La Bodega Gallery was overflowing Friday night for the opening of its final exhibition of the year, Transform. Nearly 100 works by artists from the La Bodega community were on display at the festive fundraising event.
La Bodega Gallery Director Johnny Thornton and owner Miguel Ayuso pose with a painting by Ayuso that was one of the prizes in Friday's raffle
Gallery owner Miguel Ayuso and Director Johnny Thornton invited anyone to contribute to the group show, providing design templates as a “starting point” for artists. Participants could select from six images—a camera, cat, fire hydrant, light bulb, sneaker, or skull—printed on an 11 x 17 sheet and slipped into a plastic sleeve. Artists could “transform” the images however they liked, the only requirement being that the piece had to fit back into its sleeve.
“We thought it was a very La Bodega thing to do, to give all the artists in our community a challenge,” explained Thornton. “This is really representational of what La Bodega does [as well as] the community we’ve been building over the last few years.”
Thornton and Ayuso were “blown away” by the submissions. “I’m amazed by all the different responses and the great level of work,” Ayuso said, noting that participants include both emerging and more established artists. “It’s a good balance,” the gallery owner added.
Transform at La Bodega Gallery
Originally from Oaxaca, Mexico, Ayuso has been painting since childhood. He studied graphic design before moving to New York City 14 years ago. He launched La Bodega in 2017 as a gallery and a studio offering art classes for adults and children. The Park Slope space also hosts a variety of community events, including film screenings, readings, dance performances, and more.
Priced at $120 each, works were flying off the walls during the opening party, with a portion of the sales going to support La Bodega and help the gallery expand its programming in the coming year. There was also a raffle on Friday evening, with the grand prize being an original painting by Ayuso himself. “It’s an image of two hands making a heart which is what we are about…spreading love,” he said of his vivid and cheerful work.
Transform is on view at La Bodega Gallery, 695 5th Avenue, Park Slope through December 30. Some of the participating artists discuss their entries below.
Marlene Weisman and her artwork (bottom right)
Gowanus-based artist Marlene Weisman selected the light bulb design because it “represents ideas and inspiration” she said. “In my piece I thought I’d make the trajectory of an idea,” she explained, noting that the viewer’s gaze travels upward, going “from thinking about it, to getting inspiration, to the eureka moment.” Weisman incorporated her “usual fun pop-art approach” including both traditional collage and playful 3D elements.
Along with supporting La Bodega, Weisman said she's happy to be part of the group show because she loves the “unity in the arts community and that [the challenge] is not so serious,” she noted. “You can just have fun and experiment.”
Miska Draskoczy and his artwork (top row, second from left)
Miska Draskoczy created a solvent transfer for his submission, using a photograph he took of a skull he carved in high school. Draskoczy, who is known for his photos documenting Gowanus, looked for “a good nest of decayed trash” on the streets for his backdrop. While detritus is “becoming harder and harder to find” in the area, he ultimately shot by the Carroll Street Bridge. Surrounding the skull are a crumpled Marlboro pack and an empty container from nearby Ample Hills Creamery among leaves, twigs, and shadows.
“I’ve done a lot of these types of group community shows and I always think they’re really amazing opportunities to step outside what you may normally want to do, or think of your work, and just have fun and not feel the pressure to do some big project,” Draskoczy said. “It’s so cool to see how inventive people are and [how they] thought of things that never would have occurred to me.”
Charles Spurrier and his artwork (middle row, far right)
“I didn’t bury the image because I liked it as a found object,” Charles Spurrier explained of the image of a sneaker overlaid with a sheer ring of blue thumbprints. Spurrier worked in Williamsburg for 25 years before moving his studio just a few blocks south of La Bodega about four years ago. The artist often incorporates found objects into his work and uses his fingerprints as a way to “demystify the artist’s mark,” he said.
“I wanted to make it something that was connected to everybody,” he continued. While fingerprints can be very personal and individual, they are also “entirely shared because we all have them,” Spurrier noted. “It’s an artist’s mark that I think is important to painting, but it’s a mark that we’re all capable of. It’s something we all share.”
David Green and his son, Max. Green's artwork is seen above his right shoulder.
A carpenter by trade, David Green paints from his home in Park Slope. Green said he wanted to help his friend Ayuso and La Bodega by participating in the group show. He chose the fire hydrant design for its smaller scale so he “could create a real scene…a street scene.”
“It’s sort of a bleak scene of what might happen with the way the planet’s condition is going,” he explained of his moody oil painting which features his son Max. “It’s got a boy who could be looking kind of sad, but there’s also the tortoise which I think of as kind of hopeful. The whole thing to me is hopeful.”
Taurean Davis with one of his artworks (top right)
Representing the “Boogie Down Bronx” Taurean Davis walked around the gallery taking instant photos of fellow artists and attendees. “When I think about the light bulb, the first thing I think about is the idea…the idea of ‘Woman Is God,’” he explained of one of two oil and pastel works he submitted. “One of the pieces is called Woman Is God, and that had a play on the title of the show, Transform, transform ideas, transform views, bring different things into the conversation,” he said.
Davis, who creates portraits, chose the skull for his other submission. “I figured what I would do with the skull is add the meat and potatoes to the skull, the flesh, the transformation,” he said. Believing that “all people are royalty,” Davis topped his figure with a purple crown—“the color that represents royalty.” He also pointed out that the portrait does not feature the “traditional nose” he typically uses, rather a phallic one that seems to be leading the male figure. “What’s going on is you need your heart to be involved too to be able to make the right decisions,” he said of his work’s message.
Davis, who runs an after-school program for middle schoolers in the Bronx, only began showing his work earlier this year. “Any opportunity I can get to show the work and…and to see what everybody else has brought to the table, it definitely gives me empowerment and a boost of confidence. I feel the love and energy,” he happily noted. “Being able to take part in this opportunity is amazing for me."
Robin Roi and her artwork 'Conceptual Art Is A Good Idea'
“'Conceptual Art Is A Good Idea,' what more is there to say?” Windsor Terrace-based artist Robin Roi said of her work. “It’s the title and it’s the concept and that’s all there is.” Roi selected the light bulb design because it symbolizes an idea and “the seed of all art is an idea.” Beneath her statement praising conceptual art, Roi gilded six light bulbs with 22-karat gold leaf. Before retiring in 2015, Roi was the Director of Decorative Painting at EverGreene Painting Studios for 30+ years.
Roi participated in the Transform show to support La Bodega. “This is such a fun, crazy, eclectic space. It’s so Brooklyn,” she said. “The openings here are always fun and like this. It’s always a party here.”
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