the art collectors

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Ad Hoc Bids Farewell

Video: Brooklyn Street Art

Tonight, Ad Hoc Art opens its last exhibition, appropriately one of their strongest to date, with a joint show from Armsrock and Chris Stain. While Ad Hoc and its Peripheral Media Projects print shop are not disappearing altogether, they will be trimming much of their 49 Bogart St. Brooklyn space and scaling back operations as a formal gallery to focus on the more sustainable aspects of their business. So, while the gallery that showed early support to young, emerging artists like Swoon, Judith Supine and Bast will cease to exist, the individuals and spirit behind the organization will continue on through alternative projects and collaborations requiring less of a financial burden. Co-founder and Owner, Garrison Buxton sent out a lengthy and heartfelt letter, explaining the current state and future vision for Ad Hoc, which we excerpt after the jump:

Dear Collaborators, Co-conspirators, Friends and Inspirations,

One thing that is for certain in life is that change is a given, always happening never taking a break.  Over the past few years, and especially over the past year, there have been some tremendous changes on the global landscape…We at Ad Hoc Art have felt the effects significantly…

Going back a few years, in 2005 we were the third business on our block of Bogart Street and the first gallery in the hood.  Burnt-out cars were not yet uncommon in the lovely concrete jungle of the East Williamsburg Industrial Park, fondly referred to as Bushwick.  What began as a desire to cultivate community and showcase the underrepresented, amazingly-rad art of our peers turned out to be a seed of change that helped spur the growth of the most off-the-hook creative neighborhood in New York City, bringing Bushwick to the forefront of the global art scene…

We must be dynamic in confronting the circumstances before us in order to shine the light of human vision beyond the challenging passages of these times.  To remain on this path, we are choosing to significantly modifying the structure and layout of the gallery and studioFall of 2009 and spring of 2010 have us embarking on a truly long-term and sustainable visionary art project.  We will be renovating an historic but outdated and dilapidated 1840’s farm house and barn in Vermont and developing a artist residency, education center, and creative think tank.  At less than 5 hours from New York City, we will have one foot in the city and the other in the beautiful Green Mountains.  The site has years of personal history as an old family homestead in addition to being the home and studio where one of the fathers of modern-day screen printing, WPA artist Harry Shokler, lived and wrote the first seminal how-to screen print text in the 1940’s.  His text, Artists Manual for Silk Screen Print Making, served as the benchmark text for decades, paving the way for generations of printers.  We are proud to have the opportunity to carry that pioneering and unyielding spirit forward into a new era of ingenuity.

Via teaching and using responsible & sustainable building and studio practices, we will move ever-closer to a globally, environmentally, physically, mentally, spiritually, and fiscally sustainable existence.  Envision an art studio, print shop, and living space powered by green energy, selling power back to the grid, and growing food for meals.  Recycling materials, gray water, and waste.  That’s where we are heading…

Thank you for all the outstanding times.

Infinite gratitude and respect from all that is us to all that is you,

Garrison Buxton
Owner/Co-founder – Ad Hoc Art & Peripheral Media Projects