The 10th annual D.U.M.B.O. Art Festival this weekend was a great chance to enjoy the fall weather, the New York City waterfront, and some great contemporary art. Walking through DUMBO on Saturday was like being involved in a parade that spread throughout the various art studios, galleries, parks, shops, dining establishments (I had the best pizza in recent memory at Front Street Pizza), and streets of the neighborhood.

A few of the galleries and artists' spaces that I visited on Saturday are worth mentioning. powerHouse Books' new powerHouse Arena gallery had an exhibit up that reminded me of a hip-hop version of the Morrison Hotel gallery in SoHo. Unfortunately, the music in there was too loud, so, a couple blocks of wandering later, I found a stage in an open-to-the-street indoor space with a guy dressed in a white jacket and white glasses, wailing away on stage with a guitarist and drummer. Outside that space was an art project that consisted of a stretch limousine that anyone could go inside of to have a drink, chat, or watch one of those 10 inch television sets that they have in limousines.

The work that stuck with me the best from my day in DUMBO was Mary Temple's The Forest for the Sea at the Smack Mellon gallery. The piece is a large installation that consists of a painting of a fake shadow on a 24 by 60 foot wall. Mary's work feels like it should have been in the Whitney Museum's 2006 Biennial because of the way in which she plays with light and darkness, and with creating moments of false reality, which were issues heavily implied by the Biennial's Day for Night theme.

Since the Art Festival does happen every year, you still have a chance to experience it if you didn't this year. More than just a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon, the DUMBO Art Festival does a wonderful job of drawing positive energy and attention to a growing creative center in New York City.