A gathering at Tappeto Volante

Contributed by Sharon Butler / Last week, “La Banda 2024” opened at Tapetto Volante, a gallery tucked into a group of Gowanus studio spaces, currently inhabited by artists Inna Babaeva and Lenora Loeb. The show features work by many of the stalwart artist-organizers in Brooklyn’s art community, who keep the conversation percolating despite the relative inattention of mainstream media that focus more on Chelsea, the Lower East Side, and Tribeca. Among the artists whose work is included are Elizabeth Hazan of Platform Project Space, Chris Joy of Gorky’s Granddaughter, Anthony Miler of Marvin Gardens, and the myriad members of Underdonk in Bushwick. Also represented are Jon Lutz, a longtime indie curator who now works at DC Moore; Jacqueline Cedar of Good Naked; and Catherine Haggarty, founder of the NYC Crit Club. The list of contributors — from the well known to the less known — is long, the work is varied as well as very good, and, naturally, the opening was packed. 

Tapetto Volante’s charismatic founder and talented curator is Paola Gallio. Originally from Italy, Paola worked as an artist’s assistant, helping make marble sculptures for world renowned artists in Carrara. Although she studied sculpture, spending hours alone in the studio and “trying to convince people of her genius” didn’t appeal to Paola, who had been a member of a punk band during her wayward teenage years. She eventually inherited a small gallery from an absentee director in Milan and ran it until the lease was discontinued during the 2008 recession. Looking for another adventure, Paola moved to Berlin (“too cold and dreary”) and then found her way to New York, where she helped an Italian company produce a series of travel guides. When the publishing project ended, she decided to stay in the city and fell in with the Bushwick artist community that was coalescing around Underdonk, a collaborative project founded by Georgia Elrod, Leonora Loeb, JJ Manford, Elisa Soliven-Gerber, and others. In 2018, Paola opened a gallery on Henry Street on the Lower East Side called Assembly Room with curators Yulia Topchiy and Natasha Becker. They mounted nearly 20 exhibitions before the gallery succumbed to the Covid economy in 2021. Paola sees herself as a collaborator by nature and has thrived for the past four years creating opportunities for artists at Tappeto Volante.

“La Banda 2024” is the fourth iteration of a lively series of exhibitions Paola developed to bring artists together and lure adventurous collectors out to Gowanus. The name of the show is a playful reference to the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers, in which the protagonists, Jake and Ellwood Blues, after being released from prison, reunite their band to raise the cash needed to save the orphanage where they grew up. Since many of the participants started out together as young artists in Brooklyn but are now showing in galleries throughout the country and beyond, returning to warm and nourish the nest seems a fitting analogy.

“La Banda 2024,” organized by Paola Gallio. Artists include: Inna Babaeva, Michael Barton-Sweeney, Joshua Bienko, Lorenza Boisi, Sharon Butler, Karin Campbell, Jaqueline Cedar, Nurya Chana, Yan Cynthia Chen, Nicholas Cueva, Jared Deery, Georgia Elrod, Allison Jae Evans, Ashley Garrett, Ann/Drew Gayle, Catherine Haggarty, Elizabeth Hazan, Chris Joy, Hein Koh, Pete K. Landis, Leonora Loeb, Lauren Luloff, Jon Lutz, JJ Manford, Susann Minton, Anthony Miler, Beatrice Modisett, Bascha Mon, Alexander Nolan, Rachel Portesi, Erika Ranee, Elisa Soliven-Gerber, Joel Soliven, Melissa Staiger, Deirdre Swords, Ian Swordy, Christina Tenaglia, Alessandro Teoldi, Lumin Wakoa, Jesse Willenbring, Brian Wood, Boyuan Yang, Alice Zinnes. Tapetto Volante, 126 13th Street, Brooklyn, NY. Through March 3, 2024. 

Also of note:
“Jared Deery, A Liminal Light,” Freight + Volume, 39 Lispenard St., New York, NY. Through February 24, 2024.
“Catherine Haggarty: Stay the Course,” Philip J. Steele Gallery, Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design, Denver, CO. February 6 through March 22, 2024.
“Elizabeth Hazan: Under the Sun,” Hesse Flatow,  508 West 26th St., New York, NY. Through February 24, 2024
“Anthony Miler: Time Walk,” Carling Dalenson, Stockholm, Sweden. Through February 18, 2024. 

About the author: Sharon Butler is a painter and the publisher of Two Coats of Paint. Her painting “Browns (June 8, 2018)” is included in “La Banda 2024.” “Sharon Butler: March” opens on February 27 at the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art, University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The exhibition, which includes work from 2019 to the present, will be on view through April 5, 2024.