True Grit, Voice Choices

From the empty warehouses that come alive with parties during the wee hours of the morning to the burgeoning DIY community, Bushwick is certainly the new frontier. Before it goes all luxury condos and fancy boutiques, artist Deborah Brown has captured it in all its industrial, desolate glory with her new exhibition The Bushwick Paintings. “Parts of Bushwick resemble a post-apocalyptic landscape of rubble, urban decay, defunct businesses and abandoned houses,” Brown says. “This odd landscape possesses a simultaneous allure and menace that I take as the starting point for my paintings. I juxtapose candy-colored skies with ghostly out-of-focus imagery, and dark silhouettes.” In other words, she makes the neighborhood look stunning. We’re sure brokers can hear the cha-ching sound already. Through February 20, Lesley Heller Gallery, 54 Orchard Street, lesleyheller.com, free

Tuesdays-Saturdays. Starts: Jan. 12. Continues through Feb. 20, 2011