Long Island City Open Arts-- Taking Wing

[Poster by Luba Lukova , copyrighted to Ms.Lukova; displayed here solely for non-commercial purposes of commentary.]

In the kaleidoscopic world(s) of the visual arts in New York City, the community of artists in Long Island City is rising.  (My wife and artistic collaborator, the woodcarver Deborah Mills, has her studio in LIC's Diego Salazar Building-- so I acknowledge my lack of objectivity on the subject!).   Long home to many artists (and housing museums such as MoMA PS 1 and The Noguchi Museum -- and, until it was painted over late last year, the graffiti edifice 5 Pointz), LIC has recently seen even more creatives arriving as rents continue to rise in Williamsburg and Greenpoint in Brooklyn-- not to mention in Manhattan.

Symptomatic of LIC's growing stature as an arts center was the fourth annual open studios event last week.  While helping Deborah at her wonderfully crowded carving demonstrations, I took a quick tour of what colleagues had to offer, especially in the Juvenal Reis building across the street.  A few highlights from among many, more evidence of LIC's increasing prominence in the arts (as always, copyright held by the artist and/or his/her legal representatives; displayed here solely for non-commercial purposes):

 

Kathy Ferguson, "Gravity Goes Awry"




Atto Kim



Robert Badia  



Suzanne Pemberton  "Sagaponack"



Maria Liebana "Speedy"



Eric Rue  "Interface I"



Kinuko Imai Hoffman  "Buff"