Where My Girls At by Derrick Adams This fall, an exhibition of artworks by our renowned faculty opened in The Art Gallery at Brooklyn College. Running through Dec. 20, the show “Urban Contours” introduces the campus and broader region to the new space, one of New York City’s newest venues for the arts. Under the direction of the Art Department, with the generous support of donors, the 7,000-square-foot gallery located in Boylan Hall will serve both the campus community and the region at large. In showcasing world-class artists from the college and beyond, the gallery is poised to become a new destination for art lovers. “This is a big deal, a new gallery in New York City,” says Professor Mona Hadler, chair of the Art Department and a member of the advisory committee that oversees the gallery’s exhibitions. “Brooklyn has its own unique dynamism. It’s a huge place for the arts now.” Aphrodite of Cnidus (Palazzo Altemps), Patricia Cronin Hadler says the committee, working with the gallery’s new curator, Bentley Brown, a Ph.D. fellow at NYU Institute of Fine Arts and a multidisciplinary artist himself, is keeping an open mind toward forthcoming shows, balancing the campus with local and diasporic artists. “There will be M.F.A. and B.F.A. shows in the spring, and we’d like to do something with alumni,” says Hadler. “Brown is looking to organize a cutting-edge exhibition, and why not? Some of the best ideas come out of college galleries.” Flatbushtopia, Ezra Wube Malka Simon ’00, a lecturer in art history at Brooklyn College and the managing director of the gallery, says it will have many purposes beyond a traditional exhibition space, and will operate as a venue for events and programs open to the public—including an art history lecture series. Simon is enthusiastic about the gallery becoming a required stop for art devotees. “The borough doesn’t end at Prospect Park. We’re doing amazing things here in Flatbush. Hop on the train and come see us.” The faculty exhibit runs through Dec. 20, 2024. Free and open to the public. Lower Level, Boylan Hall Gallery Hours: Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m., and Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.
