The Brooklyn Artsmith Collective
Members
Gigi Bio is a renaissance woman living in Brooklyn, New York. By trade, she is a fashion designer who specializes in women's wear, embroidery and accessory design. She is an artist who works in classic and modern mediums through painting, illustration, collage and photography.
Architecture, movement and the city streets are major influences. She is inspired by the changing landscapes of New York because it is a city in constant flow. Her current series "Urban Reconstructionist" is about recreating the world through her eyes. Each composition is a scene made of many flow-like layers, combined and reconstructed to form organic structures. She encourages the viewer how to fully experience their environment, to find beauty in the mundane and order through the chaos.
In 2008, her street photography was featured in exhibits and publications for "Street or Studio - The History of Urban Photography" at Tate Modern and "Click - The Changing Faces of Brooklyn" at Brooklyn Museum. Her work is part of permanent collections of the Savannah College of Art & Design and Florida Community College at Jacksonville.
After many years of traveling the world with the US Navy and capturing most of the journey with disposable cameras, Alex Bershaw came home, where he further developed his eye and transitioned into a point and shoot. Thousands of photographs later Alex adopted the use of a Cannon DSLR. While shooting urban landscapes and candid street scenes he learned how to utilize ambient light to create dramatic shadows within the composition. As a digital media artist, the integration of digital color correction is an important component in producing work that is saturated with brilliant color and high contrast.
Alex's inspiration is rooted in the aesthetics of film such as the detail of grain, dramatic color and the creative sensibilities of Gordon Parks, Kubrick, Scorsese and Hype Williams.
Alex Bershaw's work has been published at: Gothamist, Gowanus Lounge, Botanica, Urboto, JPG Magazine, Simply.Out.Standing.
Alex, a resident of Brooklyn for the past seven years, is the founder of Brooklyn Artsmith Collective. He is currently working on a book inspired by his journeys and experiences.
New York's densely frenetic layering is a major inspiration for Goldstein's work. He loves how old storefront signs peak out behind new ones, and how a building door can be a canvas for artists, taggers, and guerrilla marketers. To him the city is at its best when its functions overlap, histories intermingle, and cultures collide, creating exciting and ambiguous new relationships. His chopped-up, blown-apart and reconstructed sculptural photo collages are an homage to the churning engine of New York, which is constantly creating new cities, both beautiful and ugly, right on top of the old.
Some of his pieces are hanging at the Bronx Library Center, Vitamin Water and Frank 151 headquarters, and Credit Suisse First Boston world headquarters in Switzerland, as well as various private collections. His work has been shown at WNYC's Greene Space, Jan Larsen Art, and the BAM Jewish Film Festival, and has been featured in the New York Times, House Beautiful, and Daily News.
James and Karla Murray are professional photographers and authors who specialize in urban and low-light photography using both film and digital formats. Their latest body of work has been published in "STORE FRONT—The Disappearing Face of New York" (Gingko Press, January 2009). Prestel will publish their upcoming book, "MIAMI GRAFFITI," in April 2009. James and Karla also have two best-selling, landmark books on New York City graffiti art, "Broken Windows-Graffiti NYC" (Gingko Press 2002) and "Burning New York" (Gingko Press 2006). Their photographs have been exhibited at the Brooklyn Historical Society, The New York Historical Society in New York City and in galleries throughout the New York metropolitan area and Miami. Their work is housed in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in Washington, D.C. and the New York Public Library. Their photographs and articles have appeared in numerous publications, including Peel Magazine, Mass Appeal and Time Out New York. Past clients have included Altoids—The Curiously Strong Mints, Embedded Music artist Bisc1 and Mass Appeal Magazine. James and Karla Murray also have 2 photographic installations currently on extended display in one of the famed art rooms at The Carlton Arms Hotel in New York City located at the corner of East 25th Street and 3rd Avenue. They live in New York City and Miami.
Adam Suerte grew up in South Brooklyn where the streets were his canvas long before he was putting the streets on his canvas. He went to Music and Art High school where his graffiti flourished, and his love of underground comics psychadelic art and illustration began to bloom. At Rhode Island School of Design, he studied illustration, even though he is more of a painter. Dutch masters, Impressionism, Op Art, Pop Art, Hudson River Valley School , and the art of ancient Mexico were a few things that caught his eye. Upon moving back to Brooklyn he founded the artist cooperative Urban Folk ArtŠ where the group ran a silkscreen studio, published their own comics, curated openings, participated in murals projects, guerrilla art projects, and taught art to kids. As they shut down the Printing aspect of the group 8 years later. Adam apprenticed at a tattoo shop in the late 90's, and opened and operates Brooklyn Tattoo, the first ever tattoo studio gallery in Cobble Hill Brooklyn, where he still resides. He is also continually painting makking comics, murals , and teaching art to kids.