Nobutaka Aozaki is working at the Essex Market. (Extended residency at Cuchifritos)
September 29 – October 22, 2017
Cuchifritos Gallery, 120 Essex Street NY, NY 1002 (inside Essex Street Market)
General Studio Hours: Wednesday through Sunday, 1 – 6p
(Please note that the schedule may vary and that the artist will also be present outside of this schedule)
Closing: Sunday, October 22 from 6-8p
As a culmination of his 6-month residency at Artists Alliance Inc, the former LES Studio Program artist, Nobutaka Aozaki, will continue to work on his ongoing projects, using Cuchifritos Gallery as his studio. While working, the gallery-turned-studio will be open to the public. Visitors are invited to meet with the artist and discuss his developing projects, some of which began during his residency at AAI and are inspired by the LES neighborhood.
About the proposal, Nobutaka said “The works I do demand more time and I hesitate to accelerate the process. I would like to propose an alternative idea for Cuchifritos – Instead of having an exhibition, I would like to use the gallery as a studio and continue to work. The gallery/studio is open to the public while I am at work there. This way I can continue to develop works that I like and further explore the neighborhood. Also, by being there, I can interact with general public. I am interested in Cuchifritos’ architectural character and location inside the Essex Market as my work often questions the distinction between commodity and art, and the systems and exchanges surrounding them. I hope this idea integrates well with the concept and context, the hybridity of Cuchifritos. It would be a special opportunity for me to work within the market along with the various vendors.”
Image: Nobutaka Aozaki, a page from studio book, 2017
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Nobutaka Aozaki is a New York-based artist born in Kagoshima, Japan. He brings a wry and playful approach to his multifaceted practice, often focusing on the transactional nature of both art and life in the city. His work frequently combines performance and sculpture, developing from everyday interactions with people on the street.
He completed his MFA at Hunter College in 2012. He has been awarded the Artist Files Grant from A Blade of Grass Foundation, the Artists’ Fellowship from New York Foundation for the Arts, and C12 Emerging Artist Award from Hunter College. Recent exhibitions include Transportation, ISCP, New York, Crossing Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum, New York; Queens International 2013, Queens Museum, New York; What is the Real Value of Wealth, Temple Contemporary, Philadelphia; Tina, SPIKE, Berlin; and Where Do We Migrate To?, Varmlands Museum, Karlstad, Sweden; Statements, Tokyo. He has participated in the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, the Queens Museum Studio Program, the Artist in the Marketplace (AIM) program at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Center For Book Arts workspace residency program, and LMCC Swing Space residency program. His work has been recently discussed in Spike Art Quarterly, The New York Times, The Atlantic Cities, The Huffington Post, ArtAsiaPacific, and Cabinet Magazine.
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.