Barry Kostrinsky aka the Harbinger, aka the Aesthete, aka the Emblematic, aka… By Ron Kavanaugh

“On my block -it’s like the world don’t exist/We stay confined to this small little section we livin’ in.” –Scarface, “On My Block,” 2002

I’m that dude –suspicious of whiteness that doesn’t have the imprimatur of a government gig: police, fireman, or social service. I raise a brow when introduced to these new Bronxites whose exit strategies are solidified long before their resettlement begins. When BX200 asked me to interview Barry Kostrinsky, I thought –Here he is, the return of the “hope.” Since I first met Barry in the mid-oughts, he seemed to dip in and out of the Mott Haven art scene with a dexterity reserved for the gentry. He was the missing link –fitting in nicely across racialized barriers, paving the way for the reclamation.

His new gallery, Haven SBX, 128 Alexander Avenue, is near Mott Haven’s geographic center. And as the neighborhood, which goes from the Bronx’s southern shore north to 149th St., shapeshifts, there’s an assiduous development strategy that has placed it as the locus of southern Bronx change. Developers are building new “market rate” housing, and art galleries and cafes are opening.

Haven SBX, 128 Alexander Avenue, Bronx

With most generalized thinking, assumptions are usually wrong, occasionally right, and often based in historical suspicion. I’m marginally worldly, and long ago relinquished brittle concepts of what the Bronx should be or if gatekeeping is the best strategy to deal with anyone anywhere. Communities are elastic; reinforcing the idea of the only constant is change. I couldn’t imagine someone keeping me out of their hood in New Orleans, Brixton, or Paris. So my logical side has given way to welcoming the Euros (with some side eye).

I thought I was going to treat Barry like a beagle treats a new chew toy. But in the end, he’s just a dude, like me, with a long Bronx history trying to make it happen.

Ron Kavanaugh: What’s the focus of the new space, Haven SBX?
Barry Kostrinsky: There’ll be much to discuss in the near future but the new space will focus on having larger outreach and programs within community. And that will include modern art, contemporary art, sculpture, antiques and more. Since I opened in July, people have come in and been appreciative of the space and how it can potentially engage community.

RK: This is your third try as a Bronx gallerist. Do you have a sense of stability this time?
BK: In 2007, during the run of my second Haven Art Space, I won a certificate of merit from the Municipal Art Society. It was a big deal. The award was for sustainability. A flower blooming in the Bronx. Haven Art Space was not sustainable, but it was beautiful. I laughed inside when I read the certificate.

Nothing is sustainable but I have no fear of failing. I want to make Haven SBX grow beyond my years and become more than I care to share at this moment. For now it is growing slowly and strongly. The first two times Haven Art Space was alone. Now there is graf artist John “Crash” Matos’s Wallworks Gallery and Jerome Lamaar of J9 Boutique next to him, Ceetay sushi restaurant is flourishing across the street. I’ve only seen this much construction in Hawaii in the 80s.

Dan Asher, c 1980s Charcoal, crayon, oil stick , watercolor
“A deceased LES artist well known in the art world with many city shows coming. These mask like drawings were done when Jean Michel Basquiat did his mask series. They knew each other and Jean Michel respected Dan’s work. Dan passed a few years ago from cancer.” BK

RK: Is it necessary for you to be part of a community? Why isn’t it enough for you to be a gallerist?
BK: Every business, whether it’s community centered or not, is part of a “quilt.” How much you interact and influence is up to the individual. There are many artists in the South Bronx who only create in their studio space. They have no interaction with the local community. But I don’t feel there’s any obligation. I’m here and want to be part of the neighborhood.

RK: The racial demographics of the neighborhood aren’t that removed from the high-crime period of the 70s –population is around 52,885: 72% Hispanic/Latino, 25% Black or African American, and 2% White. Are you witnessing a change?
BK: The racial makeup is changing slowly. People are moving here from unexpected parts of the country –whitey-in-the-hood is here to stay. Remember it wasn’t that long ago that there wasn’t anything here that would attract a typical resident. But that’s what brings artists –the large spaces and cheap rent. They don’t mind walking a distance to buy groceries, etc.

A lot of those artists who moved here in the early 2000s have been replaced with the next wave of artists. Last week a young MFA grad from Yale moved into the neighborhood. That’s someone who decided not to go to Brooklyn with all her friends. Brooklyn, Harlem, and Long Island City are all becoming too expensive for young artists.

Rents on the newer developments are a little high, and they’ll have to come down. But if you hunt you’ll still find bargains.

RK: What were you doing between the current and previous gallery iterations?
BK: I moved to Westchester, worked in finance in Manhattan, did some other things. However my passion for a gallery and curating is strong and I have taken the plunge again –third times the charm. My commute from Westchester to be the studio manager for ceramic artist Bruce M. Sherman was tiring. An artist friend, Douglass Rice, said “Barry, This space is available.” In between the first two iterations of Haven I did artists’ lunches at my home in Rockland that brought many together. It was amazing. I curated a large group show in Manhattan with many of Haven’s exhibitors as well during a “down time.”

RK: In the short time since you closed Haven Art Space. Did you stay connected to the Bronx and what changes have you observed?
BK: Haven Art Space closed on 9/11/2009. I stayed connected for a few years and ran some life drawing classes out of Mott Haven Grill, which was formerly Bruckner Bar and Grill. But my roots in the South Bronx go back to my youth and are 40 years deep. They don’t fade fast and the place calls me. It’s odd for a white, Jewish boy from suburbia to say that but it’s true. My Grandfather and many members of my family were born and raised in the Bronx. In an odd way given my history, familiarity, and multiply levels of interactions inside the community as a businessman, an artist, a community player et al. it makes sense. I’ve always promoted and spoke about the Bronx to art world people I meet, I never really know why I do it, why I promote the Bronx, but I know it’s what I do and what is right. There are no commercial benefits to me in the equation but it feels like my responsibility and is my passion.

Jeffery Acea, c 1970s, Oil “A deceased Bronx resident that ran the children’s programs at Haven from 2008-2009 and in the library. He did this work with kids in the community while in a wheel chair and when returning from chemo treatment.” BK

RK: How long has this gallery movement been happening in Mott Haven?
BK: Storage Art Space, which opened late 2001, was the first I can remember. It closed years ago. But now there’s LDR Studios, Wallworks Gallery, and 9J boutique all showcasing art in some fashion. It’s possible that this critical juncture will create an aesthetic that will help define the community. We’re all planning a group exhibition opening night on Saturday, September 17 –you’re invited.

RK: Is it a group show with one theme?
BK: No. There are subthemes that are evident in the large group exhibit: time, figurative, appropriation, conceptual play, expressionism, and outsider art.

RK: What best describes you –artist, curator, arbiter…?
BK: My area of focus in the arts is multiple. I am an artist and have been since I was very young and I’m comfortable in a range of materials including painting, drawing, ceramics, and sculpture. I work with new materials and found objects. I enjoy arranging and combing art thematically and randomly and more.

As a curator, I have advised artists and gallerists. I enjoy writing about the arts and doing stream of conscious poetry. In the way an ellipse has two foci and makes a circle look simple, I am not one to be best described by one focal point, except maybe in the way art in general is my focus and I see it all as the same thing in a way.

Since age 6, my goal has always been to create. My drawings vary in styles from cubist to expressionist to abstract to multi-penciled works. I draw in settings –bars, concerts, BBQ joints playing Mississippi delta Blues. I paint inspired by nature, like a plein air impressionist with an expressive brush and palette. However, I also paint on found objects. My photography focuses on images captured with my IPhone and polaroids. I tend to focus on straight street –capturing all the beauty, detritus, ephemera and more. Recent ceramics include a minkisi power figure series, unique tiles, and odd surreal forms.

Barry Kostrinsky, 2015, ceramics – power figures- modern day minkisi

RK: Can you sustain that level of production and build a gallery space?
BK: It is obvious to me that a gallerist’s job is a desk job –typing and reaching out through emails. Indeed, going out to art events and meetings is a critical way to spread the word, meet artists, and more, but when I go to events often the marker I always carry in my pocket comes out and I engage art and create a happening. Art is live. I make art anywhere and have made much in the last week. In the end I will do both and my artmaking will integrate with my programming. I am putting myself in an all arts environment and sharing with the community and artists. It will breed art in them and in me. The box is open, Pandora is out playing and creating.

Sunday pot luck dinners have begun. Artists, writers, curators, and community all sitting down over food. The conversations will be lively. The switch has been thrown, Haven’s style of DC electric is in the air and growing.

Photos by Ron Kavanuagh