Sweety’s Radio: Edicion Especial culminates with an exhibition showcasing the individual work of Sweety’s members. A group of friends and collaborators that came together to address the lack of spaces explicitly for black and brown artists, Sweety’s developed and continues to provide a platform for queer artists of color.
In this final exhibition, the four members–Ximena Izquierdo Ugaz, Julia Mata, Bryan Rodriguez Cambana, Eduardo Restrepo Castaño–display recent work in a variety of media, including video, photography, textiles, and painting that explore personal histories through an understanding of time, horror, and mood. Having been active for nearly four years, the members have imminently been affected by their collective work, visible in their own practice/s.
This project is the fifth, and final, installment of Sweety’s Radio: Edición Especial, on view through July 30, 2017.
XIMENA IZQUIERDO UGAZ is a multimedia artist, curator, and educator born in Lima, Perú. Her work primarily touches on the imprint of inter-generational trauma within her own family in relationship to place and migration. She is one of the Teen Programs Coordinators at the Brooklyn Museum, the visual arts co-curator at Nat Brut as well as a founding member and co-curator of Sweety’s, a gallery and platform dedicated to supporting and exhibiting artists of color. In addition, Izquierdo Ugaz is the author of the self-published Standing in the Bathroom in the Dark Thinking About Green, El Mismo Pozo/The Same Well, Plan B and Uñas.
JULIA MATA is an artist, illustrator, and curator from Southern California, currently based in New York. Her work has been shown in print in Hysteria Magazine and Kinks Magazine as well as in exhibitions in Baltimore and Boston, including a commissioned mural by the Urbano Project. She has also participated in creating visuals for the writing literacy project “Bodega Signs and Wonders” that led to her designing a bodega sign that was later installed in Boston’s Egleston Square. Her first self-published comic CRISIS! is upcoming this summer.
BRYAN RODRIGUEZ CAMBANA is an interdisciplinary artist and curator based in New York City. A BFA graduate from Tufts University and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Rodriguez is also co-founder of Sweety’s, a curatorial initiative catered to artists of color. Participation in residencies such as The Vermont Studio Center and Subsamson at Samson Projects, among others, has lead to his inclusion in exhibitions at Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and The Queens Museum. In addition, he is a contributor to the third volume of Emergency INDEX Publication and resident artist and fellow in the Engaging Artist Fellowship program at More Art.
EDUARDO RESTREPO CASTAÑO examines, through a practice that draws from academic research and lived experience, the relationship between social imaginaries surrounding nature, gender difference, and the diasporic condition. Co-founder of curatorial platform Sweety’s, as well as participant at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, restrepo castaño has exhibited in spaces such as SOMA (Mexico,) Musée de l’Élysés (Switzerland,) and Bruce High Quality Foundation (New York,) Museum of Jaén (Spain.)
Cuchifritos is FREE to the public and handicap accessible. Located inside Essex Street Market at the south end nearest Delancey.
Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space is a program of Artists Alliance Inc., a 501c3 not for profit organization located on the Lower East Side of New York City within the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center. Cuchifritos is supported in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. This program is made possible by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts. We thank the New York City Economic Development Corporation and individual supporters of Artists Alliance Inc for their continued support. Special thanks go to our team of dedicated volunteers and interns, without whom this program would not be possible. For more information, visit artistsallianceinc.org.