October Art in Brooklyn

October, though not as frenzied as September's season opener, has plenty of great art offerings for the fine borough of Brooklyn. The first of the promising shows' offered this month would surely be Scale, a group exhibition opening on Fri, Oct 4th at one of Bushwick's newest spaces, Life On Mars. Life On Mars is the new gallery space of acclaimed encaustic artist Michael Davidand this 15 artist show will include the talents Ben LaRocco, Paul D'Agostino andPatricia Satterlee, just to name a few. Down the hall that same evening at Et Al Projects, catch the opening ofJoshua Caleb Weibley, whose densely optical, linear abstractions are as formally captivating as they are conceptually engaging. 

Later that week, on Wed Oct. 9th, the only place to be is at the opening reception of Housewarming: Notions of Home from the Center of the Universe, the inaugural exhibition of BRIC Arts | Media House's new 3,000 square foot gallery at 647 Fulton Street, (right next door to BAM's Harvey Theater). The esteemed and unflagging Elizabeth Ferrer, BRIC's Director of Contemporary Art, curates this well-timed meditation on the varied concepts of home, which includes eight commissioned works. Among others, I am looking forward to seeing the fantastical, lyrical paintings of Tasmanian born Garry Nichols and the always cool, sci-fi surreality ofNathan Wasserbauer's geometric designs. 

On Friday October 11th,Pierogi opens The Machine and the Ghost, a solo show of the often hilarious and equally poignant John O’Connor. O'Connor's comedic, text based paintings were a standout in last summer's flat files show at Pierogi, and I am eager for this exhibition which promises painting, drawing and photographic work from the artist along with a catalogue replete with contributions from John Yauand Robert Storr. Nearby in Greenpoint, that same evening, don't missCrowd Control at Calico Brooklyn which features the outsider sensibilities of Kirkland Bray, Kate Nielsen and James Ulmer, artists whose works seem to emanate a sense of honesty and fullness of character that is indeed refreshing in the increasingly calculated, art world environs. Lastly, visitRobert Henry Contemporary in Bushwick on Oct. 11th for the opening of Repackaged, a solo offering of Richard Garrison's work, which consists of colorful graphs and dynamic patterns, whose colors are culled from the ubiquitous detritus of the American, consumerist landscape. 

Valentine will offer the pairing of Loren Munk and Judith Linhares on Friday, October 18th and that same evening, Front Room Gallery (147 Roebling St.) opens a fine show of photographer Edie Winograde. 

Trestle Gallery in Gowanus continues it's excellent programming on Friday, Oct 25th with The Double Down; a group show pairing artistsTomer Aluf, Rachel Malin and Peter Shear that is curated by talented artists in their own right, Trudy Benson and Jason Stopa. That same evening at Storefront Ten Eyck catch the whimsical figurations of Ryan Ford and David Humphrey. 

—Enrico Gomez