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Arts & Entertainment

Brooklyn Yes Indeed

“Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.”  -Gore Vidal
Brooklynites have a pride that is unmatched, and while the borough has gone through many changes as of late, one thing holds true, Brooklynites from the '70s and '80s have style, and we know it. This style was exhibited in many ways, from the way we dressed, walked (with a knowing swagger), talked (despite mythology, there's more than just one Brooklyn accent), made a stoop our own, or how we wrote on subway trains, walls, and later, canvasses.
While street-art is often referred to as a worldwide movement -- and it truly has has become one, co-opted by small commercial interests and big business alike -- the art-form got its humble, ink-stained start in the five boroughs of New York City, kicked-off by city-kids for city-kids. The County Of Kings can lay claim to breeding and nurturing many a talented and acclaimed urban artist, hailing from places as diverse as Red Hook, Coney Island, Park Slope and Bedford Stuyvesant.
The BROOKLYN YES INDEED show intends to highlight an art movement and subculture that has grown leaps and bounds from its insular D.I.Y. origins, by showcasing artwork that shows the trajectory of a clutch of legendary Brooklyn artists who have taken their work from the trains and walls of our great city onto the next level. In addition to canvas and sculpture work, the exhibit includes photography in an effort to give a context as to where the art was birthed, and by whom.

The guest curators:
DAVID VILLORENTE is one of the foremost practitioners and ambassadors of graffiti art in the world. His reign as the ten-year editor of both the "Bomb Shelter" and "Graf Flix" graffiti features in The Source magazine cemented his position as an important arbiter within the graffiti community. His written work has appeared in magazines such as ComplexMass AppealMug Shot and YRB, while his firsthand knowledge of the graf game and all its past, present and future players makes him an indispensable source for dozens of other publications. Writing under his tag, “CHINO” Villorente was a prolific writer of another sort, getting up (inside) the trains on the BMT and IND lines from 1984–1987, as well as a ton of street "bombing" after that time both locally and abroad.
More recently, Villorente co-authored four books, Mascots&Mugs: The Characters and Cartoons of Subway GraffitiPiecebookPiecebook Reloaded, and World Piecebook, as well as publishing a widely-read and respected blog (http://www.12ozprophet.com/index.php/chino/). Vilorente is also in high-demand for his mural work, with clients including Sprite, VH1, Adidas, Turner Network Television, Reebok, Ecko Unlimited, Converse, and many others.
Villorente currently resides in his native borough, beautiful Brooklyn, New York.
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LEE GREENFELD was born in the sightline of the East River and within spitting distance of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. His curiosity about the sights, sites, and sounds of Brooklyn got its hooks in early and never loosed its grip; for all of his life lived so far, he has been a proud resident of the County Of Kings. Part of his youth was spent obsessively scrawling curious markings on trains, walls, overpasses, and other public spots, but it wasn't long before his energies found a new focus in the world of music. There was time put in at innumerable city club shows, and endless hours spent listening and absorbing records of every variety: Punk and soul. Reggae and Americana. Folk, psych, and bebop. And on and on.
Subsequently, that energy was refocused into close to ten years of publication of the music journal Sound Views, dedicated to exposing the best and brightest artists of every genre and medium within the environs of New York City. He refocused again, putting out a number of albums and compilations on the Sound Views label (and its offshoot, the Do A Runner! label). Following the retirement of the magazine/label, Lee served as the de facto educator of the city's punk-oriented youth, acting as buyer for the legendary Soapbox record store, formerly on St. Mark's Place. He then became the co-owner and talent-buyer of the inestimable Magnetic Field on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, booking of dozens upon dozens upon several dozens more bands and acts to entertain and edify patrons both loyal and new. Under the alias MR. LEE, he is also a well-respected, vinyl-only club DJ, with a long-running monthly party, as well as often acting as support for international artists.
Currently, Lee is putting his energies into Dead Flowers — originally a highly regarded webzine he edited and published — working with bands, artists, and projects that have stoked or otherwise touched his ever-smoldering inner enthusiasms. 
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Show runs until the end of August.Gallery hours: Tuesday - Saturday 12-9PM; and Sundays 1-8PM.
for additional imagery or info, contact Lee Greenfeld at deadflowers66@gmail.com

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