Brooklyn, the Borough: The Art of Brooklyn

What do Jasper Johns, Cindy Sherman, Annie Leibovitz and Keith Haring all have in common? Each artist has work up for sale at the 4th Annual Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM to us locals) Silent Auction.

BAM certainly plays an integral part in the Brooklyn art scene, and the auction, which raises money for BAM's various programs, raked in $237,500 last year. Artists from all over the borough have work for sale—which you can bid on on BAM's Web site—many from Williamsburg, Fort Greene and Prospect Heights. Bidding is open until April 13, when the closing reception will bring in the final bids.

Brooklyn has certainly always nurtured creative talent—nothing new there. The borough has increasingly become home to prominent names in the fine-arts community. While an afternoon spent in Manhattan's great museums or in Chelsea's galleries is certainly invigorating, poking around unconventional spaces that have sprung up all over Brooklyn can turn into quite the adventure. Brooklyn is an urban jungle peppered with art, inside and outside of the spaces that facilitate creativity.

“A lot of emerging, cutting-edge artists are living and working in Brooklyn and many are gravitating towards Brooklyn-based galleries, despite the fact there is not one cohesive neighborhood where they exist, like in Chelsea,” said BAMart Curator & Sales Manager David Harper. He added that while the big-ticket items like works from Leibovitz and Johns do well, it is the work by Brooklyn-based artists or galleries that raise a lot of money for the multifaceted arts organization.

With the weather blooming into a lovely spring, it's time to hop on your bike (wear a helmet!) or the G train and check out some of Brooklyn's art spaces. Here are a few suggestions. In Williamsburg, check out Dam, Stuhltrager, Pierogi, Parker's Box and Klaus von Nichtssagend galleries. Clinton Hill offers many spots as well, but especially interesting is the Pink Elephant Projects space. From there, shoot down to the Metaphor Contemporary Art in Boerum Hill. And if you aren't too tired, you can finish a good waterfront bike ride at Red Hook's Kentler International Drawing Space.

And don't forget! The first Saturday of every month, the Brooklyn Museum awaits you with plenty of cultural entertainment well into the evening.

Here's a Google Map of the aforementioned galleries.