Aljira Emerge 7 and Emerge 8 by Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art

Newark, New Jersey

Aljira Emerge

July 22–September 30, 2006 Curated by Franklin Sirmans and Jennifer Moon

Curated by Rocío Aranda-Alvarado July 19–September 29, 2007

iiii

Published on the occasion of E7: Aljira Emerge 7 Exhibition and E8: Aljira Emerge 8 Exhibition. This catalog is produced in continued remembrance of Aljira’s former Program Director Ethan G. Hall, Jr. Copyright © 2008

591 Broad Street Newark, New Jersey 07102-4403 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the permission of the publisher. ISBN 0-9774354-3-1 Catalog design: Aljira Design We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of The Joan Mitchell Foundation for its support of the E7 & E8 catalog. Aljira’s operations and programs are made possible, in part, by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/ Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts; Bank of America; JPMorgan Chase; the City of Newark; New Jersey Council for the Humanities; the New Jersey Cultural Trust; The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey; The Prudential Foundation; The Starry Night Fund of Tides Foundation; The Turrell Fund; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; and individual contributions.

TTY: 1 800 852-7899

available on request

contents

2. F oreword Victor L. Davson

4. Words from the Curator 11. Participating Artists 51. Lecture Series 52. Artistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Biographies 58. Checklist

60. Words from the Curator 65. Participating Artists 86. Lecture Series 87. Artistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Biographies 91. Checklist

92.

Aljira Board of Trustees and Staff

93.

Mission Statement

foreword A primary objective of the career management program Aljira Emerge is to encourage participants to challenge prevailing assumptions within the field of contemporary art that could keep them from succeeding. Another is to develop skills required to succeed through comprehensive artist-to-artist talks and workshops led by professionals in the arts. Emerge intends, therefore, to address a wide range of concerns critical to the working artist; these include gallery representation, exhibition and public art opportunities, budgeting and finances. The program concludes with a curated group exhibition that features each participant. This show is accompanied by a substantial exhibition catalog that illustrates their current artwork. For many participants these culminating elements of each program cycle mark their formal entry into the marketplace. The E7 and E8 exhibition catalog represents three program cycles. It documents work by 61 artists of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds and national ties, who live and practice in the New Jersey/New York metropolitan area.

The work was accomplished in tandem with compulsory participation in richly crafted, highly informative workshops and talks tailored to the specific needs of the artists enrolled in each program cycle. Presenters are professional coaches, seasoned artists, Emerge alumni and a pool of past presenters — including Matthew Geller, Jeffrey Gibson, Tracie Morris, and Ela Troyano, — led by Colleen Keegan. Taking a holistic and personal approach, workshop leaders introduce participants to a step-by-step process to identify, acquire, and build skills needed to reach goals for particular projects or broad career objectives. Some of the artists who have gained critical acclaim and professional recognition, locally and internationally, since completing Emerge, are Dahlia Elsayed, Nicolás Dumit Estévez, Jeffrey Gibson, Ben Goldman, Leslie Hewitt, and German Pitre. The achievements of these and other artists not only validate the impact of Emerge as a countermeasure designed to help artists break patterns of crisis, but also track the thriving return Aljira and its community of supporters continue to receive on its investment in the

careers of Emerge artists. And as we approach the 10th anniversary of Emerge, it is appropriate, I think, to acknowledge some of its earliest as well as current supporters. These include Bank of America, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, which not only awarded the Emerge program a Citation for Excellence, but also partnered with Aljira to co-sponsor Source, a networking forum for artists across all disciplines that is now in its third year. Aljiraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s successful collaboration with the New York-based national artist service organization Creative Capital significantly altered the Emerge programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s focus by adding a strategic planning element. This partnership established a model of professional development that combined strategic planning with enriching talks by established artists, collectors, curators, critics, accountants, and lawyers. This new model offers each Emerge participant a critical exercise in identifying and setting specific goals and in creating a road map for achieving them. As projects and career goals are articulated more clearly, artists are better able to move forward

and use each successive project as a careerbuilding catalyst. The workshops emphasize the importance of two primary skills: the ability to communicate clearly and effectively about the work, and the ability to target appropriate audiences and funders. I want to acknowledge Aljiraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s staff, the curators, the professionals who led workshops and talks, and the funders of Aljira Emerge 7 and 8 for their role in the success of this enterprise. I congratulate the artists on their exhibitions and for contributions they are already making, through discourse and production, to contemporary art and culture.

Victor L. Davson Executive Director

Aljira Emerge words from the curator As a curator, one of the most difficult tasks is how to present the artwork of an artist. The curator is in effect an agent for the artist and the viewer, creating a connection that hopefully in one way or another inspires each. The unique group of 40 artists of the Emerge 7 program â&#x20AC;&#x201D; known and unknown, men and women from New York, New Jersey, and elsewhere â&#x20AC;&#x201D; collectedly formed the stimulus, which drove Franklin Sirmans and me to choose the wide range of artworks we did. Without a theme, and without a specific direction, we chose artwork that seemed the most relevant to what is happening now, and what ultimately inspired us. Throughout the journey, it was evident that the explosion of culture, with its influence on ideas and voices being broadcasted, multiplied, and devoured, brought a kind of directness and urgency to artworks that were seemingly eclectic and unrelated to one another. The inquisitiveness of the Emerge 7 artists allowed us to create an exhibition site of activation, interpretation and, hopefully, illumination.

words from the curator

Elia Alba tackles the complexities of human interaction and social issues in her quasi-still life and portraiture photographs. Through the introduction of alternative personas and identities via masks that Alba creates, obscurity veils ritualized actions that interrogate gender, ethnicity, and sexuality. Signifiers, signs, and meaning all play integral roles in Afruz Amighi’s sculptures and installations. Using delicate and minimal materials, Amighi constructs complicated and ephemeral patterns dealing with current aspects of life in the Middle East during a time of war, faith, and tradition.

commemorates The Civil RIghts Movement, a momentous time for social change. Burns conjures up issues such as faith, struggle, and comradery in his multimedia installations. Chrissy Conant develops her sculptures through an intensively internal process of self-investigation and existential reasoning. By creating multiple pr ototypes and through experimenting with various materials, Conant creates objects layered with personal meaning and universal reasoning.

Adam Brent investigates contingent relationships of forms and images in his sculptural installations. Inspiration to create interactive and ambient “living” sculptures using raw wood, video, and vegetation results from attempts to re-create the flexibility and closeness often found in small towns, similar to Brent’s own hometown.

The audience is an important element in the performances and public projects by Nicolás Dumit Estévez. Invited to be active participants, Estévez co-produces these ephemeral pieces with the observers, using props such as latex gloves, plastic knives, whips, bananas, or disposable smocks to question personal and private rituals and roles. Made permanent through installations of audio, photographs, drawings, videos, and props, the performances live on after the initial interaction.

Combining vivid historical photographic imagery and found or donated personal effects such as shoes, Chris Burns

Negotiating between Chinese philosophies of transcendence and nature and Western thinking, Cui Fei creates harmonized drawings

that attempt to balance the differences Fei faces as a Chinese artist living in the United States. Images and objects derived from nature bring visual harmony to the viewer, emulating this balance. Inspired by contemporary and ancient mythologies, queer politics, and South Asian history, Chitra Ganesh creates drawings that question repression and remembrance of both personal and social memories. Achieved using abject and subversive imagery that has been injected into traditional narrative forms, boundaries between sexuality and power are diminished and tested. Linda Ganjian creates vivid miniature sculptural installations, hand-making each individual component by making molds from everyday objects. The resulting landscapes are visually complex and symbolically intricate, calling inspiration from Middle Eastern carpet and jewelry design, brimming with evocative imagery. Having spent the early part of her childhood in the mountains of North Carolina with her grandparents and the latter part with her technologically advanced father, Carla Gannis uses this disparity as subject matter to address craft, storytelling, and technology in digital montages.

Asha Ganpatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sculptures confront the potential of symbolic power over psychosocial and behavioral conditions prevalent in society. Interested in the differences of religion, faith, and mythology in advanced and under-developed cultures and economies, Ganpat turns to her personal experiences as inspiration for her installations. Each of Tamara Gubernatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s site-specific interventions is influenced directly by the neighborhoods and communities in which they exist. While taking form using various methods and materials, Gubernat strikes to create uniquely urban experiences for a widespread and diverse audience. Lisa Hamilton negotiates personally and universally lived experience through the complex history of contemporary painting. Spatiality, color, surface, and shape are all considered in Hamiltonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s paintings as methods in which to communicate these hypotheses. Acutely affected by an upbringing in the largelystill segregated Deep South, Jeffrey Hargrave harnesses these experiences and translates them into graphic and emotional imagery in his paintings. Using a limited palate of black, white, and red, Hargrave tackles the arduous subjects of class, race, and racism.

words from the curator

Leslie Hewitt composes discrete photographic and sculptural vignettes that are living archives of personal history, the passage of time, and personal versus collective memory. The blurred line between realism and fiction is central to Hewitt’s foundation of narrative storytelling. Through pointed and unauthorized collaborations, Curt Ikens uses the artwork of others as his medium to create collages and constructions that are often humorous, daringly truthful, and wittingly conceptual. The resulting artworks challenge the contemporary art establishment and notions of authorship and copyright. Bettina Johae’s projects oscillate between a city’s visual formality and charismatic individuality of its occupants. Johae aims to uncover overlooked aspects and views, documenting their changes through time, which are then layered with perception and personal histories. By re-interpreting distinctly urban elements in the landscape, Amy Kao develops her own visual language confronting historical and cultural memory. Her two- and three-dimensional installations of rubber cutouts sample forms and rhythms collected from graffiti, camouflage patterns, decorative elements, and nature.

Saeri Kiritani investigates the relationship of inner and outer, whether it is personal, cultural, or social experiences, using video documentation of interviews the artist conducts with the public. Kiritani sifts through the documentation to layer and mix the entries, creating a collective, universal personal experience for the viewer. Analyzing the disjunctive relationship of cause and effect, impulse and judgment, and man versus nature, Joel Kyack’s drawings, paintings, and installations are interventions in expectation. These artworks confront head-on rules of engagement, the futility of desire, and human consciousness in modern culture. Steven Lam is interested in the mechanics of how information is distributed, internalized, and ultimately performed. Using a variety of media, Lam manipulates humor and a DIY aesthetic to provoke thinking on institutional critique, doctrines, and politics. Inspired by large-scale, realist painting, LJ Lindhurst uses imagery of her surrounding neighborhood and pop culture to create colorful snapshots of modern life. Her detailed canvases are painfully realistic and calculatingly humorous.

Operating within a constructed hypothetical organization called the Society of Biological Insurgents (SBI), Tara Mateik uses various types of media to challenge notions of gender, sexuality, and the body. Specific methods of disruption and interrogation are used to advance institutionalized discourses on gender, social acceptance, and physicality. The sculptures of Irvin Morazan are heavily rooted in experimentation and the creative process. By investigating the different methods of combining photo-paper chemicals, glue, and cotton, Morazan has created his own unique material, which he layers and molds into various shapes to produce curious, lighthearted objects. The artist collaboration MTAA (Michael Sarff and Tim Whidden Art Associatives) creates multimedia installations and web-based projects, provoking the viewer to think about collaboration and aesthetics in unique ways. This particular rubric, as described by Nicolas Bourriaud in his ideas on relational aesthetics, is often visible in the artists’ works. Using a diverse range of media, William A. Ortega aims to connect his past and Hispanic traditions with his American assimilation. These attempts lead him to question roles of identity and the self in today’s diverse contemporary culture, while addressing concerns of race, ethnicity, and gender.

German Pitre creates proactive, loaded paintings — both psychologically and physically. Using found and second-hand stuffed animals attached to the canvas and then layered with thick, dense black paint, and medium, Pitre creates challenging pictorial landscapes. These mostly large-scale paintings, with grit and intensity, prompt the viewer to question the roles and perceptions of African Americans. In order to emphasize the unseen or slippage in spaces, Kent Rogowski takes everyday images devoured by pop culture and reworks them to create unusual, sometimes unsettling images. This distortion, deliberate and slight, highlights the ways in which communication functions, both with visual images and conceptual meaning. Bryony Romer seeks to unearth the unlikely inherent meanings behind everyday sites and objects. Part storyteller, Romer negotiates between actual history and an adventitious future. The results are whimsical and thoughtprovoking, calling attention to hidden potentials in everything and all of us. Through personal investigation, which is set up against cultural and social norms, Changamire Semakokiro’s highly intimate paintings tackle difficult symbolic languages and contradictions. As the artist, influenced and mediated by particular cultural protocols, he in turn creates mediated imagery, layering particular aesthetics to create questioning dialogue.

words from the curator

Using images that are historically of the black vernacular landscape, Xaviera Vincenta Simmons examines the position and notion of the subject in photography. By constructing unexpected arenas that challenge the subject, Simmons creates her own vernacular of what “black” means. Influenced by a lively combination of urban graffiti, Abstract Expressionism, and the buzz of city life, Shinique Smith constructs multimedia sculptures and installations from used materials, providing commentary on the effects of consumerism and social economics. These tightly bound materials, often found on the street, command attention to one’s relationship to their body and space. Directed by an in-depth studio practice, Scott Taylor manipulates recognizable images and shapes in his paintings. Distortion of space is an important factor in the work, subjecting the images to the rigors of contemporary life, critique, and art history. Yuken Teruya’s work is primarily centered on the effects of globalism and consumerism of today’s society, and how these affect resources, both natural and cultural. Utilizing the use of everyday materials readily available, Teruya attempts to make real these very abstract notions through critical observation and interpretation.

With a keen interest in the forms and notions of nature and the natural world, Kathleen Vance constructs environmental installations that challenge what “natural” implies, by bringing the materials of nature into the indoor arena. The scale of Vance’s built enclosures forces viewers to react and reconsider their relationship to the natural world. Influenced by today’s super-sexualized and famedriven pop culture, Alejandra Villasmil creates vibrant, visually dazzling collages that explore the notions of the body, fairytale, beauty, and nostalgia. Images of mountains, rivers, and other natural scenarios are juxtaposed with glitter, shiny stickers, and other decorative materials, exploring the dynamics of the physical and mental world. Emma Wilcox acts as diligent documenter, focusing on photographing images in black and white that tell stories of the forgotten, the unseen and, conversely, the omnipresent in and around her local environment of New Jersey areas. These haunting, almost mystical, solitary images leave the viewer questioning the history behind the scenes, bringing attention to the often unseen. The drawings by Haeri Yoo evoke psychological tensions and underlying emotions, not often spoken of but universal to us all. Using basic materials such as pencil, marker, and paint, Yoo

appropriates childlike drawings and images, often manipulating the figures and expressions to simulate an awkward or instant moment. Bryan Zanisnik focuses on the voyeuristic properties of photography by looking at urban street scenarios, highways, and the urban landscape through a selective lens. By creating unorthodox compositions with disjunctions between the foreground as voyeur and the background as fetish, Zanisnik distorts the viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perceptions.

Jennifer Moon Curator, E7: Aljira Emerge 7 Exhibition

participating artists

Aljira Emerge

Joel Kyack Steven Lam Elia Alba Afruz Amighi Adam Brent Chris Burns Chrissy Conant NicolĂĄs Dumit EstĂŠvez Cui Fei Chitra Ganesh Linda Ganjian Carla Gannis Asha Ganpat Tamara Gubernat Lisa Hamilton Jeffrey Hargrave Leslie Hewitt Curt Ikens Bettina Johae Amy Kao

LJ Lindhurst Tara Mateik Irvin Morazan MTAA (Michael Sarff & Tim Whidden) William A. Ortega German Pitre Kent Rogowski Bryony Romer Changamire Semakokiro Xaviera Vincenta Simmons Shinique Smith Scott Taylor Yuken Teruya Kathleen Vance Alejandra Villasmil Emma Wilcox Haeri Yoo Bryan Zanisnik

Saeri Kiritani

all dimensions on the following pages are in inches unless otherwise noted

Elia Alba Larry Levan Live (Two Larrys), 2006 Gelatin silver print, 20 x 20

Afruz Amighi Flag, n.d. Transparent cloth and plexiglass, 60 x 80 (installation view and detail below)

Adam Brent Northeast, 2005 Birch plywood, MDF, aluminum, plants, and video, 42 x 72 x 60

Chris Burns Colored Section, 2006 Mixed media, 13 x 24

Chrissy Conant Teddy Chrissy (Self Portrait), 2005 Stainless steel, polyester, nylon, acrylic fabric, glue, and blood, edition two of four, 12 1â &#x201E;2 x 10 x 11

Nicolás Dumit Estévez For Art’s Sake, 2005 Video stills from Pilgrimage to El Museo del Barrio, 5 minutes (one video still bellow)

Cui Fei Read by Touch, 2006 Thorns on rice paper, 9 1⁄4 x 10 3⁄4

Chitra Ganesh Paradise, 2005 Mixed media on vellum, 14 x 17

Linda Ganjian Ode to Disappearing Smokestacks, 2005 Polymer clay, acrylic varnish, glue, paint, and trim on wood, 5 x 24 x 34

Carla Gannis Baptism, 2006 Archival digital pigment print, edition one of five, 37 x 27

Asha Ganpat My Stockpile, 2006 Paper, wax, and 15 one-quart glass jars, dimensions variable

Tamara Gubernat C-prints, dimensions variable

Around the Corner, 2006

Lisa Hamilton Fence, 2006 Oil on canvas, 24 x 18

Jeffrey Hargrave Fiery Tongue, 2005 Acrylic on canvas, 11 x 14

Leslie Hewitt Riffs On Real Time, 2002â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2005 Chromogenic print, edition 10 of 10, 24 x 30

Curt Ikens Unauthorized Collaboration Without Mark Bradford at the Whitney Biennial 2006: Day for Night, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 2–May 28, 2006, 2006 Whitney Biennial 2006 catalog cover, inked end paper, and string mounted on end paper, 2 1⁄4 x 3 1⁄4

Bettina Johae On the Other Side, 2006 Installation with single-channel video, color, sound, 2:33:00 hours; map, and archival ink on mylar, 33 Â˝ x 15 Â˝ (video still and detail below)

Amy Kao Untitled, 2006 Rubber and aluminum, 56 x 22

Saeri Kiritani Peace Prayers (T-shirt project), 2006 Digital photographs, edition 10 of 23, 8 1â &#x201E;2 x 11 each

Joel Kyack The Toothless Parasite of the Interior Decorator, 2006 Marker on office paper, 8 1â &#x201E;2 x 35

Steven Lam

Live at Red Square!, 2006 Two-channel digital video, color, sound, 8 minutes (installation view and detail below)

LJ Lindhurst Lock #10, 2006 Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18

Tara Mateik Case 133. Psychosexual Metamorphosis, 2005 Mixed media kinetic sculpture with record player, record, cassette tape, CD player, zoetrope, headphones, adhesive paper, sonotube concrete form, and plastic, track, 3 minutes, 5 1â &#x201E;2 x 22 x 16 1â &#x201E;2

Irvin Morazan Book of Counsel, or Popol Vuh (Twins), 2005 Mixed media sculpture, 42 x 60 x 15

MTAA (Michael Sarff & Tim Whidden) 3 Feet High and Rising, Newark, 2006 Aljiraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reception desk on wood platform, 37 x 72 x 72

William A. Ortega Growing Up American, 2006 Archival digital inkjet prints, 18 x 24 each

German Pitre Wolf: Imperial Empire Dreams of World Domination, 2006 Mixed media, 48 x 70

Kent Rogowski Untitled #1, 2006 Puzzle montage, 6 x 20

Bryony Romer Aluminum Lullaby, 2006 Aluminum foil, folding table, and electric lights, 29 x 72 x 24 (installation view and detail below)

Changamire Semakokiro And the Girliesâ&#x20AC;Ś, 2006 Paint, spray paint, colored pencil, and gesso on plywood, 50 1â &#x201E;2 x 59

Xaviera Vincenta Simmons Saacatra, 2005 Color photograph, 20 x 24

Shinique Smith Louise Bundle, 2005 Carpet, clothing, and cord, 14 diameter

Scott Taylor Bio-ratus, 2005 Oil on canvas, 46 x 56

Yuken Teruya Rainforest, 2006 Toilet paper rolls, magnets, and chain, 137 x 2 (installation view and detail below)

Kathleen Vance Traveling Landscape 4, 2006 Mixed media, 6 x 12 x 10

Alejandra Villasmil Colorin Colorado (Part I), 2006 Mixed media on paper, 60 x 48

Emma Wilcox Eminent Domain No. 3, 2006 Gelatin silver print, 20 x 24

Haeri Yoo Horse Cow, 2006 Acrylic and gouache on canvas panel, 12 x 9

Bryan Zanisnik The Dollar Is Falling, 2006 Digital video, color, sound, 4:19 minutes (video stills below)

Fall Session, 2005

Spring Session, 2005

Saturday, September 24 Aljira Emerge 7 Program Introduction and Orientation

Saturday, March 19 Creative Capital Strategic Planning Professional Development Workshop

Saturday, October 8 Creative Capital Strategic Planning Professional Development Workshop

Saturday, April 16 Professional Network & Technical Talk

Saturday, October 22 Professional Network & Technical Talk Janice Shapiro

Saturday, May 21 Creative Capital Strategic Planning Professional Development Workshop Saturday, June 18 Visit to galleries in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY Saturday, July 23, 2005 Creative Capital Strategic Planning Professional Development Workshop Saturday, August 20 Technical Talk: Writing About Your Work Aaron Landsman

Saturday, November 5 Professional Network & Technical Talk Matthew Higgs Saturday, November 19 Creative Capital Strategic Planning Professional Development Workshop Saturday, December 3 Professional Network & Technical Talk Saturday, December 17 Creative Capital Strategic Planning Professional Development Workshop

Aljira Emerge

series

lecture

52 52

artists’

biographies

Elia Alba Born in New York, NY Lives in Queens, NY Education Whitney Museum Independent Study Program Hunter College, BA Exhibitions

Scope Miami, represented by 31 Grand Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2004 Scope London, represented by 31 Grand Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2004 Honors Dedalus Foundation, Nominee for Drawing and Sculpture, 2006

This Skin I’m In: Contemporary Dominican Art from the Permanent Collection, El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY, 2006

Adam Brent

Tropicalisms, Jersey City Museum, NJ, 2006

Born in Queens, NY Lives in Brooklyn, NY

Queens International, Queens Museum of Art, NY, 2006

Education Parsons School of Design, MFA Maryland Institute College of Art, BFA

Honors

Exhibitions

Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, 2002–2003

Tribes Gallery, New York, NY, 2006

Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, 2002–2003

Certain People I Know, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY, 2006 NORM(L), Branchville Gallery, Ridgefield, CT, 2005

Whitney Museum Van Lier Foundation Fellowship Grant, 2000–2001

Equally Vulnerable, Branchville Gallery, Ridgefield, CT, 2005

Afruz Amighi

New York Foundation for the Arts, 2005

Born in Teheran, Iran Lives in Queens, NY Education

Honors

Chris Burns

New York University, MFA

Born in New York, NY Lives in New York, NY

Columbia University, BA

Education

Exhibitions

Mercy College, MA Morehouse College, BA University of Paris/Sorbonne Institut D’etudes Europeennes The Art Student League of New York

Dedicated to N.Khan, Kimmel Center, New York, NY, 2006 Young Americans, Charlotte and Philip Hanes Art Gallery, Wake Forest University, North Carolina, 2005

Education

YEA: Young Emerging Artists, Westchester Arts Council, NY, 2006

Tyler School of Art, Temple University, MFA

Soles of the Movement, Westchester, NY, 2006

Exhibitions

In Time, Aaron Davis Hall, New York, NY, 2002 Rapid Eye Movement, Skylight Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2001 Honors

International Del Arte Digital, La Habana, Cuba, 2006

New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship Grant, 2001–2002

Exhibitions

New York City Teaching Fellows, New York City Department of Education, Graduate School Fellowship, Mercy College, 2003 Artist in the Marketplace, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1998

Chrissy Conant Born in Kailua, HI Lives in New York, NY Education School of Visual Arts, MFA Boston University, BA Exhibitions The Biennial Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC, 2006–2007 Four Freedoms, Martin Art Gallery, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA, 2006 Work in Progress, D.U.M.B.O. Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY, 2006 SELLOUT, Bard Center for Curatorial Studies, Annandaleon-Hudson, NY, 2006

The City College of New York, BA The Prague Quadrennial, Prague, Czech Republic, 2007 This Skin I’m In: Contemporary Dominican Art from The Permanent Collection, El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY, 2006 IX Havana Biennial, The Passerby Museum in collaboration with Maria Alos, Havana, Cuba, 2006 Madrid Abierto, The Passerby Museum, Spain, 2005 Honors Artist in Residence, MacDowell Colony, 2006 Plumsock Residency, Yaddo, 2006 Artist in Residence, The Center for Book Arts, 2006 Michael Richards Fund from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Grant, 2005

Cui Fei Born in Jinan, Shandong, Peoples Repubic of China Lives in Queens, NY Education Indiana University of Pennsylvania, MFA Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, China, BFA Exhibitions

Nicolás Dumit Estévez

Contemporary Chinese Visions, Amy Simon Fine Art, Westport, CT, 2006

Born in Santiago de los Treinta Caballeros, Dominican Republic Lives in Bronx, NY

East Transplanted West, CAS Gallery, Kean University, Union, NJ, 2006

artists’ biographies

53 53

Transplant/Transculture, Wave Hill, Bronx, NY, 2006 Well Read, NurtureArt, Brooklyn, NY, 2006 Honors Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Studio Center Award, 2004 Artist in the Marketplace, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, 2001–2002

Chitra Ganesh Born in Brooklyn, NY Lives in Brooklyn, NY

Education Hunter College, MFA Bard College, BA Exhibitions

Archaeology of New York, Gallery Korea, New York, NY, 2006

Eyewash Gallery at Gallery Boreas, Brooklyn, NY, 2006

Asha Ganpat

Queens International, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY, 2004

Somewhere Outside It, Schroeder-Romero Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2006 Everland, Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, NY, 2006 Honors

Columbia University, MFA Brown University, BA Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture

Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, 2005

Born in Trinidad, West Indies Lives in Newark, New Jersey Education Montclair State University, MFA Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, BFA Exhibitions In•ter•ac•tiv, Seton Hall University Gallery, South Orange, NJ, 2006

Open Studio Tour, Red Saw Gallery, Temporary Annex, Newark, NJ, 2006

Individual Artist Grant, New York State Council on the Arts, 2004

Waging Peace, Hera Gallery, Wakefield, RI, 2006

Lisa Hamilton

Born in Durham, NC Lives in Brooklyn, NY Education

Exhibitions

ArtStart mentor artist, City Without Walls,, 2006

Honors

Jezebel, Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, NY, 2007

Gregory Millard Fellow, 2005

Linda Ganjian Born in Brighton, MA Lives in Queens, NY

Multimedia Residency, Rotunda Gallery/BCAT, 2004

Carla Gannis

739 feet running wall, Gwangju Contemporary Art Museum, Gwangju, Korea, 2005

Artist Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts, 2005

Independent Project Grant, Artists Space, 2004

Millay Colony, 2004

Boston University, MFA University of North Carolina at Greensboro, BFA

Artists’ Alliance Rotating Studio Program Recipient, 2005

Honors

Artist in Residence, The Julia and David White Artists’ Colony, Ciudad Colon, Costa Rica, 2004

Honors

Pennies from Heaven Fund, 2005

Jamaica Flux, Jamaica Center for the Arts & Learning, Jamaica, NY, 2004

Jailhouse Revival, NJIT Gallery, Newark, NJ, 2006

Hall Farm Center, 2005

Exhibitions

Papering, Deutsche Bank, New York, NY, 2006

Emerald City, School of the Art Institute of Chicago/RIDER Project, Chicago, IL, 2006

Nan Travel Art Scholarship, 1995

MacDowell Colony, 2006

Subcontingent: The Subcontinent in Contemporary Art, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy, 2006

SXSW Interactive Festival, Website Finalist, 2002

Exhibitions

Queens International, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY, 2006

Education

One Way or Another, Asia Society, New York, NY, 2006

Chashama AREA Visual Arts Studio Award, 2005

Carla Gannis, TZR Galerie, Dusseldorf, Germany, 2007

Everything That Rises Must Converge, Kasia Kay Art Projects, Chicago, IL, 2006 Jezebel, Loop Video Art Fair, Claire Oliver Gallery, Barcelona, Spain, 2006 Honors New York Foundation for the Arts Grant in Computer Arts, 2005

Best in Show, Metro Show 24, City Without Walls, 2006

International Sculpture Center, Outstanding Student Award, Nominee, 2005 Graduate Assistantship in Digital Technology, Montclair State University, 2004–2005

Born in Atlanta, GA Lives in Brooklyn, NY Education Hunter College, MFA Hochschule der Kunst, Berlin The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, BFA Academie voor Beeldende Kunst, Academie Minerva, Groningen, The Netherlands Exhibitions

Tamara Gubernat Born in Brooklyn, NY Lives in Queens, NY

Hunter College Faculty Exhibition, 2005

Education

Innovations, Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, GA, 2004

Hunter College, MFA Bard College, BA

Salad Days, Artists Space, New York, NY, 2004

54 54

Inaugural Ball, Morsell Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2004 Honors New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship Recipient in Painting, 2006

Jeffrey Hargrave Born in Salisbury, NC Lives in Brooklyn, NY Education Millay Colony for the Arts Rhode Island School of Design North Carolina School of the Arts Exhibitions Character Building, Contemporary Portraits from the West Collection at SEI, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2006 Blender, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY, 2006 Sho Biz, The Phactory, New York, NY, 2004 Now Serving, Art in General, New York, NY, 2002 Honors Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, 1999 Art Omi International Residency with sponsorship to attend from LEF Foundation, 2000 Change Inc. Grant, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, 2003 Wheeler Foundation Grant, 2003

Leslie Hewitt Born in Saint Albans, NY Lives in Houston, TX and New York, NY Education Yale University, MFA The Cooper Union for the Advancement in Science and Art, BFA

Exhibitions

Bettina Johae

2006

I Wish It Were True, Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, Queens, NY, 2006

Born in Berlin, Germany Lives in Brooklyn, NY

Artist Residency, MacDowell Colony, 2005

Civil Restitutions, Thomas Dane Gallery, London, UK, 2006 Make It Plain, la><art, Los Angeles, CA, 2006 Double Exposure, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT, 2006 Honors CORE, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, 2006

Education New York University, MA Technische Universitat Berlin, MA Exhibitions

Artist Residency, Omi International Arts Center, 2005

Saeri Kiritani

Objects and Desire, NUS Museum, Singapore, 2007

Born in Osaka, Japan Lives in Forest Hills, NY

Fifteen Paces, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY, 2005

Education

Project Row House, Artist in Residence, 2006

New York: Berlin â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Urban Moments, Galerie am Arkonplatz, Berlin, 2005

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture University of Pennsylvania, MFA San Francisco Art Institute, BFA

CORE, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, 2005

Honors

Exhibitions

Artist Residency, NUS Museum, Singapore, 2007

Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY, 2007

Artist Residency, MacDowell Colony, 2006

Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY, 2007

Artist in the Marketplace, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, 2006

Fractured Fairy Tales: The 16th Annual Exhibition, Asian American Art Centre, New York, NY, 2006

Artist in the Marketplace 25, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, 2004

Curt Ikens Born in Plainwell, MI Lives in Cranford, NJ Education Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, MFA Eastern Michigan University, BFA, BS Exhibitions Curt Ikens, Domo Gallery, Summit, NJ, 2007 Guest Artist to the Permanent Collection: Curt Ikens, Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ, 2006 Curt Ikens: Monument Beyond Passaic, Urban Institute of Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI, 2006 Transformative Portraits: Altered Identities in Contemporary Art, Lafayette College, Easton, PA, 2006

Student Excellence Award, New York University, 2003

Wild Girls, Exit Art, New York, NY, 2006

Amy Kao

Honors

Born in Taiwan, Taipei Lives in Brooklyn, NY

Artist Fellowship of Performance Art/Multidisciplinary Works, New York Foundation for the Arts, 2005

Education Sarah Lawrence College, BA Exhibitions

Artist Grant, Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan, 2003â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2004

Busan Biennale, Busan, South Korea, 2006

Artist Grant, Pola Art Foundation, 2000

Thirty Ways to Make a Painting, Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, OH, 2005

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, 1998

The Topography of Absence, Asian American Arts Centre, New York, NY, 2004

Joel Kyack

Open House: Working in Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY, 2004

Born in Abington, PA Lives in Los Angeles, CA Education

Honors

University of Southern California, MFA Candidate

Individual Artist Fellowship, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, 2005

Lower East Side Printshop Special Editions Fellowship,

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Rhode Island School of Design, BFA

artists’ biographies Exhibitions

LJ Lindhurst

Material Matters, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD, 2006

Born in Antonia, MO Lives in Brooklyn, NY

I Never Meant to Hurt You, Buzzer Thirty, Queens, NY, 2006

Education

Make Over, Tastes Like Chicken, Brooklyn, NY, 2006

Exhibitions

Webster University, BA

High Desert Test Sites 4, Joshua Tree, CA, 2004

Salon, Jack the Pelican Presents, Brooklyn, NY, 2006

Honors

Salon, Jan Larsen Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY, 2006

USC Teaching Fellowship, 2006 Skowhegan Fellowship, 2004 Vermont Studio Center Fellowship, 2002 European Honors Program, RISD, 1994

Steven Lam Born in Midland, MI Lives in Brooklyn, NY

Exhibitions IN_TENTION, Tyler Gallery, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA, 2006

Born in El Salvador Lives in Brooklyn, NY

Honors Rhizome.org

Exhibitions

Eyebeam Atelier

Puppy Love, Pelham Arts Center, Pelham, NY, 2005

Art + Commerce Festival, Brooklyn, NY, 2004

New Radio & Performing Arts Inc.

Juried Mid-year Exhibition, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH, 1996

First Look, Juried Show, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, NY, 2004

Creative Capital

Honors Honorable Mention, Butler Institute of American Art, Juried Mid-year, 1996

Tara Mateik Born in Loeminster, MA Lives in Brooklyn, NY Education Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, MFA Hampshire College, BA

Technologized Bodies/Embodied Technologies, Silverlake Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA, 2006

Welcome to Gayside, Easter Edge, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, 2006

Circuit #1, Eyebeam, New York, NY, 2005

When Artists Say We, Artists Space, New York, NY, 2006

Honors

Deviant Bodies 2.0, CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, NY, 2006

Artist in the Marketplace, Bronx Museum of the Arts, 2004–2005 University of California and the Institute for Research in the Arts Recipient, 2004

Videozone2—The 2nd Video Art Biennial, Israel, 2006 Creative Time

Exhibitions

Turbulence Artist Commission Grant Recipient, 2006

Irvin Morazan

Seoul Net & Film Festival, Korea, 2006

School of Visual Arts, BFA

Technologized Bodies/Embodied Technologies, Art Interactive, Boston, MA, 2006

Lori Ledis Curatorial Fellowship, Rotunda Gallery, 2006–2007

Performa ‘05, Artist Space, New York, NY,2005

Education

Education University of California, MFA University of Houston, Graduate Studies Trinity University, BA

Fellowship, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2003–2004

Show and Tell, Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, 2006

Honors Electronic and Film Art Grant, Experimental Television Center, 2006 Jury’s Citation Award, Black Maria Film and Video Festival, 2006 International Media Award for Science and Art Award Finalist, 2005

Slide Slam Lecture, SVA Amphitheater, New York, NY, 2004 Mentors Show, Visual Arts Gallery, New York, NY, 2003 Honors Robert Mapplethorpe Award, Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, 2003 Doe Award, School of Visual Arts, 2002

MTAA (Michael Sarff & Tim Whidden) Sarff: Born in Iowa City, IA Whidden: Born in Elyria, OH Both live in Brooklyn, NY Education Sarff: Cranbrook Academy of Art, MFA Columbus College of Art and Design, BFA Whidden: Columbus College of Art and Design, BFA Exhibitions Rhizome ArtBAse 101, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY, 2005 DC 9/11–The Evildoer’s Remix, Postmasters Gallery, New York, NY, 2004 Marking Time,The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, LA, 2005

The Whitney Museum’s Artport

William A. Ortega Born in Barranquilla, Colombia Lives in Jersey City, NJ Education Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, MFA New Jersey City University, BFA Exhibitions Westby Gallery, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, (solo) 2006 Brunswick Window, Jersey City, NJ, (solo) 2006 Filmideo, Red Saw Art, Newark, NJ, 2006 Video Shorts, Jersey City Museum, NJ, 2006

German Pitre Born in Buffalo, NY Lives in Newark, NJ Education The Art Students League of New York Printmakers Workshop, NY Exhibitions War in the World: Artists Respond to the Last 5 Years, The Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ, 2006

55 55

56 56

Stuff It, The Shore Institute of Contemporary Arts, Long Branch, NJ, 2006 To Not Be Seen, Liberation in Truth Social Justice Center, Newark, NJ, 2006 19th Annual NJ Print and Paper Fellowship Exhibition, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 2006 Honors New Jersey Print and Paper Fellowship, Rutgers Center for Innovative Print & Paper, Rutgers University, 2005

Kent Rogowski Born in Honolulu, HI Lives in Brooklyn, NY Education Rhode Island School of Design, MFA University of Maryland, BFA

Education

Exhibitions

Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, MFA Yale University, BA

Black Alphabet (Contexts in Contemporary African American Art), Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland, 2006

Exhibitions Slow Revolution, Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2006 All Things Being Equal, Wave Hill House Gallery, Bronx, NY, (solo) 2005 New Jersey’s Changing Face, Montgomery Center for the Arts, Skillman, NJ, 2005 Weird New Jersey: The Exhibition, Here Art Center, New York, NY, 2005 Honors

Changamire Semakokiro Born in Brooklyn, NY Lives in Brooklyn, NY The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, MFA School of Visual Arts, BFA

Honors Bears, Monograph published by Powerhouse Books/Miss Rosen Editions, 2007 Emerging Photographer Finalist, Nerve.com, 2005

Bryony Romer Born in Philadelphia, PA Lives in Brooklyn, NY

Honors

Guest Lecturer, New York University Photography Department, 2006

Biennial Faculty Exhibition, RISD Museum, Providence, RI, 2005

Artist in the Marketplace 21, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY, 2001

Landscape: Extended Engagement, Extended Space, Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, Jamaica, NY, (solo) 2006

Brooklyn Arts Council Grant, 2000–2001

Exhibitions

From where to here, Project Space 12, San Francisco, CA, (solo) 2002

How To Break Your Own Heart, Art in General, New York, NY, (solo) 2006

Artist in Residence, The Center for Photography at Woodstock, 2006

Education

Someday It Will Happen, Gallery Alloy, Newport, RI, (solo) 2005

Peekskill Project, Hudson Valley Center For Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY, 2006

Exhibitions Special, Kustera Tilton Gallery, New York, NY, 2005

Guest Lecturer, Expanding the Walls, Studio Museum in Harlem, 2006 Artist Talk with Franklin Sirmans, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, 2006

Shinique Smith

Necessary Reaction Even, Afrodragon Productions, Brooklyn, NY, 2004

Born in Baltimore, MD Lives in Brooklyn, NY

Renaissance Revolutionary/ Assata Project, Hothouse, Chicago, IL, 2004

The Maryland Institute College of Art, MFA Tufts University & The Museum School Boston, MAT The Maryland Institute College of Art, BFA

1st Annual Rush Arts Gallery Benefit Auction, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY, 2003

Education

Exhibitions

Xaviera Vincenta Simmons

Frequency, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, 2006

Born in New York, NY Lives in Brooklyn, NY

African Queen, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, 2006

Education

Do You Think I’m Disco, Longwood Arts Project, Bronx, NY, 2006

Whitney Museum Independent Study Program Bard College, BA

Material Abuse, Caren Golden Fine Art, New York, NY, 2006 Honors Artist in Residence, Henry Street Settlement, 2004–2005 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Studio Program Residency, 2003–2004

Scott Taylor Born in Phoenix, AZ Lives in Jersey City, NJ Education Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, MFA Savannah College of Art & Design, BFA Exhibitions Sweet Dreams, V & A Gallery, New York, NY, 2006 Scope New York Art Fair, NY, represented by Jack the Pelican, 2006 The Whole World is Rotten, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH, 2006 Honors Teaching Assistantship in Painting, Rutgers University, 2001–2002 Ellis Painting Award, Savanannah College of Art & Design, 2000

Yuken Teruya Born in Okinawa, Japan Lives in Brooklyn, NY Education School of Visual Arts, MFA Maryland Institute College of Art, Post-Baccalaureate Tama Art University, Tokyo, Japan, BFA Exhibitions Asahi Art Collaborations, Sumida River Side Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, (solo) 2006

artists’ biographies Asian Pacific Triennial, Queensland Art Gallery, Australia, 2006 Bangladesh Biennale, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2006 Rapt!, Object Gallery, Sydney & Gertrude Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne, Australia, 2006 Honors Lily Auchincloss Fellow, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, 2005 Vision of Contemporary Artists, 2002 Emerging Artist Award, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Arts, 2002 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Fellowship, 2001

Kathleen Vance Born in Baltimore, MD Lives in Brooklyn, NY Education Hunter College, MFA Pratt Institute, BFA Exhibitions Matter of Time, Betty Cunningham Gallery, New York, NY, 2006 Little Women, Dam, Stuhltrager Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2006 Archival to Contemporary— Six Decades of the Sculptors Guild, Hillwood Art Museum, Brookville, NY, 2006 Facing Newark, Newark Arts Council, NJ, 2005 Honors Brooklyn Arts Council Grant Haskel Travel Grant, 2003 Member of the Sculptors Guild

Alejandra Villasmil

Haeri Yoo

Born in Maracaibo, Venezuela Lives in Brooklyn, NY

Born in Korea Lives in Queens, NY

Education

Hunter College The Art Students League of New York

Kyungpook National University, BFA

School of Visual Arts Unversidad Catolica Andre Bello, BFA

Exhibitions

Exhibitions Queens International, Queens Museum of Art, NY, 2006 The (S) Files: The Selected Files, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, 2006 Ghosts and Machines, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY, 2006 The (S) Files: The Selected Files, El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY, 2005

Pratt Institute, MFA Fragmentations of the SelfSmeared, Smudged, Marked and Drawn, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY, 2006 Drift, Bronx River Art Center, NY, 2006 Me, Myself and My Emotions, Tastes Like Chicken Art Space, Brooklyn, NY, 2005 How Bad Do You Want It, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA, 2005

Bryan Zanisnik Emma Wilcox Born in Cambridge, MA Lives in Newark, NJ, and New York, NY

Born in Union, NJ Lives in Brooklyn, NY Education Drew University, BA

Education

Exhibitions

School of Visual Arts, BFA

The Peekskill Project, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY, 2006

Exhibitions Guest Artist to Permanent Collection, Jersey City Museum, NJ, 2007

60 Seconds of Play, Saltworks Gallery, Atlanta, GA, 2006

Insomnia, Bargehouse at Oxo Tower, London, UK, 2005

The Drop, Exit Art, New York, NY, 2006

SKYway, Victory Hall, Jersey City, NJ, 2005

Washington Crossing the Meadowlands, Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ, 2006

Eviction Blues, Asian American Arts Centre and ABC No Rio, New York, NY, 2005 Art + Commerce Festival of Emerging Photographers, Tobacco Warehouse, Brooklyn, NY, 2004 Honors Co-founder, Gallery Aferro, 2003

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checklist All dimensions are in inches unless otherwise noted

Elia Alba Larry Levan Live (Two Larrys), 2006 Larry Levan Live (Wash Hands), 2006 Gelatin silver print, 20 x 20 each

Afruz Amighi Flag, 2006 Transparent cloth and plexiglass, 60 x 80

Adam Brent Northeast, 2005 Birch plywood, mdf, aluminum, plants and video, 42 x 72 x 60

Chris Burns

Nicolás Dumit Estévez

14 x 17 or 17 x 14

Jeffrey Hargrave

Love is Blind, 2003 Presented as part of The Love a Commuter Project; DVD organized by Maria Alos and Nicolás Dumit Estévez; documentation of public intervention, 5 minutes.

Linda Ganjian Ode to Disappearing Smokestacks, 2005 Polymer clay, acrylic varnish, glue, paint, and trim on wood, 5 x 24 x 34

Drink, 2005 Fiery Tongue, 2005 Untitled, 2005 Wet Pussy, 2005 Acrylic on canvas, 8 x 10 or 11 x 14 each

Carla Gannis

Leslie Hewitt

Baptism, 2006 Archival digital pigment print, edition one of five, 37 x 27

Riffs on Real Time, 2002–2005 Chromogenic print, edition 10 of 10, 24 x 30

For Art’s Sake, 2006 Devotional guide; Structure design and book binding supervision by Ana Cordeiro; Aesthetic Credential letterpress printed and designed by Amber Mcmillian and Nicolás Dumit Estévez; special thanks to The Center for Book Arts; edition two of 100; 8 x 4 folded, 11 x 13 four unfolded pages For Art’s Sake, 2005 Video stills from Pilgrimage to El Museo del Barrio; for Art’s Sake was conceived as part of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Workshop residency program at Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art, 5 minutes.

The Preacher and the Elephant, 2006 Archival digital pigment print, edition three of five, 20 1⁄2 x 16 1⁄2 Trophy Wife, 2006 Archival digital pigment print, edition four of five, 20 1⁄2 x 16 1⁄2

Asha Ganpat My Stockpile, 2006 Paper, wax, and 15 one-quart glass jars, dimensions variable

Tamara Gubernat

Colored Section, 2006 Mixed media, 13 x 24

Cui Fei

Make It Plain, 2006 Mixed media, 22 x 18

Read by Touch, 2006 Thorns on rice paper, 9 1/4 x 10 3/4

Timeless Newark, 2003–2006 Ink on polyethylene pennant banners on outdoor scaffolding, 12 x 100

Chitra Ganesh

Around the Corner, 2006 C-prints, dimensions variable

Chrissy Conant Teddy Chrissy (Self Portrait), 2005 Stainless steel, polyester, nylon, acrylic fabric, glue, blood, edition two of four, 12 1⁄2 x 10 x 11

Armed, 2005 Paradise, 2005 Untitled, 2005 Untitled, 2005 Mixed media on vellum,

Lisa Hamilton Fence, 2006 Ride, 2006 Sprite’s, 2006 Oil on canvas, 24 x 18 or 18 x 24 each

Curt Ikens Unauthorized Collaboration without Mark Bradford at the Whitney Biennial 2006: Day for Night, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 2–May 28, 2006, 2006 Whitney Biennial 2006 catalog cover, inked end paper, and string mounted on end paper, 2 1⁄2 x 3 1⁄2

Bettina Johae On the Other Side, 2006 SIngle-channel video installation with sound, map, and archival ink on mylar, 2:30:00 hours, and 33 1⁄2 x 15 1⁄2

Amy Kao Untitled, 2006 Rubber and aluminum, 56 x 22

Saeri Kiritani

Irvin Morazan

Peace Prayers (T-shirt project), 2006 Digital image photograph T-shirts, edition one of six, dimensions variable

Book of Counsel, or Popol Vuh (Twins), 2005 Mixed media sculpture, 42 x 60 x 15

Peace Prayers (T-shirt project), 2006 Digital image photographs, edition 10 of 23, 8 1⁄2 x 11

MTAA (Michael Sarff & Tim Whidden) 3 Feet High and Rising, 2006 Aljira’s desk on wood platform, 37 x 72 x 72

Joel Kyack The Toothless Parasite of the Interior Decorator, 2006 Marker on office paper, 8 1/2 x 35

Steven Lam Live at Red Square!, 2006 Two-channel digital video, color, sound, 8 minutes Unlimited edition poster, 2006 11 x 14

LJ Lindhurst Lock #8, 2006 Lock #10, 2006 Lock #11, 2006 Acrylic on canvas, 18 x 24 or 36 x 24 each

Tara Mateik Case 133. Psychosexual Metamorphosis, 2005 Mixed media kinetic sculpture with record player, record, cassette tape, CD and player, zoetrope, headphones, adhesive paper, sonotube concrete form, plastic, and sound, 3 minutes, 5 1⁄2 x 22 x 16 1⁄2

William A. Ortega Growing Up American, 2006 Archival digital photo inkjet prints, 18 x 24

German Pitre Wolf: Imperial Empire Dreams of World Domination, 2006 Mixed media, 48 x 70

Kent Rogowski Untitled #1–6, 2006 From the series Love=Love, puzzle montage, six units, 6 x 20 each

Xaviera Vincenta Simmons

Haeri Yoo

HardLeg, 2004 Anonymous Things, 2005

Horse Cow, 2006

Saacatra, 2005 The Whole World is Full of Untitled, 2005 Color photographs, 20 x 24 each

Bag Alone, 2006 Munch Girl, 2006 Saw Girl, 2006 Strawberry Girl, 2006 Waiting for the Flight, 2006 White Scarf, 2006 Watermelon Lady, 2006

Shinique Smith Louise Bundle, 2005 Carpet, clothing, and cord, 14 diameter

Scott Taylor

Acrylic and gouche on canvas panel, 9 x 12 or 12 x 9 Snowman Eating a Popsicle, 2006 Acrylic, gouache, and tempera on canvas panel, 9 x 12

Bio-ratus, 2005 Oil on canvas, 46 x 56

Bryan Zanisnik

Yuken Teruya

Digital video, color, and sound, 4:19 minutes

Rainforest, 2006 Toilet paper rolls, magnets, and chain, 137 x 2

Kathleen Vance Traveling Landscape 4, 2006 Mixed media, 6 x 12 x 10

Bryony Romer

Alejandra Villasmil

Aluminum Lullaby, 2006 Aluminum foil, folding table, and electric lights, 29 x 72 x 24

Colorin Colorado (Part I), 2006 Mixed media on paper, 60 x 48

Changamire Semakokiro

Emma Wilcox

And the Girlies…, 2006 Paint, spray paint, colored pencil, and gesso on plywood, 50 3⁄4 x 59

Eminent Domain No. 1, 2006 Eminent Domain No. 3, 2006 Five Days, 2006 Railroad Avenue, n.d. Gelatin silver prints, 20 x 24 each

The Dollar Is Falling, 2006

Aljira Emerge words from the curator This exhibition, representing the eighth group of artists to have passed through Aljiraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prestigious Emerge program, features the work of 21 new faces. Collectively, this body represents a small slice of contemporary art, a miniature survey. Using every imaginable media (including Cheetos!), these artists have labored diligently to create works that are broad in scope and detailed in intellect, reflective and thought-provoking, personal and universal. Generally, curators make selections of pieces they would most like to include in exhibitions they have conceived. The beauty and complexity of programs like Aljira Emerge is that the artists are pre-selected. It is a reversal of the usual process of organizing an exhibition, and a fascinating challenge at the same time. This year, I asked each of the artists in Aljira Emerge 8 which works they were most interested in showing. I visited with each of the artists, and the show was assembled according to their suggestions in coordination with thoughts about the space and the other works in the show. The result, I believe, is an exhibition that presents surprising, engaging, and humorous works that are visually and intellectually rigorous. They draw on an unexpected variety of inspirations and, in turn, address varying issues. Used as rhetorical devices to extract meaning from contemporary life, the many themes include the resurgence of domesticity and labor, institutional critique, the power of nature, aspects of urban life, formal analysis, misrepresentation, inevitability, the lure of performance, and the (re) interpretation of the body.

words from the curator

Art is laborious, involved, and crucial. As the Aljira Emerge program expresses, the labor involved in the creation of the work has to be mirrored in the work undertaken to support the artist’s career and domestic life. Varying degrees of domesticity and labor are present in the work of Mary A. Valverde, iliana emilia garcía, Jenny Polak, Mike Womak, and Natsu. Patiently beading a giant, cell-like form, Natsu’s work involves thousands of small plastic beads strung on hundreds of copper wires. The colossal egg-shaped form hangs from the ceiling, a reference to a “cosmic egg.” Valverde’s work evokes pattern-making and equally the planning of a physical space. A circular form is carefully delineated and bisected numerous times, referencing not only the numbers in which the artist is most interested, but also natural forms that imply wholeness, completion, and balance. The chairs created by garcia recall the absence of the human figure as much as a domestic interior. Drawn in a variety of styles, the chairs evoke various emotions through their complex forms. Addressing more specifically the issue of labor and the problems associated with it is Polak’s dense work. The artist traces the history of various locations for labor, such as

farms, processing plants, and factories, where the Department of Homeland Security has begun a series of raids in the hopes of capturing undocumented workers. Painted in the style of primer illustrations, the images evoke a textbook on this new history of secrecy and terror. Finally, Womak’s work brings together issues of domesticity and labor in a single sculpture. In terms of signs and their meanings, the artist’s sculpture presents us with a real object that is vaguely effaced and an invented object that directly references the real object next to it. A cinder block’s true nature is covered by a layer of blue masking tape. An exact replica of the cinder block is made from a delicate and edible material, rendering it useless for construction purposes. Usurping the functional characteristics of the object, the artist takes its form as an aesthetic tool. The presentation of the self, the representation of one’s images, are fundamental aspects of the teachings of the Emerge program. The sometimes fraught relationship between presentation and representation is addressed in the exhibition. Each of these artists works with various aspects of perception and

points of view. Alisoun Meehan presents the spectator with a sumptuous view of a Chinatown window. Several levels of reflection are visible, as the viewer crosses a street crowded with cars, lights, and refracted images. Jaret Vadera’s video literally and metaphorically reflects on the surface of the water, creating a fleeting abstraction from a physical surface. Also interested in surface and in the social construction of the body, Jayson Keeling’s portraits reveal a fascinating series of metaphorical conversations between sitter and artist. Suggesting some possible fashion accessories for his sitters, the artist takes the portraits once his subjects have found a look that represents a medium between their selfpresentation and some added “American” accoutrements. Similarly, Suzanne Broughel’s work questions the meaning of color and illustrates how race is encoded in consumer products. She is equally interested in social history. With her installation Buy Black, Broughel alludes to the history of building walls to separate races and to the history of commerce that is marked by stereotypes and the buying patterns of different races and ethnicities. The soap used in the installation was all purchased from black-owned businesses in Newark. Environment is one of the more significant elements of the Emerge program, and the creation of a comfortable learning environment

for the artists is crucial. Various kinds of environments—natural or invented—are addressed by a number of works in the exhibition. Nicole Awai’s works purposefully juxtapose unexpected objects and media. Using colored pencil over ink-jet prints of a digital image, the artist carefully depicts the richly colored texture and pattern of an alligator’s hide. In the photographed background, a black baby doll figurine stands innocently against a television screen depicting an idyllic tropical beach. In a reference to 19th-century racist imagery, the little doll is unaware that the drawn alligator is poised to swallow her whole. Patrick Grenier’s works about the Whitney Museum in a desert landscape evokes the environment of the art world and the tireless search for new talent. Rolling over rugged hills and valleys, Grenier’s Whitney Museum seemingly blindly pushes across the punishing terrain intent on its mission. A more hospitable and dreamlike environment is evoked in the photographs of Holly Lynton, where a family of slugs rests sleepily in the grass or a delicate wisp of fog lifts off the happy plastic play pool of a young child. Inspired by the same natural environment, Julie Peppito’s playful insects are fashioned from a host of colorful plastic toys and other found objects. Hung in Aljira’s front window, the oversized bugs welcome viewers to an unexpected place. The theme of the surprising environment continues in the work of Jeff Grant, who

words from the curator

concocts a whimsical landscape in which the viewer becomes a colossal intruder. Silhouettes of miniature trees line the bottom of the wall as do a minute home. Lit dramatically by a single bulb, the installation evokes solitary metaphysical musings on life and its meanings. Mapping her environments with topographical and geometric references, Lisa C Soto’s work combines the delicate outlines of various islands, underscoring the solidarity of an island entity. Enmeshed in these forms are faint colors and geometric forms that heighten a sense of longing or nostalgia, a reminiscence about home. Even the titles of her works, Spiral, Circles, Coquí and Radar, Map, Moon, underscore the building of meaning through the adding of increasingly specific elements to the surface of the work. Finally, aspects of performance are evident throughout the chosen works. Discovering various ways to consider movement, sound, human presence, and narrative, these artists broaden the meaning of performance and adapt its mechanisms in inventive ways. Priyanka Dasgupta’s videos combine unexpected sounds and movements. Using a puppet and its shadow, Dasgupta’s video presents the puppet as performer. The silhouette cast by the puppet’s movements seems to orchestrate the sound—cars, traffic, and resounding horns. Aissa Deebi’s large-scale posterlike images are

stills borrowed from Iranian films. As frozen moments borrowed from longer narratives, the stopped action evokes a number of possibilities. Seen in a car with his wife, Andrew Demirjian presents a filmed version of an everyday errand that is permeated by psychological angst. In addition to the expected conversation between husband and wife, the spectator is allowed to hear the mundane and anxious thoughts that run through the minds of each as they sit next to one another in the car. Similar codes are present in the performance works of Carol Pereira. Working with groups of performers, the artist encourages them to tune in to one another’s psyches, making each movement change and grow as bodies and limbs encounter one another. Pairing together humble materials normally associated with construction, Jerry Gant’s work uses plywood and metal to create an environment in which figures perform invented movements. Alluded musical beats emanate from his sculpted boom boxes, inciting the performers and their moves. Performers, though not professionals, are the main attraction of Elisabeth Smolarz’s video Freund Hein. She asked volunteers to stand before her camera and imagine the moment of their death. How might one die? The possibilities are endless, as the video illustrates.

By encouraging the artists in Emerge 8 to select the works they most wanted to display, this exhibition allows the creators of the works to evoke a variety of themes by their choices. Quiet and inventive, bold and unapologetic, critical, perceptive, and analytical, the work of the artists in this exhibition were a pleasure to explore from the margins, thinking about all the possibilities they posed. I continue to be encouraged by the range of talent that surfaces from this crucial program. I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked with each of these formidable artists.

RocĂo Aranda-Alvarado Curator, E8: Aljira Emerge 8 Exhibition

participating artists

Aljira Emerge

Alisoun Meehan Nicole Awai Suzanne Broughel Priyanka Dasgupta Aissa Deebi Andrew Demirjian Jerry Gant iliana emilia garcĂa Jeff Grant Patrick Grenier

Natsu Julie Peppito Carol Pereira Jenny Polak Elisabeth Smolarz Lisa C Soto Jaret Vadera Mary A. Valverde Mike Womack

Jayson Keeling Holly Lynton

all dimensions on the following pages are in inches unless otherwise noted

Nicole Awai

Snap Snack—RCA 1, 2007 Colored pencil on inkjet print, 13 3⁄4 x 21

Suzanne Broughel Buy Black, 2007 Assorted soaps purchased locally, dimensions variable

Priyanka Dasgupta

Havaldaar Imaandaar (The Honest Policeman), 2005 Digital video, color, and sound, 2:50 minutes (video still below)

Andrew Demirjian Untitled, 2007 Installation with two-channel digital video, 6 minutes

Jerry Gant Beatsgrooves&blues cominâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; outta the woodwork, 2007 Wood, metal, and wire, 103 x 240 (detail below)

iliana emilia garcĂa

miscellaneous studies of loneliness, companionship and passion, 2001â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2006 Pencil, charcoal, and acrylic, 12 units, 88 x 90 overall (detail below)

Jeff Grant

Plot, 2007 Hanging light and mixed media, dimensions variable (detail below)

Patrick Grenier The Whitney Museum Searching Cultural Desert for Artists, 2007 Mixed media with single-channel digital video, color, sound, 4 minutes (video still below)

Jayson Keeling C-print, 39 ⁄4 x 29 ⁄4 3

Jesus is My Envy Up to Di Time, 2006

Holly Lynton C-print, 30 x 40

Lymax, 2005

Alisoun Meehan Pastel on paper, 51 x 108

Open Neon, 2006

Natsu

Mushiki Whale-Cosmic Egg, 2007 Brass wire and plastic beads, 36 x 96 x 36

Julie Peppito

Freedom of Choice part of Swarm Series, 2006 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2007 Mixed media, 36 x 36 x 36

Carol Pereira

Sticky Sweet, 2006 Three-channel video, color, sound,15:30 minutes (video still below)

Jenny Polak Return to Sender: Raided Worksites, 2006â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2007 Acrylic, dimensions variable (detail below)

Elisabeth Smolarz

Freund Hein, 2007 Multi-channel video, color, sound, 6 minutes (video still below)

Lisa C Soto

Spiral, Circles, Coqui, 2006 Graphite, watercolor, charcoal, and stitching, 25 x 36

Jaret Vadera

Dinner Guests, 2006â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2007 Digital video, color, sound, 2 minutes (video still below)

Mary A. Valverde Nails and thread, 80 x 80

Geometric Diagram, 2007

Mike Womack Orange Block, 2007 Cheetos and epoxy, 8 x 16 x 8

Spring Session, 2006 Saturday, March 19 Creative Capital Strategic Planning Workshop #1 at Aljira Saturday, March 25 Professional Network & Technical Talk #1

Saturday, May 6 Creative Capital Strategic Planning Workshop #3 at Aljira

Saturday, April 8 Creative Capital Strategic Planning Workshop #2 at Aljira

Saturday, May 20 Professional Network & Technical Talk #3

Saturday, April 29 Professional Network & Technical Talk #2

Saturday, June 3 Creative Capital Strategic Planning Workshop #4 at Aljira

Aljira Emerge

series

lecture

artists’

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biographies

Nicole Awai

Suzanne Broughel

Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad Lives in Brooklyn, NY

Born in Yonkers, NY Lives in New York, NY

Education

University of South Florida, MFA University of South Florida, BA Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture

Hunter College, MFA Hunter College, BFA Exhibitions

Exhibitions

Things Fall Apart, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY, 2007

Caribbean Encounters, Brooklyn Museum, NY, 2007

The Field, Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, NY, 2006

Tropicalism: Subversions of Paradise, Jersey City Museum, NJ, 2006

Bearable Lightness...Likeness, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY, 2007

Local Ephemera, Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, NY, 2005

Kuyo, Onishi Gallery, New York, NY, 2006

Open House: Working in Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum, NY, 2004

Nominee, Rema Hort Mann Foundation Grant, 2005

Honors Initial Public Offering: New Artists, New Curators, Nicole Awai and Rocío ArandaAlvarado, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2005

Honors

Priyanka Dasgupta Born in Calcutta, India Lives in New York, NY Education New York University, NY, MA

Art Omi International Artist’s Colony, 2004

St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, India, BA

Big River 2 International Artists’ Workshop, Caribbean Contemporary Arts, 2001

Exhibitions

Artist in Residence, Ceramics, Hunter College Art Department, 2000

20 Years of NYU/ICP, International Center of Photography, New York, 2006 Jersey City Museum, NJ Polymer Video Show, Hunter Museum of American Art, TN

Artist in the Marketplace 25, B The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY, 2005 Video Dictionary, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain, 2005 Honors Asia Society & SIAS, Artist Residency with P.S.79, The Crescent School, 2006 Artist in the Marketplace, Bronx Museum of the Arts, 2005 Asia Society & SIAS, Artist Residency with Samuel Gompers High School, 2004 National Endowment for the Arts Artist Residency, T.R.U.C.E, 2004

Aissa Deebi Born in Haifa, Israel (Palestine) Lives in Jackson Heights, NY Education University of Liverpool, MFA Exhibitions Pamegrent Art Gallery, New York, NY, 2006 Open Studio Show, Swing Space, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, NY, 2006 Third Biennial Asia Pacific Arts Forum, Taipei, Taiwan, 2005 Queens International, Queens Museum of Art, NY, 2004

Honors EU Israel-Palestine Peace Project Award, 2006 Individual Artist Grant, Queens Council on the Arts, 2005 Swing Space Artist in Residence Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, 2005 Artist in Residency, Gastetelier Krone Aarau, 2005

Andrew Demirjian Born in Springfield, MA Lives in Palisades Park, NJ Education Hunter College, MFA Clark University, BA Exhibitions M/M, City Without Walls, Newark, NJ, 2006 New American Talent 21, Arthouse at the Jones Center, Austin, TX, 2006 Indulge and Deny, LMAK Projects, Brooklyn, NY, 2005 Shoot, Dam Stuhltrager Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2005 Honors Individual Artist Fellowship, NJ State Council on the Arts, 2006 Puffin Foundation Grant, 2006 Artist in Residence, The Newark Museum, 2006 First Prize, Overall Video Portfolio, CUNY Arts Gala, 2005

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Jerry Gant

Exhibitions

Holly Lynton

Born in Newark, NJ Lives in Newark, NJ

The Skin I’m In, El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY, 2006

ATHICA/Athens Institute of Contemporary Art, GA

Born in Boulder, Colorado Lives in New York, NY

Merengue/visual rhythms, El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY, 2006

Jersey City Museum, NJ

Education Essex County College Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts Exhibitions My Brother’s Thread, Cork Gallery, NY, 2007 …but I was cool, Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ, 2006 William Turner Sculpture Garden, Maplewood, NJ, 2005 Top Dog Underdog, Luna Stage Artist Space, Montclair, NJ, 2005 Honors Artist in Residence Program, Gallery Aferro, 2006 Artstart Grant, Newark Arts Council, 2006

VIII Salón y Coloquio Internacional del Arte Digital, Havana, Cuba, 2006 Centro Docente, Sin Titulo Gallery, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2006

Temporal Pause, Gallery W52, New York, NY, 2006

The Social Body, Rocket Projects, Miami, FL, 2006

Dean’s List, 1989–91

Education

Honors

Parsons Institutional Scholarship for Special Summer Program, 1988

Fashion Institute of Technology, AA

New School, Summer Program, Artist Mentor and Lecturer, 2005

Jeff Grant Born in Potsdam, NY Lives in Brooklyn, NY

iliana emilia garcía

Altos de Chavon/The School of Design, La Romana, Dominican Republic, AAS

Artist in the Marketplace 27, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, 2007

Exhibitions Solid Ground, Jen Bekman Gallery, New York, NY, 2006

Born in Brooklyn, NY Lives in Brooklyn, NY

Ruth Vanderpool—Altos de Chavon-Parsons Institutional Scholarship for Excellence

Education

Parsons School of Design, BFA

Honors

Bard College, MFA Yale University, BA

Orange Tickle, Jersey City Museum, NJ, 2005

Rhode Island School of Design, BFA Goldsmiths College, University of London, MA

Education

University of WisconsinEau Claire, WI

Education

Jayson Keeling

Honors

Creative Heartwork Residency Awardship, 2005

Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Lives in Brooklyn, New York

Silo, New York, NY

Patrick Grenier Born in Quebec, Canada Lives in Hoboken, NJ Education New York University, MA Pratt Institute, BFA

Exhibitions Artist in the Marketplace 27, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY, 2007 3rd Wave: The Planet Of Brooklyn Transitions, Brooklyn Arts Council, NY, 2006 10 CURATORIAL PERSPECTIVES, Haven Arts, Bronx, NY, 2006 Honors Artist In the Marketplace 27, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, 2005 Ongoing Harlem Portrait Series, Studio Museum in Harlem

Alisoun Meehan Born in Washington, D.C. Lives in New York, NY Education Bard College, BA The Art Students League of New York Exhibitions Food Art, A Taste of Art, New York, NY, 2003 Five Sublime, White Box: The Annex, New York, NY, 2003 The Gun & Wound Show, White Box: The Annex, New York, NY, 2003

artists’ biographies Arte da Mangiare, The United Nation’s Delegate’s Restaurant, Chanterelle, Layla, Le Zinc, Nobu, The Harrison, Tribeca Grill/Tri-Bakery, Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimo, NYU, The NYC Chocolate Show, NY, 2002 Honors The Art of Black & White, 1999

Natsu Born in Japan Lives in New York, NY Education JOSHIBI University of Art and Design, BFA Parsons School of Design National Academy School of Fine Arts Exhibitions Water from Heaven, Onishi Gallery, New York, NY, (solo) 2006 Water from Heaven, Estnation-Roppongi Hills, Tokyo, Japan, (solo) 2006 Sparkling Air, Project Glow, 10th annual d.u.m.b.o. art under the bridge festival, Brooklyn, NY, 2006

Julie Peppito Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma Lives in Brooklyn, NY Education Post-Graduate Study, Academie Minerva, The Netherlands

EXiS, Experimental Film and Video Festival, Seoul, Korea, 2006 Honors Art Omi International Artists’ Residency, 2006 Aomori Art Centre, 2005

Alfred University, MFA

Yaddo, 2004

The Cooper Union School of Art, BFA

FACETS, 2004

Exhibitions Scope Miami, Rudolph Projects, Miami, FL, 2006 En Masse, Heskin Contemporary, New York, NY, 2006 Headlines, Pierro Gallery, New Jersey, 2006 Grandma take me home, FRISBEE, 2005

MacDowell Colony, 2004

Jenny Polak Born in London, England Lives in Brooklyn, NY Education School of Visual Arts, MFA Whitney Museum Independent Study Program Fellowship, Cambridge University, BA St. Martins School of Art, BA

Honors

Exhibitions

Living Arts, Andy Warhol Foundation Grant, 2004

Jamaica Flux, Jamaica Center for Art & Learning, NY, 2007

Lights On! Stipend, 2002

NJ: 3+3 Artists in Residence, The Newark Museum, NJ, 2006

New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, Sculpture, 2001 Stipend Residency, Artpark, 2000

In Other Words 2, Comme des Garçons, Hong Kong, China, 2006

Carol Pereira

Honors

Exhibitions

The New York Times, September 2004, William Zimmer ‘Japanese Inspired And Nature Infused’ Art review, The New York Times, NY

Jamaica Influx, Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, NY, 2007

Born in New York, NY Lives in New York, NY

Festival Images Contre Nature/ P’Silo, Marseille, France, 2006 Bird Watching, Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2006

NY Studio Visit, Exit Art, 2006 NY: Tactical Action, Gigantic ArtSpace, 2006 Honors Digital Matrix Award, Longwood Arts Project, 2006 Residency, The Newark Museum, 2006 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace Program, 2005 Franklin Furnace Future of the Present Award, 2005

Elisabeth Smolarz Born in Walbrzych, Poland Lives in Brooklyn, NY Education State Academy for Fine Arts, MFA, BA Exhibitions Radiant, The Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2006 The Shot, Reykjavik Museum of Photography, 2006 Cyberfem, Espai d’art contemporani de Castelló, 2006 Growing Up in Public, Repetti Gallery, Queens, NY, 2006

Lisa C Soto Born in Los Angeles, CA Lives in New York, NY Education Amsterdam Institute for Painting Alliançe Française University of Arizona, BA Exhibitions Peer Pressure, Allen Sheppard Gallery, New York, NY, 2006 Chimaera, Tenri Cultural Center, New York, NY, 2006 From the Artist’s Studio: Wish You Were Here, The Livingroom, AA Basel Miami, FL, 2005 AER, Altos de Chavon Gallery, La Romana, Dominican Republic, 2005 Honors Artist in Residency Program, Altos de Chavon, 2005

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Sunflower, CD cover of Marciac Suite by Wynton Marsalis, 1999 Duke’s Golden Forest, an image for the Fundaçao Gulbenkian’s Summer Jazz Festival Program and Poster, 1999

Jaret Vadera Born in Toronto, Canada Lives in Queens, NY Education Cooper Union School of Art Ontario College of Art and Design, A.O.C.A.D. Exhibitions Everything, All at Once, Queens International, Queens Museum of Art, NY It’s not an easy thing to meet the maker…Paved Art + New Media, Saskatoon, CA Fatal Love: South Asian American Art Now, Queens Museum of Art, NY Erosion, Cultural Foundation of Corsica, Ajaccio, France

Honors

Mike Womack

Optic Nerve Residency, Banff Centre for the Arts, 2006

Born in Houston, Texas Lives in Brooklyn, New York

Emerging Artist Grant, Toronto Arts Council, 2002

Education

Kathryn Minard Mixed Media Award, 2002

Mary A. Valverde Born in Queens, NY Lives in Queens, NY Education

University of Georgia, BFA Pratt Institute, MFA Exhibitions Warbling, Zieher Smith Gallery, New York, NY, (solo) 2006 Heat is Not Made of Tiny Hot Things, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, 2006

Exhibitions

New American Talent: 21st Exhibition, Arthouse at the Jones Center, Austin, TX, 2006

Beauty Shop, Soul Gallery, Miami, FL, 2006

Sturdy Axis, HPGRP Gallery, New York, NY, 2005

New York Narratives: Works on Paper, Oakland University Art Gallery, Rochester, MI, 2006

Semi-Finalist Award, Starving Artist Fellowship, 2005

School of Visual Arts, BFA

Queens International 2006, Queens Museum of Art, NY, 2006 Tropicalisms, Jersey City Museum, NJ, 2006 Benjamin Patterson’s Paper Piece, 1960 (with Clifford Owens), The Stephan Weiss Studio, New York, NY, 2006

Honors

checklist All dimensions are in inches unless otherwise noted

Nicole Awai Snap Snack — RCA 1, 2007 Snap Snack — RCA 2, 2007 Colored pencil on inkjet print, 13 3⁄4 x 21 each

Suzanne Broughel Buy Black, 2007 Assorted soaps purchased locally, dimensions variable

Priyanka Dasgupta Havaldaar Imaandaar (The Honest Policeman), 2005 Digital video, color, sound, 2:50 minutes

Andrew Demirjian Untitled, 2007 Installation with two-channel digital video, color, sound, 6 minutes

Jerry Gant Beatsgrooves&blues comin’ outta the woodwork, 2007 wood, metal, and wire, 103 x 240

iliana emilia garcía

Holly Lynton

miscellaneous studies of loneliness, companionship and passion, 2001–2006 Pencil, charcoal, and acrylic 88 x 90 (12 drawings)

Hymenoptera, 2005 C-print, 30 x 40

on pedestal: recycled (study for multiple personalities), 2007 Recyclable cardboard, 18 x 24 x 24

Jeff Grant Herd, 2007 Paper and strait pins, 91⁄4 x 241⁄2 x 13⁄4 Plot, 2007 Hanging light and mixed media, dimensions variable

Patrick Grenier

Lymax, 2005 C-print, 30 x 40

Alisoun Meehan Open Neon, 2006 Pastel on paper, 51 x 108

Julie Peppito Swarm, 2006–2007 Freedom of Choice, 36 x 36 x 36 The Innocent One, 18 x 12 x 12

The Whitney Museum Searching Cultural Desert for Artists, 2007 C-print, edition one of three, 16 x 20

Mixed media

Jayson Keeling

Nike of Jamaica, 2006 C-print, edition one of two, 39 3⁄4 x 29 3⁄4

Lisa C Soto Radar, Map, Moon, 2006 Charcoal, watercolor and graphite, 36 x 32 1⁄2 Spiral, Circles, Coqui, 2006 Graphite, watercolor, charcoal and stitching, 25 x 36

Natsu Mushiki Whale-Cosmic Egg, 2007 Brass, wire, and plastic beads, 36 x 96 x 36

The Whitney Museum Searching Cultural Desert for Artists, 2007 Mixed media with singlechannel digital video, color, sound, 4 minutes

Jesus is My Envy Up to Di Time, 2006 C-print, 39 3/4 x 29 3/4

Freund Hein, 2007 Multi-channel video, color, sound, 6 minutes

Killer, 48 x 48 x 3 The Innocent Two, 18 x 18 x 12

Carol Pereira Sticky Sweet, 2006 Digital video, color, sound, 15:30 minutes

Jenny Polak Return to Sender: Raided Worksites, 2006–2007 Acrylic, dimensions variable Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Raids Mapping Project, screensaver version

Elisabeth Smolarz

Jaret Vadera Dinner Guests, 2006–2007 Digital video, color, sound, 2 minutes

Mary A. Valverde Geometric Diagram, 2007 Nails and thread, 80 x 80

Mike Womack Blue Block, 2007 Cinder block and blue tape, 8 x 16 x 8 Orange Block, 2007 Cheetos and epoxy, 8 x 16 x 8

Aljira Board of Trustees 2005â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2007

Aljira Staff 2005â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2007

Patricia A. Bell

Victor L. Davson Executive Director

Bruce Dalziel Finance Chair Victor L. Davson Marilyn Dore Paula Hunchar Vice Chair Michael James Richard Jarocki Secretary Charles Russell Chair Denyse Thomasos Michael Palumbo

Edwin Ramoran Director of Exhibitions and Programs Cicely Cottingham Art Director, Aljira Design Bambang Widodo Principal Designer, Aljira Design Christine Vogel Associate Director for Business Development Catherine Dunning Arts & Culture Education Coordinator Mary A. Valverde Emerge Coordinator Christine Walia Administrative Associate Natasha Dyer Development Assistant Vanessa Ramalho Administrative Assistant Edyta Brudniak Accountant Nathea Lee Director of Development

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fosters excellence in the visual arts through exhibitions and educational programs that serve as catalysts for inclusiveness and diversity, promote cross-cultural dialog and enable us to better understand the time in which we live. Public understanding and support of the visual arts are strengthened through collaboration and community-based educational programming. Aljira seeks out the work of emerging and under-represented artists and brings the work of more established artists to our community. Through the visual arts Aljira bridges racial, cultural and ethnic divides and enriches the lives of individuals.

591 Broad Street Newark, NJ 07102-4403 ph 973 622-1600 fx 973 622-6526 www.aljira.org