Gentrification: Inspiring Art, Regardless of Implications

When Brooklyn painter Geoffrey Raymond thinks about gentrification, an image pops into his head of Bruce Ratner, the real estate developer bringing the New Jersey Nets to the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn in 2012.

So Raymond created an interactive portrait of the developer entitled "The Annotated Ratner" for a new show at the Brooklyn Artists Gym that opened Saturday—"Gentrified."

The show features some 45 paintings, photographs, videos and other works from 20 local artists that address the huge transformations New York neighborhoods have undergone in recent years — the upheaval, friction and changing populations.

Ratner's "brass-knuckles use of eminent domain in clearing the way for his development of the Atlantic Yards almost defines gentrification," said Raymond, a Brooklyn resident known for painting Wall Street titans at key moments in history, such as during the Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers collapses.

Visitors to the "Gentrified" show, which runs through January 8, will be able to "annotate" their thoughts on Raymond's painting in magic marker, helping to complete the painting as scrawls start to look like small brushstrokes, and providing a snapshot of how visitors feel about the subject at a particular time in history.

BAG operations manager Meredith Alcarese, who helped conceive the show, said the response to her call for submissions was substantial; over 50 artists applied. 

"Gentrification has always been an issue I've found fascinating," Alcarese said, "and a subject that Brooklyn people can talk about for hours." 

Alcarese experienced gentrification firsthand when she moved to New York from Maryland years ago. She was one of dozens of 20-somethings a developer lured to a Brooklyn building he refurbished in a neighborhood dominated by working class Caribbean families.

"The developers were handpicking white 20-somethings to go into their new building," said Alcarese, who only realized the developer's intentions after she had already signed her lease. "I knew the people living there were looking at us and thinking 'I'm not going to be able to afford my rent in a few years' and I felt bad," she said.

Artist and show participant Catherine Kirkpatrick was also inspired by a personal experience with gentrification and big developers. She lives in Peter Cooper Village in Manhattan, which was bought by a large real estate firm in 2006 and has been mired in conflict. Her two black and white photographs, "Meat Packing Street" and "Cow Jeans" combine pictures of trendy scenes in the Meatpacking District with graffiti and street art to show how forces and emotions in the neighborhood collide. 

"They're black and white because night in that area has a noir-ish feel to me: ghosts of the old businesses and crimes and waterfront goings on haunt the area, giving it an edge," she said. "It's a place with a variety of players and a variety of forces in play; a place where anything can happen." The photos are part of a series that started on the edge of Manhattan, looking at how the open spaces were disappearing there.

Norma Greenwood, another show participant, painted scenes set in Long Island City, which has undergone a wave of development over the last five years. Artist Louise Guerin spruced up a small collection of intricately made frocks saved by a family member to create her work of art, which "revives a whole wardrobe."

"You can't live in Brooklyn and not be aware of gentrification, recycling, and refurbishment of all kinds," Guerin said.