Last Thursday I visited the Pendu Gallery show opening in Williamsburg and was excited to discover a new, holistic approach to introducing art into the world.  Started by Todd Pendu Brooks in 2003, The Pendu Gallery is more than the traditional art studio that displays an artist’s creations.  Pendu hosts art shows, publishes an on-line art-fashion-music magazine, puts out records and tapes and organizes music and weekly dark-disco dance party at Glasslands Gallery, featuring DJ sets and live performances from local artists and touring bands.  It even organizes an annual NY Eye & Ear Festival.  It literally seems that there is no creative channel left out of Todd Pendu’s repertoire.

Recently Pendu gallery joined the ranks of the non-profit organization, so this was one of my questions to Todd – whether the non-profit status made more financial sense.  I was surprised to hear that the dollar amount made little input in the decision-making.

“I wanted the status primarily to make it clear that the point is not selling the artwork for as much money as I can,” Todd explained with a smile.  “The point is to promote the artist, promote the art, and get the artwork into the world so people can enjoy it.”

So Todd does exactly that.  His goal is not to be an ultra-successful art broker and sell everything for the highest amount of money possible, but rather to explore the unexplored, state the understated and find what’s hidden.  He likes finding new talent and giving that talent a chance. 

The opening show was titled Worshipped Age by Bunny + Amber Ibarreche. Hosted inside Todd’s apartment, where a long hallway presented the artwork with a few large pieces taking up a good chunk of the living room walls, tee-shirts and necklaces for sale on a table, the show was small, but personal, making a guest feel being a part of the event, even if you had just walked in from the street.  The roof reception with an access through the kitchen window upheld the Williamsburg’s well-earned reputation as an eclectic enclave.  Todd Pendu as well as the featured artists Amber and Bunny, were open to conversations and talked about their work, art and aspirations.  

Answering my question about how he came to know Bunny and Amber, Todd said, “I met them though mutual friends in the art and music world.” 

Bunny and Amber are music artists and have been performing at Todd’s disco events. Amber has been doing visual arts for a while, but for Bunny this was a first-time experience, so Todd’s hallway was a great opportunity for her to let the world see her work.

“I’ve been doing music with Todd for a year,” Bunny said.  “This is the first time I’m doing visual stuff.”  She likes doing collages – thought-provoking combination of people, faces and objects, often positioned in a geometric fashion, letting the human eye trace the pictures while creating one’s own subliminals. 

Amber likes working with postcards.  Her work carries a lot of emotions – happiness, ecstasy, nostalgia.  Her art journey is the opposite of Bunny’s: she started with visuals, then tried herself in music.

“You know, sometimes you see these places in your mind that you’ve never been to,” Amber says, “But you see them nonetheless.  So I find the postcards that look like that and create my images with them.”

Amber’s art indeed looks like blended postcards scenes, sometimes with people’s faces melting into the background, a strange symbiosis between two different images that would never exist in real life, but can cohabit perfectly well inside one’s mind.

I found it interesting how the artists experiment with different ways of expressing their creative qualities, sort of inventing their art as they go.  In today’s difficult reality when even extremely talented and focused artists are struggling to make their mark, an artist that delves into a variety of art forms, may never be able to explore his or hers full potential.  It’s hard to make your name in any one particular way, never mind a variety.  But Todd likes diversity – he is interested in every direction every artist is willing to pursue. After all, you never know where it may lead.  That was why the word holistic came to mind when I was trying to describe Todd’s approach to promoting art. 

Pendu Gallery has many different facets and even faces  It is sort of an all-inclusive combination of an art broker, music agent, electronic publisher with a DJ kick and disco high thrown in, which perhaps in these days and age of agonizing economy, when even established performers are hurting, may be just the way to go.  While some people complain that everything had already been tried and done before, Todd Pendu and the artists he promotes are doing something original: combining multiple art forms, experimenting with modern ways of artists’ self-expression to see where the exploration would lead.  This may be just what an art publicist has to do to succeed in today’s hard-to-break-through world. 

Gallery Hours by Appt: Tues- Sat: 12pm-8pm

info@pendu.org

442 Lorimer St  #4

Brooklyn NY 11206

http://www.pendu.org/gallery/