Con Artist Moving Above Ground to 157 Suffolk Street

Con Artist outgrew its subterranean digs fairly quickly.  The dungeon art collective first opened at 119 Ludlow Street in April 2010, and gained significant exposure in the local arts scene.  From the outset, the dual-purposed space was conceived as both a workshop for co-op members (rear) and modestly-priced boutique (up front). There would also be gallery shows on a somewhat biweekly basis (e.g. James Gulliver Hancock), kicking off Wednesday evenings with parties till dawn.  Such soirees were usually speakeasy style affairs, often with low-level live music.  Noise was rarely an issue.

But now it’s the “toppermost of the poppermost” (to quote Lennon) for Con Artist.  Time to meddle at street level, much like its predecessor THECAST, which moved to 71 Orchard Street.  With lease in hand, owner Brian Shevlin is taking the collective to a much larger location at the recently remodeled (and ten years vacant) 157 Suffolk Street.  The new space will boast three levels of artist services.

To help fund the inevitable build-out of 157 Suffolk Street, Shevlin has just launched Kickstarter campaign to raise some capital.

Here’s an excerpt from the statement:

We are actually growing and need more space to accommodate a greater number of talented artists, as well as hosting even more visiting artists, local and abroad.

So we have found a much larger location that is calling our name, which will give us a store front, gallery, and 2 floors of shared artist workspace. We already have the amazing artists and equipment for them to use, but we really need some help to build the space out and make it workable for them.

Your generous donations will help us to create walls where there are none, install concrete floors, sinks, lights and storage. With your help we will also buy a projector and screen to integrate with a sound system, in order to expand our services for film artists.

Shevlin tells us that Con Artist will hopefully reopen the cellar space sometime in the future.  After they’re situated at 157 Suffolk.