Justin Neely : Artist, Etc.
Justin Neely
Justin Neely is a polyglot, multidisciplinary artist with a practice based in Brooklyn, New York. Originally a painter informed by 20th-century filmmaking aesthetics, European expressionism and American abstraction, Neely ultimately abandoned disciplinary silos to work in photography, collage, printmaking, site installation, prose, poetry, street art, performance and moving-image media.
The through lines of this output are prioritizing conceptual integrity over commercial convention, identifying and interrogating social and disciplinary assumptions about value and meaning, honoring the intuitive alongside the rational and creating objects attainable by—if not desirable to—everyone.
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.
Latest News
Read about Justin's upcoming and recent projects and activities.
Introducing the Kintamathèque
This summer (2026) Neely began a new conceptual project called the "Kintamathèque" (named in honor of his beloved late dog and the legendary Cinémathèque française of Henri Langlois). The idea was inspired by a friend's invitation to a revival showing of To Have and Have Not and the ensuing discussion after the film.
Imagined as a "conceptual and portable movie house," the Kintamathèque will function as an exercise in focused attention and critical viewing as a creative act. Neely is inviting artistic peers for an as-yet-undetermined number of formal series and one-off screenings in an evocatively composed environment with film selection and critical materials heavily focused on 20th-century output.
The only public-facing evidence of the project initially will be a list of titles screened and reference materials, but the research, discussions and varied works viewed are expected to reverberate beyond a mere list of links. Time will tell.
Crisis Update Podcast Interview October 2025
Neely was invited back to The Pre-Made Podcast by one-time Amherst classmate and friend Matt Collins to speak about the Red Hook Fire and its personal and community impact in the immediate aftermth of the event. Spotify and Apple links to The Pre-Made Podcast episode are live on Collins' blog.
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.
Also 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.
A lifelong xenophile and logophile, Neely has formally studied Spanish, French, Latin, Russian, Arabic, Japanese and Cantonese, and informally explored many other languages. He is a reluctant illeist, but an unabashed cynophilist.
RED HOOK WAREHOUSE FIRE 2025
A Turning Point
On the night of September 17, 2025, a five-alarm fire ignited at 481 Van Brunt Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn. This building housed Justin Neely's studio for the last 12 years. Stored within were 30 years of physical artworks, accumulated artmaking, computing, construction, and other creative materials from the same time period, an extensive personal library, and a lifetime of original and irreplaceable personal reference materials, including personal and artistic photographs and negatives, as well as video and audio recordings of more than half a century.
Not all was destroyed, but the losses were extensive and the physical and financial investments required to recover damaged materials are almost beyond description. The remediation process is not complete a year after the fire and will remain ongoing for the foreseeable future.
Neely pictured in 2007 in his first art studio building, The Milk Factory, in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.
News Coverage of Red Hook Fire 2025
The following links were gathered in the immediate aftermath of the fire. Please contact me if you discover any have aged out and no longer resolve as expected.
A YouTube playlist featuring mostly NYC local news coverage of the fire as it burned
September 17, 2025 to September 19, 2025 | includes long-play streaming coverage by fire channels and stringers focused on the NYFD
Five-alarm fire devastates Red Hook warehouse housing artist studios, small businesses
September 18, 2025 | Brooklyn Paper | Kirstyn Brendlen & Lloyd Mitchell | *Justin Neely pictured in photo, unidentified
Massive fire destroys historic Red Hook artist warehouse: GoFundMe started for tenants
September 18, 2025 | Brooklyn Daily Eagle | Mary Frost and Marc A. Hermann
Fire Tears Through Iconic Artist Building in Brooklyn: Some tenants say they’ve lost a lifetime of work to the blaze that ravaged a Red Hook building housing dozens of studios and art businesses.
September 18, 2025 | Hyperallergic | Aaron Short
Brooklyn Artist Studios Wrecked in Warehouse Blaze
September 18, 2025 | ARTnews | Daniel Cassady
NYC warehouse built in 1870 gutted by fire as drones, fire boats and 250 FDNY battle blaze
September 18, 2025 | New York Post | Amanda Woods and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
'Everything is gone': Businesses and art studios destroyed by Red Hook fire
September 18, 2025 | Fox 5 New York (article) | Michael Stallone
Red Hook steps up for artists, business owners facing ‘complete destruction’ after warehouse fire
September 19, 2025 | Brooklyn Paper | Kirstyn Brendlen
'Everything is gone': Businesses and art studios destroyed by Red Hook fire
September 19, 2025 | WPIX (article) | Dominique Jack
Devastating Fire Still Burning at Historic Red Hook Artist Warehouse
September 19, 2025 | BKMAG | Brooklyn Magazine
Five-Alarm Fire on Brooklyn Waterfront Devastates Artists’ Warehouse
September 20, 2025 | New York Times | Cassidy Jensen and John Leland
Red Hook rallies after warehouse fire devastates artists, businesses
September 22, 2025 | Brooklyn Daily Eagle | Brooklyn Eagle Staff
Picking up the pieces: Artists, business owners return to site of massive Red Hook warehouse fire
September 23, 2025 | News 12 Brooklyn | Melissa Rose Cooper
Contact
email: art@justinneely.com phone: 718-306-9914 social: linkedin | instagram (@jn33ly)
Studio
Justin Neely maintained a studio-based art practice from 2007 to 2025 at locations across Brooklyn, including Clinton Hill, Bushwick, DUMBO, Gowanus and Red Hook. Since the 2025 fire at 481 Van Brunt, his creative ventures have no fixed abode.
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.