Sugarlift Launch and Volume 001

On November 5, 2014, Sugarlift threw a party at 200 Morgan Avenue in Bushwick to launch three things at once: its new gallery space, its online gallery and Volume 001 (Fall 2014), its first collection of commissioned artwork.

Volume 001 brought together seven Brooklyn-based artists, each making new work in a different printmaking technique. Hiba Schahbaz made etchings finished with watercolor, Chris Willcox lithographs, Joe Hollier CMYK+ screenprints, Isaac Mann monotypes, Amy Barkow letterpress prints, Foale Durkin gilded charcoal prints on Perspex and Fanny Allié pieces in digital sewing. Alongside the hand-printed, small-batch editions, several of the artists also released archival digital editions.

On launch night a spotlight lit the Sugarlift Bushwick sign painted on the building, Fanny Allié's neon figure lay across a park bench in the darkened gallery, and the rooms filled with artists, neighbors and friends. Sugarlift thanked its sponsors and partners for the evening: Livestream, whose Livestream Public building was right across the street, Fitzcarraldo, Brooklyn Winery, Little Muenster, Rekorderlig and Brooklyn Brewery.

In December 2014, a selection of Volume 001 went up again in a pop-up at The Yard, a coworking space.