WORKING SPACE 06

Artists from AAI's Rotating Studio Program Fall 05 and Spring 06.

Jesse Bercowetz and Matt Bua, Amy Chan, Cat Chow, Chitra Ganesh, Linda Griggs, Rune Olsen, Nola Romano, Jenny Rogers

Curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud and Zeina Assaf

At CUCHIFRITOS art gallery/project space.

On view August 19 - September 23, 2006

Reception: Saturday September 9, 4-6pm
Open daily, Monday through Saturday 12:00 noon to 5:30pm. Closed Sundays

"All creative people are empowered by an inheritance from the past, a gift that can only be repaid by dedicating a portion of our present labors toward the future." -Created Commons, Lewis Hyde

To reaffirm our commitment to this vibrant and historically significant multicultural neighborhood, AAI sponsors the Lower East Side Rotating Studio artist residency Program with artists chosen by a panel of outside artists curators and arts professionals. The artists selected are presented here in Working Space 06.

Jesse Bercowetz and Matt Bua are artists whose work crosses disciplines, and actively engages the community. Often blurring the lines between work, play, manhood and boyhood, their process is elastic, crossing genres, and mixing materials.

Amy Chan primarily works in gouache on paper, painting landscapes specific to her experience of growing up in the suburbs of Connecticut. Conjuring from memory mixed emotions of nostalgia, desire and discomfort.

Cat Chow is a multimedia artist most recently working in Chicago. Ms. Chow's use of unconventional and common materials challenge viewers presumptions about everyday items and how they relate to issues of social context and sexual identity.

Chitra Ganesh, through use of various media, draws from Greek and Hindu mythology, 19th century portraiture and Bollywood and zine culture, to explore how memories and their repression shape moments of both personal and social crisis.

Linda Griggs, influenced by traditional Dutch Still Life style of painting, recreates stories, bizarre, funny and true. However, her subjects depicting class, race and death in rural America contain a demoralizing tone, lightened by wit and wry humor.

Rune Olsen creates sculpture of simple materials, tape, markers, newspaper and wire, replicating humans and animals. The work brings to life the tension between authority and complacency, the urge to create, and the urge to destroy.

Nola Romano uses the single character of a "girl" in each of her paintings to represent different aspects of her self. Purposely appealing, yet disturbing, the characters are used in a dangerous play on traditional notions of cuteness and femininity.

Jenny Rogers critiques the absurdity of gender categories and works across a wide variety of media including video and performance. Projects involve everything from underwater cowboy ballets to shape-shifting surrealist paintings.

This exhibit is sponsored, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and through the generous support of the following: The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The New York City Economic Development Corporation, The Puffin Foundation, the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation, and the members of the Artists Alliance Incorporated.

CUCHIFRITOS is a project of Artists Alliance Inc.