, limb, bird and flock was chosen and arranged for its’ relationship to the whole. Axioms surrounding creation, augmentation, and biodegradation heighten the interpretation of these combinations. The incredible cultural artifact collides with the credible depiction in this exhibition. And it is this conflict that creates a sense of timelessness, a moment of tranquility in the center of the melee that affords us the opportunity to be absorbed in these artists’ vision.

F O R I M M E D I A T E R E L E A S E

B o t a n I c G a l l e r y i s a p r o v I s I o n a l s p a c e g e n e r o u s l y s p o n s o r e d b y V I n o s E n W y c o f f

www.BotanicBK.com

A Strange Sense of Calm
An unconventional drawing show highlighting creative experimentation by 8 artists

December 3 – December 26, 2011 at Botanic
Opening Reception for the Artists
Friday 12.9.2011, 7 – 9 pm
150 Wycoff Ave, Brooklyn NY 11237

Artists: Amanda Browder, Joy Drury Cox, Justin Goetz, Parinot Kunakornwong,
JF Lynch, Paula Searing, Marc Slanger, Jessica Walker; curated by Paul M Nicholson

A Strange Sense of Calm is intended to shine light on to the notional and aesthetic meanderings of artists employing a drawing methodology in their creative practice. For this show finished and unfinished works were chosen from a group of 8 artists [most of who do not self-identify as drawers]. Nonetheless, each artist makes use of drawing in their own way, they have ideas, make plans, sketch things out, experiment, record and describe in some way as a part of their creative practice.

Drawing is a process to record, work out, and describe ideas using sign, symbol and form; it’s one of the oldest and most accessible ways of working that almost every practitioner in every discipline uses at one time or another. Moma’s recent exhibition, On Line; Drawing Through the Twentieth Century, put forth a persuasive argument in support of drawing’s “departure from the institutional definition of drawing” while abandoning the burden of the illusionistic representational image paradigm. Drawing as a practice has undoubtedly gone well beyond the page in this our digital era manifesting itself in every form imaginable, while at the same time mark-making has managed to maintain its importance.

Employing a minimalist sensibility, Justin Goetz’ 2011 piece “A Strange State of Calm”, uses a deceptively simple approach which is at the heart of this unique exhibition. In this work we’re presented with a photocopied book of ephemeral line drawings depicting utopic homes, castles, manors, and other environments, each image crafted in a strange state of calm.

press from hyperallergic

http://hyperallergic.com/41136/5-more-bushwick-galleries/

@ dekalb show artists

J.F. Lynch, Chino (Vinos en Wyckoff], Paul M. Nicholson, Jose, Chris Cardinale, Kira Bucca, Mark Bouthilette, Jim Stanis, Lemia Bodden, Robin Mork, Daniel Derwelis

Call for art & artists

We're looking for new art and artists at our new space and we'd like to hear about the great work you're doing; email Paul at paulmnicholson@gmail.com

For Immediate Release: @ dekaLb

For Immediate Release:
@ DekaLb
opening at Botanic, Friday October 28, 2012
Opening Reception for the artists 6 – 10pm
Botanic is located at 150 Wyckoff Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11237

With the world becoming increasingly technologically connected, and despite the fact that that change is an ever-present force in the New York, individual neighborhoods still retain distinct identities, each with it’s own character and flair. This show is intended to take a snapshot of the creative community located in the Wycoff Heights neighborhood centered around the Dekalb Stop on the L train. While existing largely in the shadow of what outsiders consider to be Bushwick's creative cultural center [Morgan avenue’s post-industrial loft spaces], this parallel community located near the Brooklyn/ Queens border has several newly created spaces that are engaging with their community and providing valuable opportunities for artists to share their work.

@ dekaLb is an exhibition that considers the distinct character, identity, and working methodology of artists and creative people living and working near the Dekalb stop on the L train. By limiting participation based solely on geographic restriction, Botanic provides a stage for dialog between aspiring & seasoned artists at the ultra-local level. Drawing an artificial line in the sand @ dekaLb hopes to identify a community of artist residents while at the same time blurring boundaries across this creatively rich corner of New York. The diverse works to be included in the show range from diminutive art objects to post studio creative practice intent on decentering the creative discourse in Bushwick and beyond.

Lemia Bodden, Mark Bouthilette, Kira Bucca, Chris Cardinale, Eva Delmo, Daniel Derwelis, Elias Garcia, Robin Mork, Tara Long, J.F. Lynch, Adrienne Mikulka, Miguel Rodriguez, Christopher Saalbach-Walsh, Jim Stanis; Curated by Paul Nicholson