Of-The-Moment Ceramics — And Mushrooms? — At a New Brooklyn Pop-Up

Since it opened in the summer of 2012, Frank Traynor’s Perfect Nothing Catalog — an ice shack–turned-shop that its owner transplanted from upstate New York to Brooklyn — has already relocated twice: from its original home in a Greenpoint garden to the backyard of a gallery in Bushwick, and, very briefly this summer, to a subway platform in Williamsburg. That particular pitstop was briefly home to a show called Behind Flamingo Plaza, “named after my high-school hangout, an all thrift-store strip mall in Miami — a very formative space for my aesthetic and a vibe I wanted to honor,” explains Traynor.

But the goods for sale weren’t vintage tchotchkes. Instead Traynor commissioned ceramics from a sampling of the most interesting young artists working today — Cody Hoyt, Rachel Howe of Small Spells, Adam O’Reilly (above), Jessica Hans and Chen Chen & Kai Williams — and sold them alongside mushrooms he’d collected in Chinatown and Indian markets and special spots around town. “I also sold oranges on the platforms, stamped with ‘The Perfect Nothing Catalog’ and wrapped in gold foil,” says Traynor. Seriously our kind of pop-up. Today we’re sharing with you the studio photographs of the ceramics that were on view, many of which are still available at Perfect Nothing’s Bushwick location.

All photos by Chris Wegman

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