Artist Mike Perry Launches Wondering Around Wandering
[BROOKLYN, NY] Artist and graphic designer Mike Perry presents Wondering Around Wandering (WAW), a three-month exhibition, open community event space, and working studio in Brooklyn’s emerging Crown Heights neighborhood. From September 15 through November 25, 2012, Perry and friends will take over a 7,000 square-foot warehouse space at 983 Dean Street, with funds raised on the online crowd-funding platform Kickstarter — 766 backers contributed more than $30,000. There they will host a series of free educational workshops and idea-igniting opportunities for people of all ages to tap into their own creative potential, discover or become a mentor, or just have a mind-expandingly good time. Additional support from longtime creative partner Urban Outfitters will help to keep the space open and free to the community.
This occasion marks the release of Perry’s first monograph, also called Wondering Around Wandering (Rizzoli Books), and his first exhibition in New York City since 2008, featuring never-before-shown paintings, illustrations, screen prints, and sculptures. Perry, 31, has shown his work in Japan and has authored three books showcasing his love for enduring art-making techniques such as hand-drawn typography (2007’s Hand Job), pattern making (2008’s Over and Over), and screen printing (2011’s Pulled).
As much as the exhibition celebrates his own achievements, Perry designed the Wondering Around Wandering pop-up experience to be for and about others, especially his neighbors in Crown Heights, where he has lived and worked since 2006. Eager to give back to and engage with the community that has supported him, Perry will invite local classes to visit and make art. Another way that he is contributing to the vitality of the neighborhood is by helping to convert the previously raw, unused warehouse space where WAW is taking place into a property of value to his landlord.
Perry says, “Growing up in Kansas City I would hear people describe the communities of their small towns, but when I got to Brooklyn I learned what community really was. The rumors about New Yorkers being unfriendly are just surface. Once you actively join a neighborhood, people are so welcoming. I believe in Brooklyn and what it has done for me. So why not make something here?”
During the three-month event, Perry will move his studio practice, located a block away, into the temporary Dean Street space, so anyone will be able to see how he works, and something will always be happening. On Thursday nights the space will stay open late for open drawing sessions, sponsored by Duvel. On Saturdays WAW will feature hands-on learning opportunities at workshops open to the community, including:
?? Collaborative drawing, hosted by Jim Datz
?? Pattern making, hosted by Dan Funderburgh
?? Hand-drawn typography, hosted by Mike Perry
?? Screen printing, hosted by Mike Perry
?? Photography, hosted by Anna Wolf
Special exhibitions include:
?? Wondering Around Wandering (world premiere), featuring never-before-shown sculptures, painting, drawings, and prints by Mike Perry.
?? Pulled, a traveling exhibition featuring the work of 45 artists including Aesthetic Apparatus, Deanne Cheuk, Steven Harringon, Maya Hayuk, Cody Hudson, Jeremyville, Andy Mueller, Rinzen, and Andy Smith, among others; this show marks the end of its run and all works will be available for sale.
?? Salon No. 4, curated by Playlab, including “still lifes” by multiple artists; the show, opening November 3, will coincide with a still life workshop also being presented by Playlab.
The Wondering Around Wandering space, at 983 Dean Street, between Classon and Franklin, is open Tuesdays through Sundays (closed Mondays) from 1:00-6:00 p.m., from September 16 through November 25, 2012. On October 6 and November 3, it will stay open until 11:00 p.m., coinciding with the Brooklyn Museum’s Target First Saturdays. On Thursday nights, open drawing sessions will take place from 8:00-10:00 p.m.
See wonderingaroundwandering.com for the complete, up-to-date schedule.
About Mike Perry:
Mike Perry (www.mikeperrystudio.com) is a designer and interdisciplinary artist. He draws, paints, illustrates, and animates. He creates sculpture projects and limited-edition silkscreen posters. He curates books and paints portraits. He writes children’s books and contributes to literary magazines. He brands and has one hell of a beard. He teaches. His appetite for collaboration and creation is insatiable; the possibilities are endless. He works regularly for a number of editorial and commercial clients including Apple, The New York Times, Dwell, Target, Urban Outfitters, Aldo, and Nike. In addition to his commercial, nonprofit, and personal artwork, he has also published extensively. His work has been exhibited around the world, including at two solo shows in Tokyo: We Are the Infinity of Each Other at B Gallery and Color, Shapes and Infinity at Public Image 3D Gallery. His 2012 monograph published by Rizzoli, Wondering Around Wandering, is an anthology that is at turns humorous, mystical, poetic, warm, sexy, and charming. Mike Perry is originally from Kansas City, Missouri, and attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Now 31, he is seduced by a contemporary visual culture and the experience of life itself. His art forms and installations can be meditative and/or hyperactively sublime.
This occasion marks the release of Perry’s first monograph, also called Wondering Around Wandering (Rizzoli Books), and his first exhibition in New York City since 2008, featuring never-before-shown paintings, illustrations, screen prints, and sculptures. Perry, 31, has shown his work in Japan and has authored three books showcasing his love for enduring art-making techniques such as hand-drawn typography (2007’s Hand Job), pattern making (2008’s Over and Over), and screen printing (2011’s Pulled).
As much as the exhibition celebrates his own achievements, Perry designed the Wondering Around Wandering pop-up experience to be for and about others, especially his neighbors in Crown Heights, where he has lived and worked since 2006. Eager to give back to and engage with the community that has supported him, Perry will invite local classes to visit and make art. Another way that he is contributing to the vitality of the neighborhood is by helping to convert the previously raw, unused warehouse space where WAW is taking place into a property of value to his landlord.
Perry says, “Growing up in Kansas City I would hear people describe the communities of their small towns, but when I got to Brooklyn I learned what community really was. The rumors about New Yorkers being unfriendly are just surface. Once you actively join a neighborhood, people are so welcoming. I believe in Brooklyn and what it has done for me. So why not make something here?”
During the three-month event, Perry will move his studio practice, located a block away, into the temporary Dean Street space, so anyone will be able to see how he works, and something will always be happening. On Thursday nights the space will stay open late for open drawing sessions, sponsored by Duvel. On Saturdays WAW will feature hands-on learning opportunities at workshops open to the community, including:
?? Collaborative drawing, hosted by Jim Datz
?? Pattern making, hosted by Dan Funderburgh
?? Hand-drawn typography, hosted by Mike Perry
?? Screen printing, hosted by Mike Perry
?? Photography, hosted by Anna Wolf
Special exhibitions include:
?? Wondering Around Wandering (world premiere), featuring never-before-shown sculptures, painting, drawings, and prints by Mike Perry.
?? Pulled, a traveling exhibition featuring the work of 45 artists including Aesthetic Apparatus, Deanne Cheuk, Steven Harringon, Maya Hayuk, Cody Hudson, Jeremyville, Andy Mueller, Rinzen, and Andy Smith, among others; this show marks the end of its run and all works will be available for sale.
?? Salon No. 4, curated by Playlab, including “still lifes” by multiple artists; the show, opening November 3, will coincide with a still life workshop also being presented by Playlab.
The Wondering Around Wandering space, at 983 Dean Street, between Classon and Franklin, is open Tuesdays through Sundays (closed Mondays) from 1:00-6:00 p.m., from September 16 through November 25, 2012. On October 6 and November 3, it will stay open until 11:00 p.m., coinciding with the Brooklyn Museum’s Target First Saturdays. On Thursday nights, open drawing sessions will take place from 8:00-10:00 p.m.
See wonderingaroundwandering.com for the complete, up-to-date schedule.
About Mike Perry:
Mike Perry (www.mikeperrystudio.com) is a designer and interdisciplinary artist. He draws, paints, illustrates, and animates. He creates sculpture projects and limited-edition silkscreen posters. He curates books and paints portraits. He writes children’s books and contributes to literary magazines. He brands and has one hell of a beard. He teaches. His appetite for collaboration and creation is insatiable; the possibilities are endless. He works regularly for a number of editorial and commercial clients including Apple, The New York Times, Dwell, Target, Urban Outfitters, Aldo, and Nike. In addition to his commercial, nonprofit, and personal artwork, he has also published extensively. His work has been exhibited around the world, including at two solo shows in Tokyo: We Are the Infinity of Each Other at B Gallery and Color, Shapes and Infinity at Public Image 3D Gallery. His 2012 monograph published by Rizzoli, Wondering Around Wandering, is an anthology that is at turns humorous, mystical, poetic, warm, sexy, and charming. Mike Perry is originally from Kansas City, Missouri, and attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Now 31, he is seduced by a contemporary visual culture and the experience of life itself. His art forms and installations can be meditative and/or hyperactively sublime.
