Dennis Masback | Gowanus Paintings

(L-R) Dredging (2022) and Red Tug Up the Gowanus (2022)

The Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse has another great solo exhibition lined up this month! On Saturday, June 4, painter Dennis Masback unveils 18 evocative acrylic paintings that perfectly illustrate the "fetid backwater" that is the Gowanus Canal, as he describes it.

Masback's paintings feature many familiar scenes in Gowanus—barges and tugboats adrift on the waterway, dredging equipment, the industrial architecture found along the canal and the bridges that traverse it—sights which inspired the artist to examine the canal's history and efforts to preserve it.

"The pantings that I have produced depict the canal as tidal waterway flowing in and out which is very much a part of a network of other transportation conduits," according to Masback's artist statement. "Like the tide, the Gowanus transportation system of roads, tracks and canal, carries goods, people and waste in and out of the borough," he adds, noting the significant role the canal has served in Brooklyn over centuries, from creek to shipping and manufacturing hub to toxic Superfund site currently undergoing a federal cleanup.

(L-R) Dredging the Gowanus, Gowanus Expressway Over Hamilton Avenue Bridge, Approaching Gowanus Expressway (all 2022)

(L-R) Junk Yard, 9th Street Bridge, Barge and Tanks (all 2022)

"Dredging is underway to remove toxins resting in the bed of the canal as its neighborhood watches and contemplates life within and around it," according to Masback. Whatever the future may look like for Gowanus and its infamous canal, Masback has beautifully captured its essence today and what makes this polluted waterbody special to locals and worthy of conserving and immortalizing in art.

Dennis Masback received both his BFA and MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. In 2018, he retired from Pratt Institute, where he had taught painting and drawing since 1993. He currently lives in Connecticut. See more of his artwork at dennismasback.com.

Approaching Gowanus Expressway, 2022

Third Street Bridge and Tug, 2022

Dredging the Gowanus, 2022

Masback will be present at the Boathouse on Saturdays from 1pm to 5pm throughout the month of June. An opening reception, with music by Dust Devil Heart, is scheduled for Saturday, June 4, from 3pm to 5pm. 

Gowanus Paintings by Dennis Masback
Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse, 165 2nd Street, Brooklyn
Exhibition on view June 4 - June 25