Current Residents

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Current Resident: Jul 1, 2022–Jun 30, 2023

Studio #305

Sarah Tortora

Sarah Tortora draws inspiration from canonical sculptures, urban infrastructure, and museum display. Her work alternates between relational warmth and misidentification, and functions parallel to language to create intuitive replicas of archetypal objects. Tortora’s work conjures the psychic displacement necessary to comprehend the cultural displacement such archetypes can induce. The artist accepts the premise that every equestrian monument is truly a Trojan horse, and questions legacies of labor across geological time.

Sarah Tortora has exhibited work at Ulterior Gallery, New York; C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore; and NADA x Foreland, Catskill, among others.

sarahtortora.com

A lifesize off-white vessel with a gritty papery texture, which has a black modelled gridded armature partially exposed. The vessel is not perfectly symmetrical. It undulates in a slightly awkward way. There is a black modelled Greek key design on the exterior of the vessel at the rim which encircles the form. Inside the vessel, a variety of pastel colors are mixed with white paint to create a subtle glowing effect within.

Sarah Tortora, Yolanda, 2018, paper pulp, epoxy clay, plywood, acrylic and latex paint, 64 × 35 × 36 in. (162.56 × 88.9 × 91.44 cm)

A life-size faded, grey, stone-textured vertical stele form sits atop a subdued lime green, smooth-textured rectangular pedestal which sits flat on the floor. The stele form is subtly curved in the shape of a gravestone. There is an organic, but rectangular shaped cutout in the center of the stele form, revealing its interior as well as a mosaic of wood fragments that are framed within the shallow interior of the cutout. The wood fragments are plywood, pine, and hardboard. Some of them are treated with a green or black paint wash. The wood mosaic forms taper off inside the form and consolidate toward the base.

Sarah Tortora, Tonguetied (Mirror for the Unthought Known), 2020, wood composites, plywood, pine, gypsum cement, acrylic and latex paint, 76 × 48 × 18 in. (193.04 × 121.92 × 45.72 cm)

This sculpture sits within a 3-4 foot square, and sits flat on the floor, extending no more than 40”in height. The bottom of this form is made of concrete which has different stones, minerals, and construction debris embedded in it. There are chunks of broken asphalt, large scallop shells, fragments of fallen graffiti, and unidentifiable minerals. The concrete and stones are cast in staggering layers; some stick out 3-4” from the central base form. There are also areas where black epoxy clay or epoxy resin had been modelled or poured over areas of shallow concrete. Appearing to be wedged within the concrete base is a fragmented drywall structure, which juts upward in enclosed, angular construction. On one side of the form, the concrete base is very short, and so are the drywall fragments. Toward the center, the concrete base gains height and so does the drywall form; utilizing larger and larger pieces of drywall toward the top of the form, which is cut into a crenelated, castle-like shape.

Sarah Tortora, Acropalypse, 2020, drywall, cement, epoxy resin, acrylic & latex paint, found minerals and construction debris, 33 × 38 × 44 in. (83.82 × 96.52 × 111.76 cm)

A sculpture comprised of a 4-‘5’ tall by 1’ wide cartoonish leg, appearing to move to the left, is thickly outlined by black painted wood, with an abstract, atmospheric recessed painting within this framing. Grey and white are the dominant colors painted on the leg, with occasional wisps of blue, yellow, and copper. Atop the leg sits a tapering white rectangular form, which extends perpendicularly from the leg on a downward tilt to the right, and hovers just over a massive stone-like structure to the right of the leg. The stone structure is approximately the same height as the leg, but three feet wide. It is a warm white, and the surface is sanded to reveal patches of light blue, green, and grey underneath. Embedded within this stone structure is a very graphic black X shape made from wood, that is not symmetrical. The upper left “leg” of the X meets the top of the leg to support the white tapering form, while the opposing upper right “leg” of the X is embedded fully in the stone structure.

Sarah Tortora, Wayward Queen, 2021, plywood, wood composites, gypsum cement, resin, acrylic and latex paint, 55 × 35 × 58 in. (139.7 × 88.9 × 147.32 cm)

This 6-7’ tall sculpture is in the shape of a right angle, and is positioned in a right angled corner of an architectural space, hovering about 5” in front of the walls. It is approximately 5” thick on either side before it turns 90 degrees, opening up like a book parallel to the walls. It is a large rounded stele form, with undulating curves toward the center of the 5” wide sides, resemblant of an instrument. The majority of its surface is a white, baby blue, and graphite stone-like texture. Toward the center of the form, particularly where it folds into a right angle, are fragmented pieces of wood which are arranged like a mosaic embedded into the stone like structure. The wood is adhered in several different directions, and while the natural character of the wood is retained, some pieces are painted black, washed glue, or tinted yellow. The overall frame/footprint of the embedded wood mosaic is an extremely undulating, curvilinear, cartoonishly organic shape. This overall shape moves from incredibly bulbous French curves, to sudden vertical lines, to organ like protrutions from a central form. There is one negative space cut out from the right side of the stone-like form, a 5

Sarah Tortora, Geode, 2021, gypsum cement, plywood, pine, resin, acrylic and latex paint, 78 × 36 × 25 in. (198.12 × 91.44 × 63.5 cm)

Residents from United States

Li-Ming Hu

A messy desk with a laptop, hard drives, and duct tape made of faux fur

New Zealand, United States

Wallace Arts Trust

Studio #202

Yael Frank

$\Permanent installation of a fake coconut tree bending down from the roof along the facade of Artport Residency Building$

Israel, United States

Artis

2022

Noa Yekutieli

The Chaos in Order, 2020, manual paper-cutting, xerox prints, 138 x 138 x 95 inches

United States, Israel

Artis

Studio #219

United States, China

Current Resident: Apr 1, 2022–Apr 1, 2023

Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Alice and Lawrence Weiner, New York City Council District 34, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, Hartfield Foundation, Danna and Ed Ruscha

Ground Floor

Artist

Alchemyverse

Alchemyverse was founded in 2020 in New York City by artists Bicheng Liang (b. 1994, China) and Yixuan Shao (b. 1996, China/United States). As a duo, they construct visual and aural assemblages, working across disciplines of installation, print, sound, sculpture, and photography. Focusing on research and experimentation, their hybrid practice resonates with macro-environmental concerns and human dislocation of space, leading them to places such as Oahu and Moa Kea in Hawaii, the American Southwest, the Hudson Highlands, and the Chilean deserts.

Alchemyverse has exhibited work at Bishop Museum, Honolulu; The Catherine Fosnot Art Gallery and Center, New London; and Lenfest Center for the Arts, Columbia University, New York City, among others.

thealchemyverse.com

Events & Exhibitions

2022 Spring Open Studios

April 22–April 23, 2022

The work features collages of cyanotype photographs taken in the American Southwest, multichannel field recordings, and objects collected within the land on three suspended wooden panels.

Alchemyverse, Stir, Full of, Abounding In, 2021, cyanotypes collage, dead plant, pit-fired wild clay fragment, rocks, 8-channel specialized sound, transducers, and other mixed media, 84 × 120 × 3 in. (213.36 × 304.8 × 7.62 cm)

Left Without the Means to Move uses the ephemerality of sound and porousness of space to adapt to the viewers’ presence and creates an interactive soundscape as a constant search for balance. The materiality of the landscape slowly unfolds within and around the dome-shaped assemblage of sound recordings of making the ceramics in the wilderness, extracted soil, and pit-fired sandstone-molded sculptures.

Alchemyverse, Left Without The Means To Move, 2021, lava rocks, anodized aluminum, bone conductors, pit-fired wild clay and sound recorded within, desert soil, amplified microphones, speakers, subwoofers, and other mixed media, 204 × 204 × 180 in. (518.16 × 518.16 × 457.2 cm)

With the whole work's structure supported by salvaged rocks and plywood scraps, we explore how a construction of the fragmented brings the multitude of functionalities, identities, and meanings together, and us into proximity with such process.

Alchemyverse, Untitled, 2021-22, rocks, ceramics, bronze, dead plants, living moss, sand, films, cyanotypes, scores, 3D carved photo, turntable, trace light box, digital projectors, lamps, and other mixed media

In 2021, a record number of snowstorms blanketed the northeast regions of the US, due to rising temperature in the atmosphere which fuels the storms. At the time, we were traveling along the Hudson Valley, hiking in knee-high snow and crouching over frozen riverbank to chase aluminum sheets into the shapes of the rocks. What we thought as a simple gesture of conforming to the land was met with great resistance from the environment.

Alchemyverse, 隙/ At Intervals, 2020-21, earth and fire on aluminum sheets, 96 × 72 × 36 in. (243.84 × 182.88 × 91.44 cm)

Consisting of thirty-one cyanotype photographs and twelve-channel spatialized recordings made using salvaged materials, Bleikr explores a poetic avenue toward a non-anthropocentric scale of time --- one that expresses itself no longer in terms of hours and minutes, but in the forms in the textures, shadows, and sounds of the environment.

Alchemyverse, Bleikr, 2020, mounted cyanotypes, sounds, and transducers, 120 × 108 in. (304.8 × 274.32 cm)

Ground Floor Residents

Civan Özkanoğlu

United States, Turkey

Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Alice and Lawrence Weiner, New York City Council District 34, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, Hartfield Foundation, Danna and Ed Ruscha

Ground Floor

James Beckett

South Africa, The Netherlands, United States

Ground Floor

Joiri Minaya

United States, Dominican Republic

Ground Floor

South Korea, United States

Current Resident: Apr 1, 2022–Mar 31, 2023

Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Alice and Lawrence Weiner, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, New York City Council District 34, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, Hartfield Foundation, Danna and Ed Ruscha

Ground Floor

Artist

Kyoung eun Kang

Kyoung eun Kang’s work focuses on the small, simple everyday gestures and rituals that we tend to see as mundane, but have great significance. She captures subtle human interactions and behaviors to better understand human nature and the bonds between us–bonds that bridge time and space to connect couples, families, communities, strangers, and even the dead. Using an interdisciplinary approach, she explores geographical and cultural identity as well as universal human themes such as affection and attachment.

Kyoung eun Kang has exhibited at A.I.R. gallery, Brooklyn; The Korean Cultural Center, Washington D.C.; and Collar Works, Troy among others.

kyoungeunkang.com

Events & Exhibitions

2022 Spring Open Studios

April 22–April 23, 2022

This performance was made in the former studio of the late American painter Elizabeth Murray. Using my body as a medium through which to channel and revive Murray’s studio space, I gradually developed a choreography of actions and movements repeated as a daily ritual.

Kyoung eun Kang, TRACES: 28 Days in Elizabeth Murray’s Studio, 2020, performance photograph, kodak endura luster photo print mounted on mat-board, 20 × 30 in. (50.8 × 76.2 cm)

exhibition view at Collar Works, Troy, NY. TRACES: 28 Days in Elizabeth Murray’s Studio is a multimedia installation focused on a durational performance in response to the former studio of the late American painter Elizabeth Murray. The exhibition includes a 5 hour-long video that captures the full scope of my daily performance, a series of photographs depicting discrete choreographic gestures from the durational performance, watercolor drawings replicating marks in Murray’s studio, and displayed objects that belonged to Elizabeth Murray.

Kyoung eun Kang, TRACES: 28 Days in Elizabeth Murray’s Studio, 2020, multimedia installation, a video shown in three segments, photographs, studio objects that belonged to the late American painter Elizabeth Murray

exhibition view at NURTUREart, NY. The works are inspired by family's jokes, care packages sent by my mother from Korea and hidden family stories. Through this exhibition I create an interplay between sound and text, mystery and humor, in order to examine family relationships, separation and bonding.

Kyoung eun Kang, 1402 Seok-Dong, 2017, family poems, Korean dried anchovies, photographs, hand made ceramic sculptures, a Korean chamber pot, a sound installation and a floor installation

In “Partners,” dressed all in red, I approach strangers in Union Square Park in New York City at a very close distance, and mimic their gestures and postures without any verbal interaction. By forcing an interaction with them, I explore the fluidity between intimacy and separation, connection and isolation.

Kyoung eun Kang, Partners, 2008, video still of a performance-based single channel video, 12:58 min

exhibition view at BRIC project room, Brooklyn, NY. This three-channel installation observes the rituals of a 90-year-old couple living in Omaha, Nebraska and reveals the growing interpersonal relationship between the couple and myself. Taken over several months, I capture the subtle beauty of human encounters and cultural translation, embracing dynamic actions that resonate in the human experience, such as walking, breathing, eating and gathering.

Kyoung eun Kang, Omaha Diary I, 2016, three-channel video installation, 63min

Past Residents

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