Part three of the 5-part Workspace ’19 exhibition series, featuring new work by residents of AAI’s LES Studio Program
A Black Woman’s Art Show and… A White Man’s Exhibitionwill run from March 8–March 17, 2019, at Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space. The exhibitions will be staged in two sessions: March 8 through March 10, A Black Woman’s Show and March 13-17 A White Man’s Exhibition. Performances will take place on Friday, March 8 at 7p and Sunday, March 17 at 4p. Additional events include a Black Brunch Artist Talk on March 10 from 3-5p and UnSafe Panel Discussion on March 15 from 7-8p.
Through these two exhibitions, 2018 AAI resident, Ayana Evans, will use performance, audience engagement, photography, monotype prints, wallpapers, and video to ask, “what happens if a Black artist doesn’t have to selltheir Blackness?” Specifically, the exhibitions consider the artist’s experience as a Black femme performance artist, often being expected to explain topics of race, gender, and visibility, while subjects of color theory and abstraction presented in the work are often overlooked or ignored and how this often results in differential treatment for the two categories of artists.
Performative public programming and installation of works will push given expectations of both the Black Woman Artist and the White Male Artist. By pointing to and reaching for the freedoms of a white man, Evans asks the same consideration that is extended to a cis white male counterpart be extended to her.
Public Programs
Friday, March 8 at 7p
Opening Reception & Performance
Sunday, March 10 from 3-5p
Black Brunch Artist Talk
Friday, March 15 from 7-8p
UnSafe Panel Discussion
Sunday, March 17 at 4p
Closing Reception & Performance
Ayana Evans received her MFA in painting from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University and her BA in Visual Arts from Brown University. She has attended the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture and the Vermont Studio Center. In 2015 she received the Jerome Foundation’s Theater and Travel & Study Grant for artistic research abroad. Residencies include El Museo Del Barrio, New York City (2016), Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia (2017). Evans has also performed at FAIP, an international performance festival in Martinique, as well as Ghana’s Chale Wote festival (2017). Her on-going performances/public interventions include: “Operation Catsuit” and “I Just Came Here to Find a Husband.” She has curated and co-curated performance art shows throughout the U.S and has worked in arts education for a decade. Evans is based in NYC.
Artists Alliance Inc. is 501c3 not for profit organization located on the Lower East Side of New York City within the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center. Cuchifritos Gallery and the LES Studio Program are supported in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Cuchifritos Gallery programming is made possible by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts. We thank the New York City Economic Development Corporation and individual supporters of Artists Alliance Inc for their continued support. Special thanks go to our team of dedicated volunteers and interns, without whom this program would not be possible.