NEW YORK — Brooklyn Industries, the indie spirit apparel label, has converted one of its facilities into a permanent contemporary art gallery with the hope of it eventually becoming an art institution or museum.
What used to be the brand’s South Williamsburg warehouse and outlet at 184 Broadway is now Brooklyn Industries Contemporary Art. When the company relocated its headquarters to the Brooklyn Navy Yard last year, the warehouse wound up there, too, freeing up the “Southburg” space for an art gallery. Brooklyn Industries’ merchandise will not be sold there.
The inaugural exhibition, “Out of the Loop,” is a double entendre for founders Lexy Funk and Vahap Avsar, who gave up their art careers 10 years ago to start Two Tsunami Productions, a design-based company that produced TV commercials and documentary films, and that allowed them “to live, work and create.” That is now the motto for Brooklyn Industries, which the pair started in 1998 as a wholesale operation before getting into retail in 2001. The company currently does upward of $10 million annually.
Now with seven stores up and running and plans to open two or three in Manhattan this year, the duo is renewing its interest in art with BICA. Both owners have work featured in “Out of the Loop,” which centers on the feeling of being caught in a repetitive loop. Like some of the other artists, Avsar hints at how such repetition is often self-made. His “Growing Watermelons in Giordon” shows an artist throwing watermelons in a river only to be fished out by his double and placed back on the original pile.
Funk and Avsar aim to expand the gallery space, which currently consists of a 1,200-square-foot front gallery and a 500-square-foot rear one, into a larger space that ultimately will be turned into a museum. The emphasis will be on young, contemporary New York-based artists who may not have had the opportunity to show in the city’s galleries or museums. BICA also is relying on international curators to feature European artists. The work of some will be displayed in a large group show that bows Sept. 15 and is being curated by Vasius Kortun.
Funk and Avsar’s mission is to give meaning to life through art and to make people’s lives more creative and artistic, said marketing director Karen Ngo. BICA’s goal is to be more academic than commercial. “We aren’t concerned with selling the art to support BICA, but it never hurts if a piece sells,” she said.