Maia Cruz Palileo’s paintings explore migration, assimilation and absence using imagery that is familiar yet haunted. Her paintings of interiors and objects imply a human presence, but withhold evidence of identity. Other paintings include figures- members of her family painted from a mixture of memory and photographs. In these images, the surrounding environment becomes an important marker of meaning. The trees, dense and dark, are symbols of the unknown homeland. Palileo’s work is informed by the oral and pictorial history of her family’s departure from the Philippines and arrival in America in search of a better life. As a child of immigrants, much about her parent’s home country is unknown to her. In this way, the paintings confront the disconnect between memories, stories, imagination and experiences.
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Maia Cruz Palileo is a multi-disciplinary artist. She received a BA in Studio Art from Mount Holyoke College and an MFA in Sculpture from Brooklyn College, CUNY. Among her group exhibitions are those at ArtGate Gallery, Aljira, Bronx River Art Center, CUE Art Foundation, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, International Studio & Curatorial Program, and Wave Hill. Her work has been featured in Contemporary Art Philippines. She is a recipient of the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist Grant, the Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant, and the Astraea Visual Arts Fund Award. Maia has been a resident at the Millay Colony for the Arts and NARS Foundation. She is currently a studio resident at Chashama’s Workspace Program at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Most recently, Maia was awarded the Keyholder Residency at the Lower East Side Print Shop and was selected as a Fellow in Visual Arts with the Queer/Art/Mentorship Program for the 2014-15 cycle. She has taught at Brooklyn College, CUNY, Rutgers University, Newark, The Laundromat Project, and Smack Mellon. Maia currently teaches painting and sculpture with the Joan Mitchell Foundation.
Jordan Buschur is an artist, educator and curator. She received an MFA from Brooklyn College, the City University of New York. Her work has been shown internationally, including exhibitions with Thierry Goldberg Gallery, Vox Populi, and The Toledo Museum of Art. She was a community teaching resident at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts and completed residencies at Chashama North, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts and the Vermont Studio Center. Buschur is the Director of the Eisentrager-Howard Gallery at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
Cuchifritos is FREE to the public and handicap accessible. Located inside Essex Street Market at the south end nearest Delancey.
Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space is a program of Artists Alliance Inc., a 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 is supported in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. This program is made possible by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. We thank the following for their generous support: Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York City Economic Development Corporation and individual supporters of Artists Alliance Inc. Special thanks go to our team of dedicated volunteers, without whom this program would not be possible.