THE FUTURE FAIR: ROB STEPHENSON & THE NEIGHBORHOODS

Were you just wondering when you could see the 3walls crew again? Well, we are popping up at The Future Fair in Chelsea! From May 7-10, you’ll find us in Booth F5 with our exhibitor’s name tags and happy smiles because we love an art fair! We’re kind of art fair vagabonds — in the past we have had booths at The Other Art Fair, Art on Paper and The Affordable Art Fair. And now, we’re at the Future Fair.  

The best bit is that we’re showing work from Rob Stephenson’s ongoing project, The Neighborhoods. 

We have an art crush on Rob.

So, it’s gonna be an all Rob booth! You might recall, we had photographs from this series in our spring pop-up last year. They were a big hit. We just had to revisit The Neighborhoods. Rob keeps getting out there, every week capturing another neighborhood of New York City in a strict five-borough rotation, and it just gets better and better. 

There are over 300 neighborhoods in the five boroughs. Rob’s mission is lofty, he has set out to document them all. Thus far, he has examined 94. The project is built around a weekly newsletter that combines archival photography with Rob’s new photos, research, writings, and often wildly entertaining video clips and field recordings. Inspired by the work of urban photographers like Charles Marville, Eugène Atget and Bernice Abbot, Rob's multi-sensory archive deepens our awareness of the diversity and breadth of the city and serves as a reference for current and future New York City devotees. It is a remarkable and extensive documentation of New York City as it is right now and how it came to be. 

If you do not subscribe to Rob’s newsletter, sign up ASAP. Not only is it chock full of Rob’s fantastic photography, it includes a fascinating history of each neighborhood and it’s always, VERY funny. Rob’s humor is often reflected in the images he takes; an abandoned shopping cart seems to have morphed into machine art and a strange empty circus is guarded by a lone glittering horse. He has an eye for the odd and obscure, for sure. 

The video clips in the newsletter should all be watched (or you might miss Tony Manero from Saturday Night Fever providing all the deets on the Verazzano Bridge – yes, two z’s since 2018, you’ll learn about that, too) and, whatever you do, do not gloss over Rob’s field recordings which are full of street chatter in various languages, playground screeching, sighing busses, chirping birds, cars honking, streetwalkers singing and the summer time calls for “ice water”. All Rob is missing is a scratch-and-sniff portion of the newsletter (we’re going to talk to him about that – pros and cons there). 

You’ll read about the original settlers in each neighborhood and each ‘hoods luminaries and defining events. For our part, we were totally fascinated by the pizza wars between the Colombo and Bonanno crime families in Gravesend, Brooklyn and by how in Tribeca the Architect John Carl Warnecke’s skyscraper Long Lines (1974) serves as a secure hub for AT&T's long-distance telecommunications network but it’s also a 550-foot brutalist bunker designed to withstand a nuclear blast. 

From Willowbrook’s New York City Farm Colony, which Rob describes as, “an abandoned assemblage of derelict buildings in the middle of Staten Island, a favorite destination for urbex aficionados, graffiti artists, and paintball enthusiasts” to Tribeca, now one of the cities toniest neighborhoods, a former swamp that Rob tells us was once seen as a “receptacle for filth, a nest of crime, and in every respect a nuisance to the city.” And, then there is Battery Park City with its 1970s bizarre spectacle of a man-made beach in the shadows of the skyscrapers of the financial district. 

Flushing, Queens was originally named after the Dutch city of Vlissingen and was one of the first settlements of New Netherland. A neighborhood often referred to as a “melting pot,” Rob tells us, State Senator John Liu further refines the description as “the crusty concentrate at the bottom of that pot.” Flushing contains the largest Chinatown in the U.S. and Europe, the third-busiest pedestrian intersection in New York City and the world’s only Angry Birds-themed retail store and café (like the world needs two of those!).  There is no end to what you will learn about NYC from Rob. The newsletter is endlessly fascinating and entertaining, and the photographs Rob takes are truly magnificent.

 You can hear about it from Rob himself on WNYC. 

And, just a quick Q and A with Rob to add a little extra color:

What or who is currently inspiring/influencing your practice the most?

I spent several years working with Joel Meyerowitz, a true Master of Photography. His vision and approach continue to be a constant source of inspiration. 

What do you listen to in your studio?

I listen to a mix of field recordings I make in various neighborhoods, along with an eclectic range of (mostly) instrumental music—from Toumani Diabate to Aphex Twin and Steve Reich. Sometimes, I put on Sightseeing by Aaron Fisher and Rob Stephenson—but only when I’m really trying hard to self-promote. 

What parts of your practice do you find the most joy and freedom in?

Photography gives me the freedom to explore—a license to walk the city, to slow down, and to see the world around me truly. The joy comes in discovering the unexpected, those small, fleeting moments that might otherwise go unnoticed. 

A little background on Rob: he is a fine art and architectural photographer who lives and works in Brooklyn (of course!). His work has been exhibited at numerous galleries and museums including The Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Center for Architecture, and the Museum of the City of New York. He has been awarded fellowships from the Design Trust for Public Space, The Camera Club of New York and the New York Foundation for the Arts. His photographs have appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, T Magazine (more than once) and the Gothamist among others. Rob has published two books, Myths of the Near Future exploring the post-Shuttle landscape in the Space Coast of Florida and From Roof to Table, documenting the urban agriculture movement in New York City. He’s super talented and really the best to work with - thank you, Rob! 

We’re looking forward to seeing you at Booth F5 at the Future Fair. Go ahead and get your tickets here. And here is a list of the works we’ll be showing. The opening is in the evening on May 7 (fun!) and the Fair continues on from May 8-10. We’ll tell you more about Rob’s project when you visit! But, if you can’t wait, don’t hesitate to reach out! 

See you at The Future Fair! 

Bevin, Whitney and Macon

*Our mailing list is growing! For those new to us, 3walls was founded in Brooklyn over ten years ago, and our mission is to promote local artists through pop-ups, collaborations, and private consulting. Because 3walls is nomadic, we can give more back to the artists we work with than a traditional gallery model (and stay afloat). We support our local artist community and make clients happy with outstanding, affordable art for their homes and offices.