On April 26th and 27th, from 1 to 6 pm, artists in DUMBO will open their doors to the public as part of DUMBO Open Studios, offering a rare look inside the art studios along the Brooklyn waterfront. Since the 1970s, DUMBO has been shaped by its vibrant art community. This interview series highlights a handful of participating artists in 2025. Each response offers a glimpse of what’s waiting behind the studio door. Platform Project Space has been in DUMBO since 2018 at 20 Jay Street #319.
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What will we see in the gallery?
I first became familiar with Project Platform Space last year, when Tracy McKenna curated my work into a group show at the space. Over the course of the show, Director Elizabeth Hazan and I began an ongoing conversation about landscape painting, sending artist names back and forth for reference. Soon we had an exciting list compiled, and Elizabeth invited me to curate a show. Pushing Daisies is the result of these conversations!
I chose the 8 artists in this show because each of them is a painter first, before they fall into any genres. I knew that I wanted landscape to be a central theme in the show, and was curious to see how each of these artists were approaching the subject. As I visited their studios, I came away thinking about death and rebirth. Some of the artists had more literal references to mortality in their paintings; a skeleton in Emilie Stark-Menneg’s work, Drea Cofield’s self portrait reflected in the side of a mausoleum, or Esteban Cabeza de Baca’s hawk with a snake twisting in its beak. Moreover, I saw the overarching themes of destruction and rebirth in the studio processes of all the show’s artists. Jeane Cohen, Stephen Benenson, and Tollef Runquist break their compositions and rebuild them, killing the paintings and reviving them like cats toying with a mouse. Jarid del Deo freezes time and goes so far into a moment that the details reanimate and shimmer. Raya Terran‘s world of nude women teeters between pleasurable and frightening; the women march onward, touching, despite razor wire or oncoming headlights.
All of the artists hail from either Maine or New York, and several of the artists are friends with one another. They are influenced by the places they make art, and nurtured by the ongoing painterly dialogues within their communities. I am excited to bring this work together, and to present a few of the artists for their New York debuts. Please join us for the opening of Pushing Daisies on Friday, April 25 from 6-9pm, with DUMBO Open Studio hours April 26 & 27, 1-6pm and regular hours Fridays and Saturdays 12-6 or by appointment through May 24. @estebancabezadebaca @stephenbenenson @dreacofield @jeanecohen @jariddeldeo @tollefrunquist @rayaterran
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About the artist: Tessa Greene O’Brien is an artist & curator based in South Portland, Maine. She received a BS in Fine Art from Skidmore College and an MFA from Maine College of Art and Design. O’Brien has shown throughout the United States, including recent exhibitions at the La Loma Projects, Los Angeles; Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME; Platform Project Space, Brooklyn; Vardan Gallery, Los Angeles; Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland; Buoy Gallery, Kittery; Sears Peyton Gallery, NYC; Studio E Gallery, Seattle; and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art. She was a 2022-2023 Residential Fellow at The Lunder Institute for American Art at Colby College; other residencies include Surf Point, Tides Institute, Monson Arts, Haystack, Hewnoaks, Vermont Studio Center, Joseph A Fiore Art Center, and Stephen Pace House. Grants and awards include the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, The Ellis Beauregard Foundation, the Maine Arts Commission, the Joseph. A. Fiore Painting Prize, St. Botolph Emerging Artist Award, and the Kindling Fund at SPACE Gallery. O’Brien has curated group and solo exhibitions at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Alice Gauvin Gallery, TEMPOArts, and numerous shows at Able Baker Contemporary, where she was previously a director. @tessagreeneobrien.com @platformprojectspace