Coney Island Reimagined at the Brooklyn Museum

Just a couple of stops on the train from Manhattan through Downtown Brooklyn is the Brooklyn Museum. Having spoken to several New Yorkers who hadn’t ventured there yet, curiosity beckoned.

The Brooklyn Museum is packed full of rich and diverse collections of international work over five floors, from the Ancient Egyptians, to complete 18th Century American interiors, to European and African art and finally to Contemporary art, with so much more in the middle. The place is almost a mini-Met: the grandeur of the Beaux-Arts Court, the steel and glass pavilion at the entrance and the sheer size and scale of the space was breathtaking and somewhat unexpected.

However, the exhibition that stole the show was stumbled upon by accident. Taking an elevator up to the 5th floor, one walks straight into Stephen Powers’s ‘Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To a Seagull)’. Based on the memory of a past and present flashy Coney Island, the artist Powers worked from a travelling sign shop ICY SIGNS with a host of other artists to produce this site-specific series of works. The immediate hit of colour and scale is too hard to ignore.

In the four corners of a beautiful atrium, stand four colossal, vertical installations, each the same size and shape but vastly different in colour and appearance. The works are overwhelming; they feel like they close in on you and your eyes struggle to find a singular point at which to rest. When you finally make peace with one installation, you begin to read – and not logically. The installations are made up of hundreds of beautiful eye catching hand painted typography, symbols and signage that to the casual observer look like commercial branding and sale signs. However, the signs sell nothing but nostalgia and emotion. At the centre of the four installations stands a singular binocular, the kind you might find atop the Empire State Building or overlooking Niagara Falls. The human expression of the binocular eyes makes the piece seem lonely – which feels somewhat relatable when surrounded by the intensely colourful and noisy installations.

Accompanying the installations, on the four walls surrounding the atrium are large paintings. Sometimes inspiring, other times dark, the works are a blast of colourful creativity and typography. Filled with popular slogans, logos and play on words, everything seems a little overwhelming. There is no singular voice in the work or the words painted, but the bright colours signal the voice of entertainment – you must have fun. The paintings are delightful – in composition and colour, they are aesthetically beautiful. In the series above, each frame denotes a day of the week, including ‘Thirsty’, ‘Saddersday’ and ‘Someday’, depicting pop cult references alongside everyday imagery, relating directly to a new Coney Island artistic culture.

If you do anything this weekend – head on up to the 5th floor at the Brooklyn Museum and immersive yourself in colour! Stephen Powers runs through to August 21, 2016

Currently on at the Brooklyn Museum:

Agitpop! Through August 7, 2016

Tom Sachs: Boom Box Retrospective, 1999 – 2016. Through August 14, 2016

Disguise: Masks and Global African Art. Through September 18, 2016