Justin Neely : Artist, Etc.
Justin Neely
Justin Neely is a polyglot artist with a practice based in Brooklyn, New York. Digital painting and contour drawing feature prominently in Neely's work, along with digital photography and collage. Neely's artwork has been exhibited in gallery shows in New York, Berlin and Toronto. Download a copy of Neely's CV for more detailed information.
Also a liberal arts—educated, seasoned technologist drawn to digital business strategy and operations, Neely has decades of experience applying systems thinking and research to project design, management and optimization. In addition, he has worked as an editor, nonfiction writer and lecturer.
Latest News
Read about Justin's upcoming and recent projects and activities.
Sunny's Bar "Welcome Home" Group Show 2024
Sunny's Bar is a Red Hook institution. It's a small marvel that has transcended time and calamity on the Red Hook Waterfront since the 1890s. Sunny himself hasn't been present physically for some years, but the place still thrives with the same spirit.
Justin Neely will have a piece featured alongside upwards of 30 artists with strong connections to the neighborhood. The show opening will be held at Sunny's on Friday, November 15, 2024, from 5–7 p.m.
Red Hook Open Studios 2024
Neely opened his studio on October 5 and 6 for Red Hook Open Studios. He exhibited recent photographs from a series called "But Will It Float?" and welcomed hundreds of visitors.
"Post-Future Era" at Gagné Contemporary
Throughout September 2024, Justin Neely was featured in a three-person show—"Post-Future Era"—inaugurating the second location of Gagné Contemporary in Toronto. Prints made from four of Neely's digital paintings appeared alongside work by Kunel Gaur and Lina Ramona Vitkauskas, including a multimedia collaboration between Vitkauskas and Ben Turner. Contact Gagné Contemporary about the availability of the digital paintings exhibited.
Spectrum Presents: Van Brunt Solstice Festival
On the night of Saturday, June 15, 2024, Justin Neely joined Spectrum's Van Brunt Solstice Festival, reprising the role of resident painter. The event, held at BWAC, featured nine sets of musical performances across two stages. Neely created small, original paintings during all sets on the main stage.
Community Art Spaces 2024
In the first half of 2024, Neely explored the idea of extending his practice to arts-focused community building. In multiple efforts to create and support exhibition opportunities and non-commercial bonds for artists in Red Hook and beyond, he encountered both successes and bruising setbacks. Neely hasn't abandoned his interest in alternative exhibition practices, but how the lessons of the first ventures will be applied in 2025 is a pending question.
Podcast Interview September 2023
At the end of September, Neely was the featured guest on an episode of one-time Amherst classmate Matt Collins' The Pre-Made Podcast. In a candid, hour-long conversation, Neely spoke with Collins about his fairly accidental path to their shared alma mater, an equally unexpected transition into work as a technologist and the challenges of pursuing an art practice without ambition to be classed as an investment vehicle.
More Information
Education
A self-taught technologist, Justin Neely was an adjunct lecturer in information design and web architecture at New York City College of Technology (CUNY) for five years. Neely has an undergraduate degree from Amherst College in French and English, with a concentration in film studies. He completed a master’s degree in international policy studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (now the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey).
A lifelong xenophile and logophile, Neely has formally studied Spanish, French, Latin, Russian, Arabic, Japanese and Cantonese. Adopting Duolingo as a gateway for more casual exploration, he's also pursued independent study of German, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Irish, Korean, Norwegian, Swedish, Vietnamese and Yiddish.
Contact
email: art@justinneely.com phone: 718-306-9914 social: linkedin | instagram (@jn33ly)
Studio
The Feinberg
Red Hook Waterfront
Brooklyn, NY
Detailed directions to the studio are available to download here.
Artwork and Projects
recent artwork: @jn33ly
book: A Good Life in Hell (2015)
To review an archive of miscellaneous past work, please visit www.n‑‑ly.com.