A Show Worth Its Weight in Gold

The art exhibit debuted last Thursday to a packed house of enthusiastic Brooklyn residents who were ready to pay their final respects to one of the most emotionally charged and unforgettable tragedies in Brooklyn's modern history: The 1991 Crown Heights Riots.

The opening was hosted in conjunction with the BID’s "Nothing but Networking Event" at Restoration Plaza's Skylight Gallery.

Paintings, photographic essays, sculptures and multi-media presentations furnished the art gallery Thursday night in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of this community tragedy.

Twenty-three talented and distinctly singular visual artists displayed on paper, canvass and some, directly onto the gallery's walls, their own interpretation of the riots' impact on society, starting from the accident, to the breakdown in communication, from the anger and violence, to bewilderment and remorse, and finally, racial reconciliation.

"I researched the project so much, how things happened," said Dexter Wimberly, the show's curator. "I had to emotionally remove myself for a minute."

"But life is nothing but choices, and you're faced with a lot of choices every day," said Wimberly at the show's opening. "You have the choice of fear, hate, anger, prejudice... or love, respect, caring and construction."

What I'm doing here today, what these artists have done here today is an example of turning an emotional situation into something constructive, said Wimberly.

The show's featured artists were Kimberly Becoat, Valerie Caesar, Kiran Chandra, Elzabeth Colomba, Oasa DuVerney, Delphine Fawandu, Fiona Gardner, Tahir Hemphill, Carl "Musa" Hixson, Herman Jean-Noel, Yashua Klos, Hiroki Kobayashi, Jerome Lagarrigue, Jennifer Mack, Tim Okamura, Kambui Olujimi, Gabriel "Specter" Reese, Kenya (Robinson), Monique Schubert, Jamel Shabazz, Alexandria Smith, Sharone Vendriger and Sam Veron.

Although many of the artists were from Crown Heights, not all were old enough to understand the riots when they happened. Additionally, there was a small handfull of foreign artists who were newcomers to Brooklyn. So not all of the artists were "there" when it happened.

But the diversity of backgrounds and experiences with the event ended up refreshing, because the entire show was not laden in subjective interpretation, as memory can be highly subjective. Burdensome, even.

There was a refreshing mix of visual interpretations derived purely from conjecture and visualization, affording the audience a chance to mentally stretch and make room for highly diverse points of view.

Art-goers leave the exhibit enlightened with a history lesson, encouraged and optimistic.

Gallery hours for Crown Heights Gold are Wednesday to Friday, 11:00am - 6:00pm, and Saturdays, from 1:00pm - 6:00pm.

There will be an Artist Talk on Saturday, August 20, from 3:00pm - 5:00pm; a Community Panel Discussion on Thursday, September 15, from 6:00pm - 8:00pm; and a Youth Workshop on Saturday, October 22, from 2:00pm -4:00pm, all taking place at the Skylight Gallery in , 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY.

Also on Thursday, August 11, at 7:00pm, The Brooklyn Historical Society will host an Artist Talk, a panel discussion moderated by Dexter Wimberly between CHG artists Kenya Robinson and Fiona Gardner about black and Jewish relations.