Michael Fujita: Spring Forward, Closing May 25
Thomas Hunter Project Space
Thomas Hunter Building
68th Street and Lexington Avenue
New York, NY
Thomas Hunter Project Space is proud to present Spring Forward, a solo exhibition featuring new work by Michael Fujita:
“Visual instances trigger personal interest and curiosity, which serves as beginnings of pieces. Through various processes, materials, and the element of time, those visual triggers take on new meaning and identity as objects. Color plays a critical role in my work transforming the assumed identity even further to a playful offering of my perception.”
5 Questions, 5 Minutes: Artist Talk with Yasmin Ramirez
part of QUEENIE: Selected artworks by female artists from El Museo del Barrio’s Collection
Hunter East Harlem Gallery
2180 3rd Avenue
New York, NY
May 30, 6:30pm
Please join us and El Museo del Barrio for a rapid fire Q & A session: 5 Question in 5 Minutes, featuring the following artists from QUEENIE: Selected artworks by female artists from El Museo del Barrio’s Collection:
Melissa Calderón
Alessandra Expósito
iliana emilia garcia
Scherezade Garcia
Jessica Kairé
Glendalys Medina
Nitza Tufiño
Artists will answer questions from both audience members and those submitted via social media. The artist talk will be moderated by Yasmin Ramirez.
WOTY 2.3: Ojalá
Hunter East Harlem Gallery
2180 3rd Avenue
New York, NY
May 17 – June 30
Ojalá is a project by Mexican-American artists Mauricio Cortes Ortega and Maria de Los Angeles. Both artists immigrated to the United States in their early childhood and make work that deals with identity and migration. Under the current Presidency, migrants from Mexico have been singled out and targeted through verbal and legal attacks. Roughly 700,000 young immigrants have been fighting to maintain their status Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals act. The lives of this generation of citizens has been threatened recently as the current administration has fought to end DACA, resulting in deporting thousands of young people to countries where they may or may not have family, friends, or be able to continue their careers. Further, a new wall along the Mexico-United States border has been proposed as way to keep out future generations of immigrants. The wall acts as a visual manifestation of xenophobia and acts as a personification of separation.
Ojalá, which roughly translates to “hopefully” is a project that imagines the wall as a liminal space. The drawings of de Los Angeles portray migration, figures striving for a better future and hope for humanity. Cortes Ortega’s ceramic sculptures reference capirotes, a Spanish headdress dating back to the Inquisition, which in their reinterpretation reference the inevitable transformation of objects due to colonialism and immigration. The sculptures set against de Los Angeles’ drawings suggest a dialogue between the origins of contemporary issues surrounding immigration and the current ramifications of negotiating the U.S. Mexico border.
