WOTY 3.3: NEA at HEHG
Oct
16
to Feb 22

WOTY 3.3: NEA at HEHG

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WOTY 3.3: NEA at HEHG

GALLERY CUBED PRESENTS…

Taking up the word JUSTICE, Gallery Cubed will launch its NEA (Network of Extraordinary Artists) program inside of Hunter East Harlem Gallery’s Word of the Year (WOTY) project (truly a Russian Doll scheme!). The NEA supports international artists applying for the “Aliens with Extraordinary Abilities” O-1 US Visa or Green Card through opportunities to fulfill specific categories – exhibitions, publications, panel participation, etc. – that prove “extraordinariness” to immigration authorities. Like HEHG’s The Extraordinary exhibition, this is project is generated from an Open Call by Gallery Cubed.

Inside the Gallery Cubed space, we will host a series of six solo exhibitions for NEAs with the first show opening October 16, 2019 and rotating through February 2020.

In early 2019, The NEA began as an inclusive, generative network at a time when the governmental NEA risks dismantlement and capital instead flows to art at auction. In this environment of dwindling support and funds for art’s production and transformative potential, the NEA questions the metrics used to obtain the status of an “extraordinary” or “successful” artist. How is this compounded in the USA by the additional status as a non-resident? How can investment in existing structures be leveraged to yield a more inclusive dividend of success rather than divisive competition where common ground lies in rejection?

For more information and to submit proposals please see HERE, deadline is August 27, 2019.

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WOTY 3.2
Jun
26
to Sep 14

WOTY 3.2

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Photograph by Wayn Reid

WOTY 3.2: Scales 

Scales

Curated by Simon Benjamin

Participating Artists: Nate Bernard, Terrell Daniel, Brandon Edwards, Brian Felipe, Keonna Foreman, Kara Mills, Wayn O. Reid, Christopher Rivera, Audreamia Wardlow, Christopher Zapata.

Scales brings together the work of young people involved in youth-oriented programs focused on creating and sustaining a more just and inclusive society. The exhibition features the work of three artists from a talent development agency for young people of color called SOW (Scope of Work) and six artists from Recess Assembly - a program that offers an inroad to art as an alternative for incarcerating young people inside the justice system.

Through their artistic practice, these young artists highlight under-recognized subjects that impact their communities both directly and indirectly. Through intimate photographs, Wayn O. Reid, a first generation Jamaican-American works through questions of home, belonging and the erasure of histories through forced and voluntary migration. Audreamia Wardlow’s sugar sculptures consider the complexity and impact of mass produced consumer goods in urban communities. Christopher Zapata’s short films are an inquiry into his identity as an Afro-Latinx person. A collective of artists working together at Recess Assembly designed and screen printed a series of posters responding to the curatorial prompt – What does Justice look like to you?

It is today’s youth that hold the position of being the influencers of culture and change that ripple outward into wider communities. The definition of Justice is not a static one, and these artists are voices among the many of their generation working on tipping the scales of Justice towards a more equitable society.

More on the youth focused programs:

SOW is a talent development agency for young POC creatives between the ages of 17-24, established in response to the inequity in representation in creative industries in New York City. SOW honors young people by fostering opportunities through to become creators of culture, not just consumers of it. SOW confronts the cycles of exploitation, erasure of narratives, and marginalization of youth within the creative industry. @sow.nyc

Recess Assembly offers young people caught up in the justice system an inroad to art and connections to working artists and serves as an alternative to incarceration while empowering participants to take charge of their own life story and imagine a positive future. Participants that complete the program may have their cases sealed avoiding an adult record– which can be transformative to their lives. Participants may stay involved at Recess through paid opportunities at Peer Leaders and/or through an Artist Apprenticeship track. @recessart

Simon Benjamin is a Jamaican multidisciplinary artist invested in a research based art practice. He is based in New York City where he is currently pursuing an MFA at Hunter College. @brooklynbeachouse



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WOTY 3.1
Apr
12
to Jun 15

WOTY 3.1

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WOTY 3.1: Polos Opuestos 

Polos Opuestos

Javier Castro

Groana Melendez

Curated by Arden Sherman, Director & Curator of Hunter East Harlem Gallery

The exhibition project, Word of the Year (WOTY), is now in its third iteration. For the first time, we have decided to include the word of the year from two sources: the United States-based Merriam Webster Dictionary, and our regular source, the Oxford English Dictionary. The 2018 words of the year are Toxic (Oxford) and Justice (Merriam).

For this exhibition, titled Polos Opuestos (English translation: Poles Apart), “opposition” is the driving conceptual framework, underlining the opposing ideas of the definition of the words of the year. Two video monitors have been installed on the WOTY wall, each one displaying video artwork. 

Representing Justice, Javier Castro’s video, The Golden Age, shows the artist interviewing Cuban children about what they want to be when they grow up. Cuba is Castro’s homeland and his gesture of asking the simple question about the children’s dreams, the artist symbolizes the need for justice and freedom in a country where a dictatorship is still in power. Justice is more pertinent to Cubans now than ever, where the political climate is rapidly progressing, but for children who imagine a better future, justice is core to their identities.

The second video work, Miscommunication, by Groana Melendez, addresses the word Toxic. In her work, Melendez, a first-generation Dominican-American, is observed attempting to force a marriage between a stack of magnets. The magnets furiously repel each other and the artist is in constant battle with the opposition. Melendez’s work explores her own complex identity within a family fractured by emigration and a reality disrupted by toxicity: borders, harsh immigration conditions, and geographical barriers between loved ones. 

Both pieces in WOTY: Polos Opuestos work in tandem to highlight the opposing nature of the words Justice and Toxic, while simultaneously inviting the viewer to make their own connections about current political landscapes, cultural localities, social circumstances, and the concerns of contemporary artists.  

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WOTY 2.5
Oct
15
to Oct 29

WOTY 2.5

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WOTY 2.5: Raúl

Raúl

By Camille Rouzaud

Curated by Natalia Viera Salgado

Word of the Year 2.5: Raúl is a project by French artist Camille Rouzaud. Raúl is a series of four printed photos on canvas and small concrete and glass sculptures. The printed images are stills extracted from a 2015 documentation video shot inside an apartment building in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the artist Camille Rouzaud lived and established a friendship relationship with a teenage named Raúl.

Rouzaud is interested in capturing the performativity and energy that the corporeal body carry with each of us. Through incorporating sculptural materials such as concrete, glass, wood and stone, she emphasizes the emotional weight of her subjects. Rouzaud is interested in the complexity of human existence: investigating how individuals interact with one another and exploring limitations of freedom among peers and family units. Much like the people she portrays, her work is in constant flux. Through this motion of making fixed objects, she creates a time capsule that celebrates personal histories, ethnicities, complexities rather than generalizations and linear narratives.

Artist Statement:

“The capacity for resistance, as a teenager, fascinates me. When your environment isn’t easy, you just have this unconscious strength coming out of you without even realizing it, without knowing anything else. That’s how you get through the tough times. In a raw or more poetic way, the freedom, a defiant look, the intimacy, the identity into/of the diversity, the courage, the sweetness linked to the violence are what I’m looking for in all of my work. My own capacity of resistance when I was a young teenager and my own capacity here as an artist.”

- Camille Rouzaud

 

Camille Rouzaud (b.1986 in Narbonne, France) is an artist living and working in New York City. Recent solo exhibitions: DIAGONAL, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2018, LAPAIX in PARIS, 2018. Selected group exhibitions: IMPLOSION: FRAGMENTOS Y POSSIBILIDADES, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2018, FORGOTTEN LANDS, Brooklyn, New York, 2017, THE HOUSE OF BLAHBLAH, Middlesbrough, England, 2017, HIDRANTE, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2017, among others.

Natalia Viera Salgado (Puerto Rico and New York) is an independent curator and archivist in charge of the Art Program at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO), Hunter College, New York and junior assistant to the Director at El Museo del Barrio, New York. Her curatorial practice focuses on the intersections between historical and archive material snd pedagogy. Her inclination to social issues, decolonial and environmental theories in relation to contemporary art has led her to work with many artists from Latin America and the Caribbean.

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Aug
2
to Oct 4

WOTY 2.4

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LATINO YOUTH

LATINO YOUTH

Latino Youth is a portrait series by the Nicaraguan born artist Lola Sandino Stanton. The series depicts a personal reflection on young latinos, some of whom were former students of Stanton’s. The subjects are captured at the moment of discovering their own voice at a pivotal time in their lives. Each painting portrays a symbolic blackbird native to the artist’s home country of Nicaragua, known as a “Zanate”. 

Traditionally a black bird represents a malevolent force although in Stanton’s work, the Zanate symbolizes the arrival of guidance, protection, and creativity in the lives of the youth. Stanton is aware of the challenges that most young latinos confront growing up, including immigration struggles, language barriers, and cultural norms that do not reflect their cultural upbringing or beliefs. For these reasons she chose to represent an empowered image of young latinos, unlocking their inner voice and bolstering them into a confident position. 

For latinos, the current moment in the United States is one of the most hostile in history with new migratory reform and the zero tolerance policy at the Mexico border separating families and this makes the series “Latino Youth” all the more urgent. Lola Sandino Stanton brings an image of a strong latino youth community -- one that is proud of their heritage and rising to have their voices heard.

 

Lola Sandino Stanton was born in Nicaragua in Central America and live and work in New York City. Stanton was a recent fellow of NYFA Bootcamp for Artist as Entrepreneur, New York, NY in 2017 and is a member of the National Association of Women Artists, The Art Students League, The City College Art Group, and the The Audubon Painters. Recent solo exhibition at The Galleries of The Interchurch Center, New York, NY, 2017. Selected group exhibitions: Kaleidoscope, The Hudson Guild Gallery, West 26th St., New York, NY, 2018, Vacation Ideas, The Hudson Guild Gallery, West 26th St., New York, NY, 2018, Migration, National Association of Women Artists, The NY Public library at Lincoln Center, New York, NY, 2018, 128th Members’ Annual, National Association of Women Artists, New York, NY,  Winner of Merit Award for Oil Painting for “Emilio”, 2017, Biennial at Aaron Davis Hall, The City College Arts Group, New York, NY, 2017, 127th Members’ Annual National Association of Women Artists, The Sylvia Wald and Poe Kim Gallery, New York, NY, Winner of the Medal of Honor for “Katherine”, 2016, Eve(o)lution, Exhibition at the NY Public Library at Lincoln Center, National Association of Women Artists, New York, NY, 2015, Five Artists, Taller Boricua, New York, NY, 2015, and more. 

Nora Maité Nieves holds a MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA in Painting from Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico. Nieves maintains a studio practice and works as Gallery Manager of Hunter East Harlem Gallery and Assistant Art Program Curator at The Center For The Puerto Rican Studies of Hunter College. 

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May
17
to Jun 30

WOTY 2.3

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Ojalá

Ojalá is a project by Mexican-American artists Mauricio Cortes Ortega and Maria de Los Angeles. Both artists immigrated to the United States in their early childhood and make work that deals with identity and migration. Under the current Presidency, migrants from Mexico have been singled out and targeted through verbal and legal attacks. Roughly 700,000 young immigrants have been fighting to maintain their status Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals act. The lives of this generation of citizens has been threatened recently as the current administration has fought to end DACA, resulting in deporting thousands of young people to countries where they may or may not have family, friends, or be able to continue their careers. Further, a new wall along the Mexico-United States border has been proposed as way to keep out future generations of immigrants. The wall acts as a visual manifestation of xenophobia and acts as a personification of separation.

Ojalá, which roughly translates to “hopefully” is a project that imagines the wall as a liminal space. The drawings of de Los Angeles portray migration, figures striving for a better future and hope for humanity. Cortes Ortega’s ceramic sculptures reference capirotes, a Spanish headdress dating back to the Inquisition, which in their reinterpretation reference the inevitable transformation of objects due to colonialism and immigration. The sculptures set against de Los Angeles’ drawings suggest a dialogue between the origins of contemporary issues surrounding immigration and the current ramifications of negotiating the U.S. Mexico border.

 

Maria de Los Angeles, (b.1988, Michoacán, Mexico) is a multidisciplinary artist primarily working with  drawing and painting. De Los Angeles addresses migration, displacement, identity and otherness through incorporating drawing, painting, performance art and fashion.

She holds an associate’s degree in painting from Santa Rosa Junior College (2010), a BFA from Pratt Institute (2013), and a MFA from Yale School of Art (2015). Maria has been recognized for the work she has done creating arts programs for youth, receiving the Community Action Partnership award, and the Blair Dickinson Memorial Prize, awarded for her artwork and role in her community. She was an artist in residence at El Museo del Barrio and Mana Contemporary. 
Recent exhibitions include Solo at Schneider Museum of Art, Internalized Borders at John Jay College, Citizen at St. John’s University, and Half Human at The Clemente. Her work is currently on view in the exhibition A Universal History of Infamy: those of this America curated by Vincent Ramos, She is the co-curator for Internalized Borders. 
De Los Angeles is a visiting instructor in painting and drawing at Pratt institute.
See more of Maria’s work on Instagram: @delosangeleart            

Mauricio Cortes Ortega is an artist and educator. Born in northern Mexico, Cortes moved to the United States in the 1990’s. Mauricio is interested in re-contextualizing materials and imagery from stateside nationalism and Mexican folklore in order to explore the complexity of identity.

Mauricio received his B.F.A. from The Cooper Union and his M.F.A. in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University School of Art in 2016. He is the 2018 Smelser Vallion Visiting Artist at the Doel Reed Art Center in New Mexico. He was a guest speaker at Contemporary Crossroads II Yale Alumni Conference in Miami (2017), the recipient of the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Artist Community Grant NYC in 2017, and the Schell Center for international Human Rights Travel fellowship Yale Law School in 2015. He was the recipient of the Jóvenes Creadores Mexican National Council for Culture and Arts painting fellowship in 2013, the Menschel Travel Fellowship Award and the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Painting Fellowship in 2011. Mauricio Cortes currently lives and works in New York City.

Olivia Gauthier is completing her MA in Art History at Hunter College. She is a freelance writer and curator, her work has been featured in Hyperallergic and BOMB Magazine. 

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Mar
16
to Apr 30

WOTY 2.2

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Voice at the Table

Juliet Brack Ashkin, Mikey Foster Estes, Jazmine Hayes, and Michelle Hernandez Vega.

Facetiming with Juliet the other day she suggested a new educational system where kids could be social together, learning things alone when they get old, and are into that kind of thing. In 1997, at age 12, I served on the steering committee for the 1st International Girls Conference at the U.N., lecturing on ‘reverse ageism’, advocating for our voices to be heard explicitly, opinions respected, and maybe even ideas implemented. When I discovered in High School that NYC property taxes were directly correlative to public school funding I lost hope in humanity for a while. But then, people keep getting born, growing up, and influencing society, at a rate of about 15,000 births/hour. Hope in their future means paying close attention, learning from each other as particular experts, of our very own experiences.  To coexist is not to segregate and oppress people by age, gender, race, class, religion, or any other stale, outdated, and harmful societal construct, which ‘adults’ continue to put up with. Today our ‘youth’’ protest, want a reality check, because they want a future. Strengthening bonds between friends and family across generations, engaging in mutual care and open dialogue, creates possibilities to liberate each other from perpetuating patterns of oppression, subjugation, and violence.

Curated by Clara Chapin.

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WOTY 2.1
Feb
1
to Mar 1

WOTY 2.1

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Living Proof

In Shellyne Rodriguez' works, youth is part of a larger, intergenerational struggle for survival. As a means of showing youthful ingenuity in the face of systemic oppression, her works depict youth and utilize found objects, such as discarded, taped-together boxes carried by "Candy Boy" salesmen on the train. Rodriguez' engagement with young audiences is also evident in her assemblages, which integrate prints that were made during art-making workshops. The phrase, Hay hambre [there is hunger], visible in the assemblage, For Korynn Gaines, was created by the artist and the undocumented children who participated in one such session. In Rodriguez' words: "The phrase speaks to hunger grumbling in the belly, but also the drive to live and to thrive beyond the borders or the obstacles threatening to swallow them.”

Curated by Irini Zervas and Lauren Fowler

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Nov
15
to Jan 15

WOTY 1.2

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WOTY 1.2 After Truth New work by T. Eliott Mansa

WOTY 1.2

New work by T. Eliott Mansa

HEHG Hallway Wall
2180 3rd Ave at 119th Street
New York, NY 10035

Nov 15, 2017 – Jan 15, 2018

This exhibition features new paintings and relief sculpture by T. Eliott Mansa. For the first time in his career, Mansa takes up abstraction to produce his images, bypassing his usual figurative practice. In the past, he began a portrait with the true image of the subject in mind. These preconceived images guided him through practiced movements, and his references—Yoruba cosmology, media imagery, East Harlem storefronts—acted as the scaffolding that helped construct them. Mansa’s new work unfolds without intent or concern for accuracy. In his new relief sculptures, Mansa weaves through identifiable references, such as faux flowers, plants, toys or stuffed animals, and strips them of context, rearranging and recontextualizing them in pursuit of a truth which he cannot anticipate.

Nora Boyd is an independent educator pursuing her master’s in Art History at Hunter College with a focus on global modernist architecture.

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Oct
1
to Nov 15

WOTY 1.1

WOTY 1.1
Double Dialogue

Curated by Kristen Racaniello

HEHG Hallway Wall
2180 3rd Ave at 119th Street
New York, NY 10035

Double Dialogue
This multimedia exhibition features the work of artists Kameelah Janan Rasheed and Paul Gagner. Each artist has created an installation dealing with notion of archiving, and their work attempts to unpack the monolithic views of history, truth and reality that dominate culture in the United States. Humor pervades both artist’s work, using oxymorons to point out hypocritical or dualistic thinking. When used as a vehicle for ideas, language can be responsible for conceptions of the singularity of truth and for the social rifts created by conflicting versions of truth. Rasheed and Gagner recognize the tool of language and exaggerate it in their works, thus giving their audience a momentary glimpse of realities alternative to their own. Double Dialogue seeks to draw connections between these two artists’ through their critical analysis of the cultural ironies surrounding them. 

Kristen Racaniello is an independent curator and PhD candidate at the CUNY Grad Center with a focus on Medieval Art History. 

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Oct
1
to Nov 30

Word of the Year

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#nytransit

Word of the Year

Word of the Year is an exhibition project hosted by Hunter East Harlem Gallery, inviting emerging curators to activate the wall at Hunter College's Silberman School of Social Work using Merriam Webster Dictionary and Oxford English Dictionary's "word of the year" from the previous year.

By using a word culled from mass media as a prompt, the exhibition space acts as a site for artists and curators to engage in a dialogue about collective consciousness and understanding how semantics can play a crucial role in shaping public opinion.

Word of the Year 2018: TOXIC & JUSTICE
Definition of Justice: the maintenance or administration of what is just, impartial, or fair. Definition of Toxic: 1. Poisonous, relating to or caused by poison. 2. Very bad, unpleasant, or harmful.

Word of the Year 2017: YOUTHQUAKE
Definition of Youthquake: a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people.

Word of the Year 2016: POST-TRUTH
Definition of Post-Truth: an adjective defined as relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.

More information HERE.

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