A Neighborhood Guide to Brooklyn
For Sol Kjøk , a Norwegian-born painter, Greenpoint has been home since 1998. She was part of the first wave of artists who made the jump over the East River from Manhattan seeking affordable studios and living quarters. Today, Sol is the head of two performance spaces — her studio, Last Frontier NYC, and her home, Mothership NYC , a 10-minute walk away. The latter also hosts a rota of visiting artists from around the world who perform their works at monthly salons.
It’s a way for local and international artists to meet and talk about art, Sol says as we chat at her studio. She’s organised a performance: aerialist Erica Marie Mancini dangles from ropes elegantly shifting above us as a band plays avant-garde music. My studio is called Last Frontier NYC because, well, it’s geographically on the border of Brooklyn and Queens but also it’s really the last frontier for artists in Greenpoint, says Sol. Rents are going up and it’s not as affordable for us anymore, so my purpose for these performances is to keep alive the artistic spirit of the neighbourhood that’s existed for the last couple of decades. But that said, the longer I’ve lived here, the more and more I love Greenpoint, Brooklyn ."
