Industry City, a mixed-use complex located in Sunset Park, is set to host an art exhibition filled with familiar faces —depending where you live — later this month.
The upcoming exhibit features 200 oil portrait paintings of Crown Heights residents, created by Brooklyn artist Rusty Zimmerman as part of his Free Portrait Project initiative.
Since 2015, Zimmerman has sat down with individuals that lived south of Prospect Park and painted portraits of them, along with collecting an oral history from each subject.
The aim of the project is to "democratize portrait painting," making these works of art more readily accessible to members of the community.
“The whole thing is an elaborate trick to get neighbors to say hi to each other,” said Zimmerman. “We up-end the tradition of portraiture reserved for a wealthy few by making these paintings free.”
The exhibition, which will run from February 24 through March 24, will kick off with a parade that begins at Sunset Park and makes its way over to a reception at Industry City.
During the parade, attendees will get the opportunity to check out all of the completed portraits via an interactive video that will also showcase time-lapsed footage of each painting’s respective creation.
Following the exhibition’s 30-day run, all of the paintings will be gifted back to the Brooklynites that participated in the project.
Additionally, the audio from the painting sessions will be offered to the Brooklyn Public Library’s Center for Brooklyn History’s review board for inclusion in its permanent collection of oral histories of Brooklyn, according to a release.
