Remebering
For & About: Art and Reactions to Superstorm Sandy
This opportunity was a rewarding project for so many reasons. In 2013, one year after Superstorm Sandy, we curated a group exhibition featuring artwork by 14 Brooklyn-based artists commemorating the 1st anniversary of Sandy. For & About included a group exhibition of visual artworks in Brooklyn Arts Council Gallery; a Scene: Brooklyn film screening, a media installation, and zine.
ZINE PDF | ARCHIVE
This commemorative zine is a visceral collection of thoughts, observations, poems and stories of remembrance from those in Brooklyn who were hit hardest by Superstorm Sandy and those who reached out a helping hand to them. An *asterisk indicates stories provided by Sandy Storyline, a participatory documentary that collects and shares stories about the impact of Superstorm Sandy on our neighborhoods, our communities and our lives.
GALLERY SHOW
RED GROUND, Brock Mills, Reddy Or Not, 2012, C-print, 12 x 18 inches. 
HAIRY DONUT, Asya Dodina and Slava Polishchuk, Between Earth and Heaven, 2012, mixed media on canvas, 37 x 37 inches.
BOARDS AND DRWINGS, Jason A. Maas, Three Volunteers, 2013, graphite, panel, salvaged Rockaway materials, fabric, dimensions variable.
NEGATIVES MESSED UP SERIES OF THREE, Kim Hoeckele, Ninety-Eight Days (01), 2012, silver gelatin paper negative, 5 x 7 inches.
ANACHRONIC PATTERNS, Sheila Goloborotko, lithograph installation, dimensions vary
SCRIBBLE W/Statue of LIBERTY, Miguel Garcia, Red Hook, 2011, mixed media on canvas, 62 x 96 inches.
WAVES, Emile Hyperion Dubuisson, Winter Seascape I, 2012, digital C-print, 30 x 40 inches.
Nathaniel Kassel
JUST WHITE, Ilias Koen, New York Topography, 0 40, 2013, limited edition embossed print on Rising Stonehenge paper, 9.5 x 24 inches.
DAMAGED ROOF, André Malerba, Untitled, 2012, digital archival pigment print, 11 x 17 inches.
A man observes the wreckage on the Rockaway Beach boardwalk caused by Superstorm Sandy on November 2, 2012.
SIDEWAYS HOUSE ON BEACH, Josh Raab, Last Legs, 2013, digital archival pigment print, 11 x 17 inches.
MOVING APPLIANCES, Gaia Squarci, Untitled, 2012, digital archival pigment print, 11 x 17 inches.
GIRL SMILING, Gaia Squarci, Untitled, 2012, digital archival pigment print, 11 x 17 inches.
(Original Text from 2013) Curated by Michele Jaslow and Spring Hofeldt of Radar Curatorial, For & About includes work made for those who were and continue to be affected by the aftermath of the storm, and art made about the storm and its impact. It is the curators’ hope that the show will inspire, commemorate and remember all who were affected by Superstorm Sandy. The work in this show takes its humble place in the long standing tradition of artistic and literary explorations of nature. Beginning with the Hudson River School, the oldest art movement in American Art, artists reveal the sublime and sheer power of nature. All of the artists in the show have found unique ways to explore the time honored relationship between artist and nature.
Whether it’s Brock Mills’ “Reddy Or Not,” a photograph of red pigment pouring out of a Sandy flooded studio or Ilias Koen’s embossed topographic map of New York after a dramatic sea level rise, these artists use new and traditional materials to relate to and explore natural disasters like Superstorm Sandy.
Some artists use materials and “marks” from the storm as a kind of collaboration. Kim Hoeckele used the actual storm water and dirt on silver gelatin paper in her work “Ninety-Eight Days.” Miguel Garcia incorporates such marks on canvas that strike a balance between the heroic and whimsical.
Nathaniel Kassel’s textile work attempts to convey the sense of helplessness he felt upon hearing a friend had lost his home in the storm. In the work “Between Earth and Heaven” Asya Dodina and Slava Polishchuk directly address loss among detritus.
For some, Sandy was a pivotal life changing experience. A year after he began volunteering to help victims of the storm, artist Jason A. Maas became employed full time with Respond & Rebuild, a disaster relief organization working in post-Sandy Rockaway. He is currently starting a nonprofit that connects artists with volunteer opportunities: The Artist Volunteer Center. His work “Three Volunteers” was inspired by PPE, the (Personal Protective Equipment) that all volunteers are given when remediating mold from flood-damaged homes.
Emile Dubuisson’s “Blue Storm” makes use of his expertise in film and still photography to capture the beauty of a raging ocean. Similarly, Josh Raab, a documentary photographer and an editor of the online magazine “Jay Pegs” as well as photojournalists André Malerba, Gaia Squarci, Cassandra Giraldo contribute works to For & About that document the storm and its effects.
Sheila Goloborotko takes on reporting of the storm in her piece “Anachronic Patterns”. She wields her experience as a master printer to create a lithograph installation that depicts a reconfigured order of meteorological patterns presented in the local weather forecast during the time Sandy was forming.
A limited-edition zine For & About: Art & Reactions to Superstorm Sandy, which will include works from the Sandy Storyline project, among others, will be available for purchase in the gallery and digitally online.
The publication is a visceral collection of thoughts, observations poems and stories of remembrance from those in Brooklyn who were hit hardest and those who reached out a helping hand to them.