Winter came. And change crashed into my beloved Studio 471. Gentrification. Our building was being sold. The Knew owners had been in and out of the apartment taking pictures wit their little fuckin’ digital cameras for weeks. We (my art and i) had to move. “Time to walk on water….again!”Van Bro murmured between shots of Patron. That be the good tequila.
Hola, Craigslist! 127 Stanhope. A new thing in Bushwick. My new duplex in this barrio was on the up. The hipsters of LES (lower east side) manhattan were takin’ the L train to Williamsburg. And the hipsters of Williamsburg were taking the JMZ to Bushwick. Yuck wit an exclamation point. By this time, I had grown to love Brooklyn. I had also grown to hate the other white meat (Williamsburg). This part of Brooklyn was accessible by the before mentioned L train and the never know when or if it’s gonna show up G. The G stood for ghost.
FREE ADVICE: If you party in Brooklyn, know what, where and how often the trains run. A late nite on the platform is interesting. Once. Twice. Maybe three times. After that, you’ll be speed dialing your local car service. Yellow cabs don’t do much business in Kings County.I transposed my new duplex into a social club for artists. The apartment had that, “I’m the first to live here” smell. Unfinished basement. Raw. Shared backyard. Rent was $1800. But I could swing it wit the freelancing I was doing. So, I signed the dotted line and dubbed my place F.O.A.M. –The Found Objects Art Museum. Then friend and fab fine artist Kaytidid offered to paint my studio. Having no money, I asked what she needed for her energy, time and travel (philly to brooklyn)? She calls herself the greentea mama, but she really likes earrings. So we bartered. A month or so later, her "ooops paint" splashed my walls with a mural.
(earrings for kaytidid)
(mural by kaytidid in the grand room upstairs at F.O.A.M.)
(Down the rabbit hole in the basement)
Once a month, the F.O.A.M. social club would host a wine tasting party, Black Sundays. Guest would BYOB their favorite vino. And, oh so yummy catering was provided by YAYA Brooklyn (in kind). For beats and melodies, local musicians slid into LIVE jam sessions downstairs. Memorable performances were from: The Dirty Boogaloo, Benicio and the Del Torros and singer/songwriter Black Bird. Upstairs, guest haggled prices for handmade jewelry and accessories by Brooklyn artisans scouted from myspace.com. Chicago designer K-Fleye was the social club's inaugural vendor.
(Benicio and the Del Torros)
(The Dirty Boogaloo)
(Anne Woodman jewelry)
Graphix courtesy Brooklyn Art and Design
