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Ahron Weiner on the Verge: Bringing "The Flood" to Brooklyn

Filed under: Art

There were breaks in the rain, but the day ended with small rivers flowing through the gutters in Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood. It was the last day of Armory week in New York City, an event consisting of art fairs all over the city, ranging from colossal reputations and incredible valuations to emerging artists eager for their first tastes of success and notoriety. I was on my way to the Verge show, itself spread out over several locations.

If you want to find something unique or unusual, Verge is the place to go. You'll have to sift through a lot of good efforts (as opposed to successful results), but the one piece that blows your mind is worth it. I found it at 20 Jay Street: "The Flood," by Ahron Weiner.

There is nothing conventional about Weiner's photography, except, perhaps, for the fact that he uses a camera. After that, he's truly exploring new territory. "The Flood" is part of a larger effort that tells the stories of the Old Testament through rehabilitated advertising images.
Okay, that's a lot to digest. So, let's step through the concept.

If you ever see a tall (by my standards, at least) man with long blond hair chipping through the advertising posters on Manhattan scaffolds, there's a good chance it's Weiner. These posters are slapped up all over the city, with the new simply covering up the old ... and so on. It's endless. Weiner goes in the opposite direction. He peels away at the layers, looking for a story to emerge. Starting with what strikes him as an interesting advertisement, he pulls to see what lies beneath.

Gallery: "Cycle of Violence" at the DUMBO Arts Festival

Tags: Art Exhibition, art fair, art fairs, Art Gallery, art show, artist, Artists, brooklyn, new york, new york city

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Cycles of Violence: Standout at DUMBO Arts Festival

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

I trekked across the river this past weekend to check out the DUMBO Arts Festival in Brooklyn. A neighborhood known for its arts scene could not have been saddled with greater expectations. Let's face it: Manhattan has become consumed by the art market , and DUMBO is perceived as the home of raw art talent. Well, the festival itself wasn't mind-blowing, but the first display I saw caught my attention and made the walk across the Brooklyn Bridge worth it. In fact, I would have walked all the way from the Upper West Side for the first piece I saw.

As I approached the DUMBO Arts Festival, the first thing I saw was on Adams Street. In fairness, I knew about this piece in advance, but I didn't realize it would be my entry into the festival – and become the benchmark by which I would judge all that followed.

"Cycles of Violence," by Ahron Weiner, could be missed easily if you weren't looking for it. New Yorkers familiar with posters on scaffolding all over the city could tune it out all too easily. In this case, that would mean missing an impressive exhibition – of the sort that can shape your perspective on public art.

Gallery: "Cycle of Violence" at the DUMBO Arts Festival

Tags: art, art fair, art festivals, artist, brooklyn, brooklyn bridge, Dumbo, Public art

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ClockTower Penthouse Still Not Sold, Could Become Rental

by Lisa Palladino (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Architecture & Design

ClockTower Penthouse Still Not Sold, Could Become Rental

We've been hearing delicious rumors about the the triplex penthouse in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn for a while. Earlier this year the NY Post reported that both Ralph Lauren and Jay-Z had been spotted checking out this unusual space which is listed for $25 million. Now there may be a new deal in the works. According to NYC's amNY, the developer is in talks about a possible rent-to-own deal with a prospective taker.

The four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom unit has unobstructed views of the New York Harbor and the Brooklyn Bridge through four, 14-foot glass-faced clocks that are synchronized to all show the same time. Word has it that this 3,200-square-foot apartment could rent easily for $60,000 a month.

Gallery: Clock Tower Building

An earlier version of this story had this space confused with a previous listing in the building. We regret the error.

Tags: Brooklyn, Clocktower, estate, Estate of the Day, real estate

Food Lovers' Guide to Brooklyn

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Sherri Eisenberg, an award-winning Brooklyn-based travel writer, has spent her career traveling all over the globe, writing articles about restaurants, cruises, and hotels for such notable publications as Travel and Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler and Brides. Eisenberg has seen, eaten and done it all--and has written about 370 cities in 33 countries.

Who better, then, to uncover and discover the very best that Brooklyn, New York has to offer?

Eisenberg's latest project is Food Lovers' Guide to Brooklyn (Glove Pequot Press, June 2010), a book that traces her search for the best restaurants, markets, and food producers in the borough. Eisenberg's research for the book included visiting nearly 600 establishments. She tasted the wide range of cuisines that Brooklyn has to offer and culled down her list to feature only the very best in each neighborhood.

Gallery: Food Lovers' Guide to Brooklyn

Tags: Brooklyn, Food Lovers Guide to Brooklyn, restaurants, Sherri Eisenberg

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Truman Capote's Brooklyn Heights Home Could Set Real Estate Record

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

A home in the Brooklyn Heights area of New York City may set a record for a Brooklyn real estate sale. The NY Daily News reports that the 11-bedroom mansion where Truman Capote wrote "Breakfast at Tiffany's" has hit the market for $18 million with Sotheby's Realty. The five-story Greek Revival townhouse was built in 1839 and has details that a Southerner like Capote might approve of including a columned porch along the rear of the house. Other gracious details include the elliptical mahogany staircase with rosette oculus window at the top, a double parlor with high ceilings and 11 fireplaces. There are two kitchens, a master suite with a bath and walk-in closet, an artist's studio and library. One of the best features of the home might be the small but delightful rear garden.

The Daily News says that the home was owned in the 1950s by Broadway art director Oliver Smith, who rented the house's garden apartment to Capote from 1955 to 1965. Legend has it that Capote would throw lavish parties when Smith left town. Capote also spent time in the Hamptons, living in a Sagaponack home which was on sale last year.

Gallery: Truman Capote's Brooklyn Heights Home

Tags: brooklyn, brooklyn heights, estate of the day, truman capote

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A Visit Onboard Cunard's Majestic Queen Mary 2

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Luxury Travel & Hotels, Yachts & Sailing

A side view of Cunard's Queen Mary 2 ship while it was docked at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal on April 29, 2010.

Yesterday, Cunard hosted a group of bloggers to tour the magnificent Queen Mary 2 while it was briefly docked at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. The 1,132 feet long ship had arrived that same morning and was scheduled to leave for England at 5:00 pm. For those of us who were fortunate enough to experience this incredible vessal, it was both breathtaking and awesome--in terms of scope and scale. Cunard is the Luxist Awards' Readers' Choice Award winner for Best Caribbean Cruise Line.

We started off our visit with cocktails and appetizers with Commodore Bernard Warner, who joined Cunard in 2005. Commodore Warner's 43-year-long career began with the British Merchant Navy. He spends a total of seven months a year at sea on the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Victoria. When asked what his most memorable experience has been to date, he explained it was watching the total eclipse of the sun in 2007 off Aruba. "It was raining and cloudy that day, but we were able to find a gap in the clouds, so we had a clear view," he said, pointing out that astronomers from all over the world had booked the cruise specifically to witness the event. "The totality lasted 3 1/2 minutes," he added.

Gallery: Cunard's Queen Mary 2

Tags: american museum of natural history, awards-main, Brooklyn, cruise, cunard, Cunard Cruise Line, CunardCruiseLine, Jean-Marie Zimmermann, luxist-awards, Queen Mary 2, Todd English, transatlantic

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Spuyten Duyvil: World's Finest Beer in Brookyln

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Spirits

Spuyten Duyvil is nominated for best brew pub award by Luxist

Plan a night out at the Spuyten Duyvil in Brooklyn, NY and you might miss the very attraction for which you came. The brew pub, whose storefront is encased in red wrought-iron bars and includes scant mention of its own title, is among the best in the Big Apple, if not the world. All of this makes it an obvious choice for a Luxist nomination in the best brew pub category.

Located in the shadow of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and between the Lorimer and Bedford Avenue stops of New York's L subway line, Spuyten Duyvil is just the sort of unassuming hotspot that would be a favorite in Brooklyn's Williamsburg district. Just a few feet from an ultra-hip concert venue called The Knitting Factory, it's a place you've probably been invited for an after-party if you went to college in the Northeast over the past decade and had a friend in a band.

Gallery: Spuyten Duyvil in Brooklyn, New York

Stride through the front door, past hipsters with more flannel than a Seattle lumberjack convention, and you'll be transported to an old-style Belgian kitchen with a Brooklyn twist. Mismatched chairs dot the bar's seating areas, while a host of maps depicting historical Canada and Chicago dot the walls. Enjoy one of Spuyten Duyvil's dozens of obscure beers, and don't be disheartened if Lagunitas is the only one with which you're familiar.

On a pleasant spring or summer afternoon, head outside to the back porch to enjoy your drink (just be prepared for the cigarette smoke emanating from the European tourists camped out there). Most of all, don't be afraid to ask the laid-back bartenders for beer selection advice – you won't be the first person bewildered by their expansive selection.

Vote for the brew pub that you believe is the best of breed. The voting period runs through April 30 and winners will be announced on May 1.

Tags: awards-main, beer, best brew pub, best brew pubs, best microbreweries, brooklyn, luxist-awards, microbreweries, microbrewery, Spuyten Duyvil

Sex on the Beach: Crystal Jin Swimwear

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel

If you're lucky enough to be planning a trip to the beach in this dismal stretch of weather it's well worth checking out Brooklyn-based designer Crystal Jin Eley's recently launched line of luxurious, sexy swimwear. The minimal and chic Crystal Jin collection includes bikinis like this itsy bitsy number, bandeau tops with matching bottoms, and monokinis including a plunging v-neck held snugly to the body with a thin center strap, all finished in a handful of tasteful prints and a subdued, well-edited palette. Of course you need to be in pretty great shape to pull these off but it's well worth it. Looks feature precise hand finishing and hardware from Barcelona as well as special pieces created exclusively for the brand by metal artisans based Los Angeles. The fit and cut of each piece is painstakingly fashioned to ensure that each suit wears like a second skin and structural elements have been incorporated to showcase the elegance of the collection. Eley is a former accessories designer for J.Crew who also worked for Proenza Schouler, Catherine Malandrino and Lela Rose before starting her own label.

Tags: beach, bikini, Brooklyn, Crystal Jin, Crystal Jin Eley, CrystalJin, CrystalJinEley, swimming, swimsuit, swimwear

Just How Many Condo Projects Are Unfilled And Unfinished In New York City?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

Just how bad is the condo situation in New York? Right to the City-New York, an alliance of grassroots community organizations, has identified a total of 601 condominium buildings in a half dozen neighborhoods in New York City that have either stopped construction or have a great deal of vacant units. That number is a lot higher than the 454 recorded by the Department of Buildings for the city as a whole.

Members of Right to the City went through six neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn finding buildings that aren't being fully utilized in order to show the city how big the problem is. Over the summer the city began a $20 million pilot program called the Housing Asset Renewal Program in order to turn residential buildings into as many as 400 affordable housing units. Among the buildings that Right to the City identified are Be@Schermerhorn, a 246-unit luxury condo, with a vacancy rate of more than 93 percent, and Forté, a 108-unit luxury condo, with a vacancy rate of more than 60 percent. Both buildings have been on the market for at least a year and Forté was recently taken over by its lender Eurohypo bank.

As Crains New York points out, it's not quite clear how many developers might want to participate in the Housing Asset Renewal Program in order to help finish their stalled projects. Many may prefer to simply wait out the current economic doldrums and begin building again when the market picks up.

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Tags: brooklyn, condominiums, condos, manhattan, new york city, NewYorkCity

Art Market Goes Local

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

The big numbers and grand auction centers around the world remain under pressure, but small local art scenes are finding ways to thrive. Like the small cap stocks that lead financial markets out of a recession, maybe it's the emerging artist and local art scene that will deliver us from this slump.

Grand Rapids hosted ArtPrize, a new art show this year, and it was so successful that the organizers are going to do it again in 2010. Businesses in town got a bump, and Grand Rapids was able to boost its cred as an art destination. The 18-day competition commenced on September 23, 2009 and drew tens of thousands of visitors to the Michigan city. Some restaurants ran out of food, because they weren't expecting such a large influx of guests. Doug Small, president of the Grand Rapids/Kent County Convention and Visitors Bureau, told The Associated Press, "Nobody had any clue this would happen."

The competition attracted 1,262 entries, varying in size, shape, style and medium. They were displayed in lobbies, on bridges, in parking lots and in the Grand River -- anywhere in town where they could find a place to exhibit. The winners were chosen by the voting public, using the event's website and text messaging, with 37,264 people participating.

The winner was Ryan Ortner of Brooklyn, New York, with the oil painting "Open Water No. 24, measuring 19 feet wide, taking first place, with Tracy Van Duinen taking second and Eric Daigh coming in third. Ortner lent his painting to the Grand Rapids Art Museum, which is going to display it until January.

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Tags: art, art fair, art market, ArtFair, artist, ArtMarket, artwork, brooklyn, brooklyn new york, BrooklynNewYork, grand rapids, GrandRapids, local art, LocalArt, michigan, new york, NewYork

Will An Audi Lure Buyers Into A $2 Million Condo?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Real Estate Developments

Condo developers and car manufacturers have a shared problem, slow sales in a sluggish economy. And so more condominium developers are looking at throwing in a free car. NBC New York reports that the 449-unit One Brooklyn Bridge Park on the outskirts of Brooklyn Heights have gotten a little edgy after seeing their building only 30 percent full after a couple of years. To lure buyers, the developers are offering a free 2010 Audi A4 to the next 10 people who buy a unit worth $2 million or more by Sept. 30. The bigger lure is actually the free parking spot which could be worth $150,000 but having a shiny new car to park in it is nice too. The A4 isn't as attention getting as a Bentley or a Porsche but it might get some shoppers in the door.

The former printing factory offers units with high ceilings, large windows, kitchens with Bosch appliances and bathrooms with glass showers and separate soaking tubs. Amenities include concierge and doorman service, a children's play area, billiards room, virtual golf area, bike room, meeting rooms, fitness studio and more.

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Tags: audi a4, AudiA4, brooklyn, new york, NewYork, one brooklyn bridge park, OneBrooklynBridgePark

Artist Dash Snow Dies, Heroin

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

New York artist and gallery darling Dash Snow died Tuesday at the age of 27: heroin was the culprit. The hot artist's work lives on at the Saatchi Gallery in London, where his project "Abstract America: New Painting and Sculpture" is on display. His work has also been shown in Gagosian Gallery, Deitch Projects and is held in permanent collections at the Whitney and Brooklyn Museum.

Snow has worked in graffiti, photography and even his own semen. Though he has famous roots (Uma Thurman's his aunt), Snow preferred a gritty life on the Lower East Side involving theft, jail time and the narcotic that caused his demise. The world has lost a creative force – but one that was destructive at the same time.

Source

Tags: art, artist, artwork, brooklyn, brooklyn museum, BrooklynMuseum, dash snow, DashSnow, deitch project, DeitchProject, gagosian, gagosian gallery, GagosianGallery, graffiti, graffiti art, graffiti artist, GraffitiArt, GraffitiArtist, lower east side, LowerEastSide, manhattan, new york, NewYork, saatchi, uma thurman, UmaThurman, whitney, whitney museum, WhitneyMuseum

Brooklyn Philharmonic Calls It Quits until 2011

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events, Art

If the Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra was on your calendar ... well, it isn't any more. There will be no more concerts this season. The entire 2009/10 season has been canceled. But, there is hope for 2011.

April 17, 2009, it seems, is the day the music died. Cause of death: budgetary shortfall from a drop in donations.

J. Barclay Collins II, chairman of the Brooklyn Philharmonic's board, won't reveal exactly how far donations have fallen, but the results are clearly shy of the organization's $3 million annual budget. He did say, however, that he expects the music to return in 2011. Fortunately, it's only the concerts that have been canceled. The Brooklyn Philharmonic will still operate its educational programs – at a cost of approximately $750,000 a year.

The decision to suspend the concerts comes following two years of financial difficulty. For its fiscal year ending June 30, 2007 (the last for which financial information is available), the group had a deficit of $121,925. A full-time staff of 23 people has been slashed by 70 percent.

Source

Tags: brooklyn, charity, donate, donation, donations, financial crisis, FinancialCrisis, new york, NewYork, orchestra, symphony

Magic Johnson's Condo Project Files For Bankruptcy

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Celebrity Shopping, Real Estate Developments

Magic Johnson has become the latest celebrity to be affected by bankruptcy. It's not his personal holdings that are in trouble but one of this investments, the 110 Green St. Development LLC, the developer behind the Viridian condo project in Brooklyn, NY. The developer is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and is converting the condos into rental units instead to keep pace with the changing New York City real estate market.

The Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund, a private real estate fund focused on urban properties, gave the development $12.3 million in mezzanine financing. 110 Green St. Development also has a loan of $35.75 million from the Bank of New York. Curbed reports that the entire building is being shopped around to investors for $65 million.

Gallery: Celebrity Foreclosures

Jeana Keough from the Real Housewives of Orange County

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Tags: brooklyn, magic johnson, MagicJohnson, viridian

Nu Hotel Opens in Brooklyn

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Hersha Hospitality, the company behind the recently opened Duane Street Hotel in Tribeca, New York City, is now taking on Brooklyn. The Nu Hotel is billed as Downtown Brooklyn's first boutique hotel. The 93-room, newly built hotel was designed by Datumzero Design Office and has guest rooms in three styles, the Nu Standard, the Nu Friends Suite, and the Nu Urban Suite. The Nu Friends Suites are equipped with bunk beds and modular furniture and Nu Urban Suites feature a cozy bed niche with leather surroundings, a sitting area and custom hammocks. Rooms have cork flooring, organic bedding materials and custom furnishings crafted from FSC- certified, sustainably harvested teak wood. Rooms also include 32" flat-screen televisions with "jack packs" to dock audio, video and computer electronics and complementary wifi access. The bathrooms have stone and glass showers, rain head showers, Aveda bath products and chalkboard walls where guests can jot notes for housekeeping, travel companions or themselves.

The hotel also includes Nu Bar, the hotel's cafe/lounge and the Nu Gym as well as bike storage and bicycle use service. The lobby, like many these days, is designed for lingering with a business center, custom concierge service and the "library nook" which offers a comfortable place to hang out. Rates begin at $200 per night.

Gallery: Nu Hotel Brooklyn

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Tags: brooklyn, hotel, new york, nu hotel, NuHotel, travel, vacation

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