Limited Dating.

Recently, beer consumption has been on an all time low and how I’ve missed my wonderful friend. A few weeks back was my last date with any hoppy delights and I ventured to on of my Brooklyn favs; the delicious Maggie Brown’s. In search for a new friend to add to personal my “I love that BEER” list, I tried Ommegang’s take on the Belgian white ales. Ommegang opened it doors the brewery world in 1997 in upstate New York and specializes in Belgian ales. They now have five award winning ales and now I can’t wait to have them all, but I had to start with the one in front of me. Plus, Ommegang has a good ring to it, so I couldn’t resist. It had to be good with a name like that, Right?

Actually, it is a great summer beer with a crisp and flavorful taste paired with a slightly orange flavor that has a clean finish. Your palate is so clean after each sip, should you decided to pair this ale with sushi you wouldn’t need the ginger between rolls. The citrus aroma of this pale yellow ale has a feeling of Sunday morning mimosas or lounging pool side. This ale is great, but remember this beer is for sipping or causal drinking and not for that after work bender.

I wish there was more beer dating in the last couple of weeks however, I did come across some very interesting artwork. During the Greenpoint open studios in Brooklyn on the last night at the Greenpoint Gallery there was a gallery talk by three participating artists: Mary billyou, Amanda Browder, and Chris Clary. After a few PBRs and Miller high life’s the gallery owners’ finished installing the screen for the slide show.

First to the podium was Mary Billyou a video artist who creates films from older films in tape formats such as VHS or BETA. She is interested in how the films change as they are played over and over and the films changes. One video about relationships, (the name alludes me, I forgot to write anything down, world’s greatest reporter here) that consisted of different films that were so worn down the visuals seemed like white noise. But the characters’ voices were clearly distinct and the story they developed had a lonely appeal, but seemed a bit spry. She showed 3-4 other films each has a different aesthetic but her use of different media is quite impressive. I would implore anyone who could see any of her videos to do so.

Amanda Browder, stood tall and very excited to talk about her work. One key feature about her work there was the clear relationship to she develops between herself and her environment. Everything from the hipsters love for mustache’s to the fairy tale of Rapunzel, with the use of recycled or donated clothing. Using the clothing she develops allegories between the fabrics and her critique of popular culture. One image in particular was about the hipster mustache, which she displayed with an image of a female with a fabric classic mustache. The idea of the displacing the mustache, which in the past was used to once to show social standing is now a ridiculous attempt to reach back without its historical reference. Browder body of work is exciting with a feminine take on Oldenburg’s soft sculptures, with a more contemporary edge. She will be having show Brooklyn soon and will be covering a house in Greenpoint with her fabrics in the near future.

Lastly, there was Chris Clary, a photographer who captures different types of documentary and internet research. The first project he showed us was about how the internet defines “Black Man”, and what images arrive when that phrase is entered. This project was originally inspired by his African-American boyfriend who later looked over the images after the images were compiled. These images included everything from pornographic images of black men to black puppies and a mix of other images. He then images where compiled together into wall paper and the wall paper was displayed in the gallery. His other projects included an investigation that exposes a sitter to a camera which takes a photo every few seconds for an hour or more. Then the photos are composed in a grid and the sitter decides if there are any images which should be excluded and they are replaced with a completely black photo. The display of these psychological portraits creates a voyeuristic feeling of the artist/sitter relationship. Other projects include investigations into his passion for pornography and how it has changed over the years. I found Clary’s work compelling and can’t wait to see more from him.

Enough about art, in the next few weeks I’m going to get to travel around the country and taste beers from different regions and of course see some art. Next stop is Cincinnati Ohio, I can’t wait to have their local beer.