Interviews by Brainard Carey

Portrait by Zach Baker

Jessi Reaves (b.1986, Portland, Oregon) earned her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI in 2009. Her practice centers on sculptures that also operate as furniture, rupturing traditional binaries of the functional and the aesthetic.

In 2021, Reaves work was featured in two iterations of the two person exhibition Wild Life: Elizabeth Murray & Jessi Reaves at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Texas and The Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia.

Reaves’ solo exhibitions include At the well, Bridget Donahue, New York, NY (2022), Going out in Style, Herald St, London, United Kingdom (2019); Jessi Reaves II, Bridget Donahue, New York, NY (2019); Kitchen Arrangement within The Domestic Plane: New Perspectives on Tabletop Art Objects, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT (2018); android stroll, Herald St, London, United Kingdom (2017); Jessi Reaves, Bridget Donahue, New York, NY (2016); Now Showing: Jessi Reaves, Sculpture Center, Long Island City, NY

(2016). Recent group exhibitions include Slant Step Forward, Verge Center for the Arts, Sacramento (2019); Carnegie International, 57th Edition, Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, PA (2018); Ginny Casey and Jessi Reaves, Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia (2017); Whitney Biennial 2017, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (2017); Looking Back/ The 11th White Columns Annual, White Columns, NY (2017) among others. She has a forthcoming solo exhibition at The Arts Club of Chicago in 2023.

Jessi Reaves — Installation View, “At the Well”, September - November 2022, Bridget Donahue, NYC Photo by Gregory Carideo

Jessi Reaves, A sample of the truth, 2022, Wood, metal, cord, sawdust, wood glue, paper, enamel paint, 44 ½ × 42 × 45 in. (113.03 × 106.68 × 114.30 cm) Courtesy of the artist and Bridget Donahue, NYC Photo by Gregory Carideo

Jessi Reaves Warming Rails Extended (Towel Rack), 2022, Metal, hardware, sawdust, wood glue, 58 ½ × 27 × 27 in. (148.59 × 68.58 × 68.58 cm) Courtesy of the artist and Bridget Donahue, NYC Photo by Gregory Carideo

Masamitsu Shigeta (b. 1992, Tokyo, Japan) lives and works in Hoboken, NJ. Shigeta primarily paints landscapes depicting urban nature and architecture. Shigeta plays with painting conventions by shifting the medium toward sculpture, either by shaping his canvas or utilizing custom artist frames.

He holds an MFA from New York University and a BFA from the School of Visual Arts. Solo exhibitions include SITUATIONS, NYC and Tyler Park Presents, LA, who jointly represent the artist. Group exhibitions include The Landing, LA, Chinatown Soup Gallery, NY and Tutu Gallery, NY. His work has been reviewed in The Brooklyn Rail and a publication titled Dancing Plants was released for his most recent exhibition at SITUATIONS. His most recent exhibition at SITUATIONS can be found here. A copy of his book can be obtained by writing to [email protected].

Masamitsu Shigeta Red Light, 2021 Oil on canvas 48 x 36 inches

Masamitsu Shigeta Colorful city, 2022 Oil on canvas with wood frame 42.5 x 32.5 inches

Masamitsu Shigeta A thinking Tree, 2022 Oil on canvas with shaped frame 24 x 21 inches

Huidi Xiang (b. Chengdu, China) is an artist and researcher currently based in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She holds an MFA in Art from Carnegie Mellon University (2021) and a BA in Architecture and Studio Art from Rice University (2018). In her practice, Huidi makes sculptural objects, installations, and systems to examine world-making processes and the coexistence of multiple contexts and narratives in late capitalism. Her current work explores the spatial and temporal effects of inhabiting both the virtual and physical worlds.

Huidi’s works have been exhibited internationally, including OCAT Biennale at OCT Art & Design Gallery, Shenzhen, China, Lydian Stater in Long Island City, NY, LATITUDE Gallery in New York, NY, Contemporary Calgary in Calgary, Canada, Hive Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, China, and Miller ICA in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Huidi has also participated in some artist residencies, including NARS Foundation International Residency Program(2022), ACRE Residency Program(2021), the Millay Colony for the Arts (2020), and Project Row Houses Summer Studios (2016).

In the interview we discussed her show, "Neither Here Nor There" at Lydian Stater and also the Virtual Reality Gallery of "Neither Here Nor There."

The book mentioned by artist during the conversation: The Vegetarian by Han Kang.

Huidi Xiang, Playbour Objects (exhibition view at Lydian Stater Physical Gallery), 2022

Huidi Xiang, Playbour Objects (detail view), 2022

Huidi Xiang, Playbour Objects (exhibition view at Lydian Stater Virtual Reality Gallery), 2022

Julia Kunin (b. 1961) is an artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Her work explores

themes including queerness, the body, and the natural world. She earned a B.A. from

Wellesley College (Wellesley, MA) and an M.F.A. from The Mason Gross School of the Arts,

Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ). Recent solo exhibitions include Mechanical Ballet

at Kate Werble Gallery (New York, NY) in 2021 and Rainbow Dream Machine at McClain

Gallery (Houston, TX) in 2020-21. Recent group exhibitions include: Wild Chambers (two

person show with Yevgeniya Baras) at Mother Gallery (New York, NY), Cosmic Geometries,

curated by Hilma’s Ghost, at EFA Gallery (New York, NY) in 2022, Fur Cup at Underdonk

(Brooklyn, NY) in 2019, Raw Design at the Museum of Craft and Design (San Francisco, CA)

in 2018, and Said by Her at Lesley Heller Gallery (New York, NY) in 2018. Kunin was a

Fulbright Scholar to Hungary in 2013. In 2010 She received a Trust for Mutual

Understanding Grant to Hungary. In 2008 she received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant

and a residency at Art Omi. In 2007 she received the John Michael Kohler Arts/Industry

Artist Residency. Fellowships include those at The MacDowell Colony, The Marie Walsh

Sharpe Art Foundation, CEC Artslink grant to The Republic of Georgia, an Artist Residency

in Wiesbaden, Germany, Yaddo, The Millay Colony, Vermont Studio Center, The Core

Program in Houston, TX, and Skowhegan. Julia Kunin currently has a series of ceramic

lamps at Ralph Pucci International (New York, NY). In 2022 she contributed artist interviews

to Two Coats of Paint. She is also a member of the board of FIRE, The LGBTQ Fire Island

artist residency. Her work was recently acquired by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,

LACMA.

Julia Kunin Green Clock, 2015 Ceramic 12 x 9 x 2 1/2 in 30.5 x 22.9 x 6.3 cm

Julia Kunin Chambered Rainbow, 2016 Ceramic 18 x 13 x 3 1/2 in 45.7 x 33 x 8.9 cm

Julia Kunin Psychedelic Body, 2016 Ceramic 40 x 10 x 6 in 101.6 x 25.4 x 15.2 cm

Silas Inoue was born in 1981 and graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark in 2010. He currently lives and works in Copenhagen. Inoue’s work has been widely exhibited internationally; recent exhibitions include; Barbe á Papa, Musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeux, France; Night Bloom Central, Ulterior Gallery, New York, NY (2022, solo); Minimalism-Maximalism-Mechanissmmm, Art Sonje Center, Seoul, South Korea and Kunsthal Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark (2022); Naturen Taler #1, Sorø Kunstmuseum, Sorø, Denmark (2021); eat & becʘ̃me, Augustiana Kunsthal, Augustiana, Denmark (2020, solo); and Altering, Lothringer 13, Munich, Germany (2019). Many notable collections include his artwork, such as: Danish Arts Foundation, Bornholm Art Museum, Noma, and Horsens Kunstmuseum, where his first museum solo exhibition is scheduled to open in 2023.

Silas Inoue Future Friture-Turritopsis Dohrnii, 2022 Sugar, silicon and cooking oil in acrylic aquarium on concrete plinth 42 1/8 x 13 x 13 in (107 x 33 x 33 cm) Photo Credit: Jason Mandella Courtesy of Ulterior Gallery, New York

Silas Inoue Infrastructure, 2022 Acrylic cover, wood, silicon, plastic, mold, and bronze respiratory system 25 1/4 x 26 x 9 1/4 in (64.1 x 66 x 23.5 cm) Photo Credit: Jason Mandella Courtesy of Ulterior Gallery, New York

Silas Inoue Mesh, 2022 Graphite and watercolor on paper 35 x 37 5/8 in (88.9 x 95.6 cm) 41 x 44 x 2 1/2 in (104.1 x 111.8 x 6.4 cm) Framed Photo Credit: Jason Mandella Courtesy of Ulterior Gallery, New York

Jazmín López (Buenos Aires, Argentina). She is a filmmaker, a visual artist, and a professor. She graduated from the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires. She has also an MFA in Visual Arts from NYU and MFA in Visual Arts from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. She participated in the WhitneyISP program. Her work is represented by Ruth Benzacar art gallery and has been featured in venues like Fondation Pernod Ricard, San Jose Museum, OCAT, Tabacalera, Kadist, Istanbul Biennial and KW. Her films had participated in festivals like: Orizonti oficial competition Venezia Biennial, Rotterdam Film Fest, Viennale, New Directors New Films at MoMA and Lincoln Center, Centre George Pompidou and KW institute Berlin, among many other world Film Festivals and featured in Variety and New York Times.

She has taught a Master Class in École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and was part of the Jury in the 33 FID Marseille. She works as professor for NYU and as an assistant professor of Boris Groys. She worked as a full faculty professor at Universidad del cine, Buenos Aires.

The book mentioned in the interview is In Praise of Love, Book by Alain Badiou.

Gracelee has attended twenty residencies in the US and abroad and opened her second solo show in New York at Postmasters in June 2022, her third at Heroes Gallery in September 2022. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the University at Albany, SUNY. Recent exhibitions include Marinaro Gallery (New York, NY), Postmasters Gallery (New York, NY), Atlanta Contemporary (Atlanta, GA), Kavi Gupta Gallery (Chicago, IL), HEADLINE Gallery (Vancouver, Canada), and more. She has installed large-scale outdoor sculptures at the Upstate Immersive (Poughkeepsie, NY), Wave Hill (Bronx, NY), Museum of Museums (Seattle, WA), Franconia Sculpture Park (Shafer, MN), Mary Sky (Hancock, VT), and others. In 2017 she returned from 15 months as a Visiting Professor in the Multidisciplinary Department of Art at Chiang Mai University and assistant to artist Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook on a Luce Scholars Fellowship. She is a member of the collective MATERIAL GIRLS, a recipient of the 2021-22 Individual Artist DEC Grant, a 2019 Jerome Fellow at Franconia Sculpture Park, a 2016-17 Luce Scholars Fellow, a recipient of the 2015 UMLAUF Prize, 2013 Eyes Got It Prize, and the 2011-12 Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artist Grant. Press for her work includes The New Yorker, ArtNet, Hyperallergic, Artspace, Beautiful/Decay, and MAAKE Magazine, among others. She is an enthusiastic dancer, a lifelong horsewoman, and an aspiring indoor gardener.

Installation view, "Gracelee Lawrence: Marisol," Heroes Gallery, New York, 2022. From left: Marisol, Lizard Kiss, 1979; Gracelee Lawrence, Punching a Hole in the Darkness, 2022.

Installation view, "Gracelee Lawrence: Marisol," Heroes Gallery, New York, 2022. From left: Gracelee Lawrence, Just a little Fever, 2022; Marisol, Untitled III, 1979.

Installation view, "Gracelee Lawrence: Marisol," Heroes Gallery, New York, 2022.

Jeff Gibson is an Australian-born artist and occasional critic who has worked in a variety of media and contexts—photography, collage, video, prints, posters, banners, and books for galleries and public spaces. Gibson moved to New York in 1998 to work for Artforum magazine, where he has been the managing editor since 2004. Since arriving in New York, he has exhibited on the Panasonic Astrovision screen in Times Square as part of Creative Time’s “59th Minute” program and mounted solo shows at the New York Academy of Sciences, Stephan Stoyanov, and Theodore. In 2011, two of the artist’s videos were projected onto the facade of the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York, as part of a curated series presented by Light Work and the Urban Video Project.

His video Metapoetaestheticism was exhibited in the 2014 Whitney Biennial. In 2016, Gibson produced a billboard, titled Armagarden, for the I-70 Sign Show, a curated program of artworks occupying advertising sites on the Missouri interstate. Gibson’s work was also included in the “Digital Infinity” section of the 2018 Front International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art. And in June of this year, the Griffith University Art Museum in Brisbane, Australia, staged a survey show of Gibson’s art, titled “Countertypes,” featuring a selection of works spanning 1980 to the present.

Jeff Gibson, Untitled, 2022, decoupage on wood panel, 24 x 24”.

Jeff Gibson, Untitled, 2022, decoupage on wood panel, 24 x 24”.

Jeff Gibson, Untitled, 2022, decoupage on wood panel, 24 x 24”.

Vusi Beauchamp (b. 1979) studied printmaking and painting at the Tshwane University of Technology and Graphic Design at Damelin in Pretoria, South Africa.

Beauchamp's provocative iconography employs popular culture, satire and stereotypes in service of a visual political commentary. His somewhat controversial works are meant to comment on social issues, politics and current events in South Africa, though they easily relate to the dissatisfaction felt by many international communities with regards to their political and economic leaders. Beauchamp seeks to examine the South African government currently embattled within itself, the disconnect it displays with its people, and the tense social climate under years of viral threat, mired in misinformation and heightened insecurities over corruption. Predominantly a painter, Beauchamp creates his works on canvas by using various methods, including spray painting and stenciling, with mediums such as crayons, charcoal, oil sticks and acrylic paint. His works on paper similarly use a variety of materials and techniques, often incorporating multiple layers to create the final image.

Beauchamp’s most recent solo exhibitions include The Cult of One, Part II at David Krut Projects, New York (2022) and The Cult of One at David Krut Projects, Johannesburg (2022). The exhibitions are a continuum of his ongoing Paradyse of the Damned series, which has been shown at the Borderline Art Space in Iași, Romania (2019); the Johannesburg Art Gallery in Johannesburg, South Africa (2018); and the Pretoria Art Museum in Pretoria, South Africa (2015).

Winner 1.1, 2019, Mixed media on Fabriano paper, 39.4 x 27.6 in (100 x 70 cm)

Africa Bonanza, 2022, Mixed-media on canvas, 33.9 x 28.5 in (86.1 x 72.4 cm)

My People, 2022, Mixed-media on canvas 33.9 x 28.3 in (86.1 x 71.9 cm)

Lucia Buricelli is a photographer from Venice, Italy, based between New York City and Milan. In her work, Buricelli is interested in exploring everyday life in all its forms: interactions between people, animals that live in urban environments, objects that have fallen to the ground, and self-portraits. Ultimately, Buricelli is interested in documenting different aspects of urban daily life. Her clients include The New York Times, Vogue, Time, Vice, among others.

New Collectors is an art gallery that primarily features work by emerging artists. The gallery was founded on the premise that the art world is inherently difficult to penetrate, and there need to be more approachable ways for people to explore and buy artwork. The types of exhibitions have ranged widely in the gallery’s first year; there have been shows with students from the School of Visual Arts MFA program, shows curated from open calls, and even exhibitions that utilize augmented reality to display NFTs. The gallery hopes to bring light to new ways of exhibiting while continuing to foster the careers of the artists it represents.

Wild City Installation, New Collectors, October 2022

Naples, Italy (2022), inkjet print on archival paper, 31x21, edition of 5

New York City, USA (2019) inkjet print on archival paper, 13x19", edition of 10.

New York City, USA (2019), inkjet print on archival paper, 19x13,edition of 10