June 14–20, 2019 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 AWP 11
SIP THE
BLACK DIRT
SATURDAY, JUNE 22
Hop on the bus and sample brews, spirits, and
wines from the historic black dirt region —
famous for its exceptionally fertile soil.
Summertime: The exhibit “SPF 32,” opening on June 15 at the William Ulmer Brewery in Bushwick, features
90 summer-themed works of art.
Summertime show
Bushwick art exhibit captures warm weather
ART
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Tickets pour-tour.com
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$95
dirt
Sponsored by
By Aidan Graham
Brooklyn Paper
Call it a summer beach arty!
A new exhibit of summer-themed
art will raise the temperature of the
oldest brewhouse in Brooklyn. “SPF
32” will open on June 15 at the nowdefunct
William Ulmer Brewery in
Bushwick, a massive industrial complex
that will play host to 90 paintings
that evoke the lazy days of summer
vacations and trips to the beach,
said the show’s curator.
“I wanted to do a show about how
I feel about summer,” said Madeleine
Mermall. “There’s an intense freedom
to the summer. There’s memories of
childhood, and teenage memories.
There’s an innocence to it.”
The show’s 32 artists are mostly
women, which Mermall says was a
welcome but unplanned feature of
the exhibition.
“I didn’t even realize it until I had
my final artists list. I just tend to enjoy
what women are painting,” she
said. “I think, unconsciously, women
are being more confident in showing
their own perspective these days,
and in using their own experiences in
their work.”
The paintings channel the year’s
hotter months through exaggerated
colors and lighthearted images, said
Mermall, though many also capture a
certain sadness of the season.
“Madeline Donahue has a painting
of these girls on a swing, and you can’t
see their faces,” she said. “There’s a
storm brewing in the background. I love
that dual feeling of innocence and anxiousness
of the summer, where you’re
trying to get in that last bit of fun, but
there’s this storm coming.”
The William Ulmer Brewery, built
in 1872, ceased beer production when
Prohibition kicked in, and now it provides
the perfect atmosphere to showcase
the art, said Mermall.
“I had the idea for the summer show
in the back of my head for about a year,
and after seeing the brewery space, it
just clicked,” she said. “Right when you
walk in the building, there’s a room
with a couple pieces, and then it opens
up into this gigantic 2,700-squarefoot
room.”
The space still features several relics
from its past life, including multiple
industrial machines used when
the brewery was active.
“There’s a giant conveyer belt in
the corner of the exhibit,” said Mermall.
“I think it adds to the feel of
the place.”
Mermall, who has spent the last week
hanging art in the landmarked building,
said the massive space provides
the perfect frame for the art’s varying
shapes and sizes.
“We have four or five really big
pieces, that are about five-by-six feet,
and we have some pieces that are super
tiny, like five-by-five inches,” she said.
“It’s a wide range of work.”
“SPF 32” at the William Ulmer
Brewery 81 Beaver St. between
Locust and Belvidere streets in
Bushwick, (347) 468-0735, www.
madeleinemermall.com/spf-32 .
Opening reception June 15; 6–9
p.m. On display weekends, 2–6 p.m.
through July 6.
Madeleine Mermall
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