Famous Accountants
Famous Accountants is a contemporary art gallery located near the border of the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn and Ridgewood, Queens. It was founded in October 2009 by artists Kevin Regan and Ellen Letcher, who opened the space to carry on the community spirit of Austin Thomas's closed Pocket Utopia gallery.[1] The gallery is located in the basement of a building on Gates Avenues that was owned for nearly 15 years by performance artist Genesis P-Orridge.[2] In a profile in The New York Times, Ms. P-Orridge claimed that she was "forced out [of the neighborhood] by the hipsters" and that she would relocate to the Lower East Side.[3]
The gallery has drawn attention for its exhibitions featuring a broad range of materials and working methods, including both tech-based works[4] and portraits painted using traditional methods from the Northern Renaissance.[5] In January of 2011 the gallery exhibited an installation by artist Andrew Ohanesian of an airplane jetway that the artist had built from new and discarded parts he sourced himself.[6]
Artist William Powhida praised the inclusiveness of the Bushwick / Ridgewood artist community of which the gallery is a part, saying, “You can still have a BBQ outside of English Kills and host Sunday salons at Famous Accountants... Do you ever see that in Chelsea? Not so much.”[7]
References
- ^ Kalm, James. "Brooklyn Dispatches: Dog Years". The Brooklyn Rail. May 2010
- ^ Sapienza, Jeremy. "Famous Accountants You Don't Yet Know". Bushwick BK. October 21, 2009.
- ^ Griffin, Annaleise. "Granny Takes Another Trip". The New York Times. April 30, 2010.
- ^ Schmerier, Sarah. "Tunneling". Art in America. November 16, 2010.
- ^ Johnson, Ken. "Matthew Miller: The magic black of an open barn door on a really sunny summer day, when you just cannot see into it". The New York Times. May 5, 2011.
- ^ "Reality Bites: The Too True Art of Andrew Ohanesian" Williamsburg Greenpoint News + Arts. January 29, 2011
- ^ Truax, Stephen. "DIY Bushwick". The Brooklyn Rail. June 2011.