Tappeto Volante Brooklyn is pleased to present Space Shifters, a group exhibition featuring works by Yasmeen Abdallah, Patrick Bower, Kate Corroon Skakel, Heather Drayzen, Greg Dzurita, Debbi Kenote, eri king, Matthew Logsdon, David McDonough, Mark Sengbusch, David Shaw, Kate Sherman, Wesley Ware, the artists behind Field of Play. Bringing together painting, sculpture, installation, textiles, and mixed-media practices, the exhibition offers an overdue introduction to the individuals whose talent, generosity, and commitment have shaped Field of Play into a valued artist-run initiative within Brooklyn's creative community. It also carries particular meaning for us, as Field of Play has been a close collaborator and neighbor in the Brooklyn art scene since nearly the beginning.
Field of Play was founded in 2023 by Matthew Longsdon, who sought to build community around his practice. He carved a small gallery from a portion of his own studio in Gowanus, just a few streets from Tappeto Volante Projects space, and our organizations quickly became collaborators, each finding their footing in Brooklyn's independent art scene at the same moment. What began as a gallery within a single artist's studio has since grown into a collective of thirteen artists and an established nonprofit.
That growth paralleled our own. A few months ago, our path led us to open a new gallery in Tribeca, and as we made that transition, it felt natural to invite Field of Play to share our former Brooklyn space, a place that remains deeply meaningful to us, and to continue developing its program alongside ours. Independent in spirit, our organizations have grown together with the shared hope of helping sustain Gowanus as a center of artistic production, even as the neighborhood contends with the gentrification and displacement that have affected the very artists who helped define it.
That shared commitment is what makes this exhibition possible. Space Shifters offered the opportunity to engage closely with the artists' individual practices and to consider the collective through the distinct voices that comprise it. The works on view range from painting and sculpture to installation, textiles, and mixed-media practices, revealing an exceptional breadth of artistic approaches shifting the focus from the organization itself to the artists who animate it, demonstrating that the strength of the collective lies in the diversity of its voices.
Artist-run spaces have long played a defining role in the development of contemporary art in New York, including 112 Greene Street Workshop, Artists Space, The Kitchen, White Columns, Canada, Underdonk, TSA, and Transmitter (to name a few). These initiatives provided artists with places to organize, experiment, and take risks long before institutional recognition followed. They continue to serve as vital incubators for emerging voices and as networks of support that sustain artists throughout their careers. Field of Play carries this tradition forward.
Space Shifters offers an opportunity to encounter the individual voices behind this collective endeavor while acknowledging the importance of artist-run spaces within Brooklyn's cultural landscape as a gesture of appreciation for the artists whose generosity, commitment, and collaborative spirit continue to strengthen the community they have built.
