Location
LES Studio Program Resident Studio inside The Clemente (Lower East Side, NYC)
Studio Visits with Resident Artists
“It was such a gift to have resources and full support…I was able to meet the director of the Highline [Cecilia Alemani], which is the type of meeting that can change the direction of an artist’s career.”
– Ayana Evans, 2018 LES Studio Program Residency Alumni
Evans was later included in the American Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, curated by Alemani.
Resident Work Produced in the LES Studio Program
Levani (Levan Mindiashvili)
imago of a queer artist*
March 17 through May 20, 2023
Cuchifritos Gallery (LES, NYC)
Created through a series of drawings, paintings, sculpture, and personal objects, imago of a queer artist* offered space for an expanded notion of queerness as the capacity for porousness, fluidity, and transformation. Drawing upon their own research, as well as the work of writers, scientists, theorists, and thinkers who have served as companions along the way, Levani re-imagined, in community, a more holistic way of being in the world. Throughout the exhibition, Levani organized a series of performances and poetry readings that centered the work and voices of collaborators and friends, using the exhibition as a platform for a communal exploration of queerness.
Accessibility Materials: imago of a queer artist* Education and Accessibility Guide
Exhibition and program documentation
Ani Liu
Ecologies of Care
May 27 through August 6, 2022
Cuchifritos Gallery (LES, NYC)
“I especially wanted to thank Jodi Waynberg and Alessandro Facente for taking a chance on me with a residency and solo show Artists Alliance Inc. I remember writing the application, a few months postpartum with my first child, shattered by new motherhood and filled with uncertainty about how I would ever manage to make art again. This residency nourished me through a pandemic, the unmaking and remaking of my practice, an entire pregnancy and birth. I don’t think I could have made this body of work without your support.”
– Ani Liu, 2020/21 LES Studio Program Residency Alumni
Ecologies of Care showcased a series of new works created during the artist’s postpartum period, in contemplation of the labor of mothering. Reflecting the material culture of infant and childcare, the works shown are created with breast milk, formula, diapers, breast pumps, toys, tracking apps, and screen time.
Press Coverage: Artforum Best of 2022, Art in America, New York Times, Artnet News, The Brooklyn Rail, BOMB, WNYC Science Friday, Hyperallergic, Artforum Must See, Gothamist, MIT Technology Review
Exhibition documentation
Mo Kong
Lounge of a Prophet
March 25 through May 21, 2022
Cuchifritos Gallery (LES, NYC)
“Tucked between the intoxicating fumes of spiced tagines at Zerza Moroccan Kitchen and neat rows of dried Japanese goods at Ni Japanese Deli is Mo Kong’s presentation “Lounge of a Prophet” at Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space. The close proximity of Asian and North African delicacies awakens ancient, reductive myths about the Orient inside the contemporary food bazaar that is Essex Market on Manhattan’s Lower East Side—where the gallery is located—bringing forward the show’s main critiques…”
– Danielle Wu, Artforum, April 2022
Mo Kong’s Lounge of A Prophet at Cuchifritos Gallery served as a sequel to Personal Ark®–the artist’s Queens Museum debut. The series of furniture/sculptures referenced the overlapping data points of two line graphs–International Trade Rates and Natural Disaster Rates from 2009 to 2020–with each section providing a solution for shelter during ecological collapse and economic isolation. The work was reimagined for Cuchifritos Gallery and transformed into the home of a prophet; home decorations served as makeshift fortune-telling equipment piled on top of a butt-warming bench, food preservation units, and bookshelves to create a space of refuge and respite.
Press Coverage: BOMB, Artforum, and NYFA
Exhibition and program documentation
