Response to Brian Fernandes-Halloran’s community art show has been so strong that one participant walked off with a large screen television and DVD player last night. No signs of forced entry were found in the theft of equipment that was part of a video installation that shared the views of residents. This follows repeated reports to PLOG of chronic robberies on Ocean Avenue between Empire Avenue and Lincoln Road. A crew of youth reportedly have been using fire escapes to break through windows or remove air conditioners to access apartments. Investigators have told victims that the individuals involved have been identified but police have insufficient evidence to press charges.
We’ve heard so many plans for cafes and such since the closing of K-Dog and Dunebuggy that PLOG presents this handy map to keep track of all your future caffeine needs. A former employee from K-Dog is in talks to open a coffee shop at the former florist on Flatbush (green). Restauranteur Gino Sela is rumored to be opening a bakery next to his pizzeria and trattoria (red). As we reported last week Cafe Pomidor claims to be opening in November (yellow) and The Blue Roost Cafe (blue) announced plans to take over K-Dog’s space and be operating before December. Get your travel mugs ready for winter.
The rape of Brian’s show leaves me damn near speechless. But I must rant nevertheless. This show has been one of the most innovative and diverse that I have ever seen in PLG. IMHO, much of the magic of the exhibition has come by way of how it has encouraged and prompted real community participation — not just through attendance but also through the map posts, painted gate messages, and the spoken word commentaries, raps and songs of the “Truth Booth.” The result is that, in sync with Brian and community, there have been many other “artists” to emerge within the confines of this exhibition. How wonderful!
So much the irony, then, that as this “people’s show” has extended its reach to embrace the entire community, another has chosen to invade and pillage the community’s art for personal gain. An outrageous response indeed — but one which further dramatizes Brian’s own vision which respect to the work: “. . . my paintings [are] about the distance between us.”
The good news, I think/I hope is that as our community continues to grow and evolve, morph and mesh, the distance between the whole us is not nearly as great as it is between some of us and some of our parts. (Hope that last line makes sense). :-) I also hope that whoever chose to deconstruct and carry away the Truth booth had enough contempt for the project to have at least left the DVD(s) of commentaries behind. .. or, after discovering they have no “retail value,” surreptitiously returns them to Brian and the show.
[...] Fernandes-Halloran received a write-up in our sister publication, the Wall Street Journal, and praise from art bloggers [...]