When the Brooklyn Museum decided to showcase the breadth of creativity across the borough, it didn’t land on an exhibition of 30 or 80 artists, not even 150 artists. Rather, “The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition” will array the works of more than 200 creatives working in the vibrant enclave today.
“The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition” has been organized by Jeffrey Gibson, Vik Muniz, Mickalene Thomas, and Fred Tomaselli, all of them Brooklyn Museum Artist Trustees. The four also make up the Artist Committee that handpicked the 200-plus creatives included in the show, following invitations and an open call that received up to 4,000 applications.
The exhibition also has a key backer in UOVO, the art storage specialists with whom the museum has been presenting the UOVO Prize to emerging Brooklyn-based creatives since 2020. The award—which comprises a $25,000 grant as well as a solo exhibition at the museum and an art installation at UOVO’s Bushwick facility—has been conferred on John Edmonds, Baseera Khan, and, most recently, Suneil Sanzgiri.
The prize, said UOVO founder Steven Guttman, was a way for the company to back the museum’s long-running engagement with the Brooklyn artistic community. “Our support of this commemorative exhibition,” he added, “is a continuation of a shared commitment to amplify the narrative of this vibrant arts community.”