chashama

After eight wonderful years at 461 West 126th Street in Harlem, chashama's studio and gallery space is coming to a close at the end of October 2015. 

When chashama moved into 461 W. 126th St. in 2007 the staff did not anticipate that chashama's staying power would last for over 8 years. chashama sincerely appreciates how long the owners (The Janus Property Company) has accommodated all the studio artists, exhibitors, and visitors who have passed through the doors, given that chashama works with temporary space on a month-to-month agreement. Since 2007, chashama has maintained a strong relationship with The Janus Property Company and has programmed additional neighboring sites including 1351 Amsterdam Avenue and 443 West 127th Street.

chashama is moving out due to construction and major renovations that will begin in Fall 2015. In addition, chashama anticipates a continued partnership with The Janus Property Company to provide future space to artists. chashama continues to work hard to actively seek new and affordable spaces for artists as rents rise in New York City. Moving out of Harlem is not easy for chashama and the 14 studio artists currently there. chashama is assisting the artists in the moving process by sharing alternative resources, having Materials for the Arts collect reusable supplies and facilitating studio visits with curators before the final departure. 

The closing is mutual, and chashama will focus on celebrating the positive memories and experiences in using the Harlem space.

Visit us in September!

chashama and the NYC Economic Development Corporation invite the greater New York City area to visit chashama's largest subsidized Workspace Program located at the historic Brooklyn Army Terminal. Spread across two adjacent buildings and situated along Brooklyn's waterfront in the Sunset Park neighborhood, the studios will feature painters, sculptors, photographers, and experimental mixed media artists. For one weekend only, guests can visit over 85 studios, meet the artists, explore finished art and works-in-progress, and experience the rich history of the Brooklyn Army Terminal buildings.

In June 2015, chashama partnered with L+M Development Partners to offer free art classes for residents of Averne View in Far Rockaway, taught by artists Dean Radinovsky, Barry Rosenthal, and Danny Licul. Residents had the opportunity to interact with the artists and access the art-making process. Dean, Barry, and Danny are artists in chashama’s Workspace program. The workshops were a success, and the residents definitely want us to offer art workshops again!

In support of Earth Day on April 22, 2015,  Bank of America and chashama unveiled sculptures made of recyclables as part of Bank of America's Recycle Now campaign to educate and inspire employees to recycle more at work. The campaign includes a six-week recycling challenge and the installation of sculptures created from recyclable materials in several markets.

As part of the New York City market, Bank of America partnered with chashama to present chandelier sculptures using recyclables from the daily office waste stream. Using paper, plastic food containers and plastic bottles, two distinct chandeliers will exist: one lamp made of plastic and the other lamp made of paper. Created by chashama artist Christopher Trujillo, the pieces are meant to inspire employees to recycle more and reduce waste. Throughout the installation, the artist will be on-site with live art demonstrations, and viewers will be able to see the installation grow as more paper and plastic chandeliers are installed.

chashama also engaged 10 young members of the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem at the Frederick Douglass Academy to participate in the art-making process of the lamps. The program allows the students to create a complete chandelier sculpture to add to the growing installation.

The lamps made from paper are directed to ambitions for cleaner air and admiration for trees. The plastic chandeliers mimic crystalline luxury but house live air plants - to evoke at once the essence of convenience, and the beauty of returning materials for re-use.

Artist Spotlight: Carl Auge

Carl Auge works and lives in New York City. He holds an MFA (2005) and BFA (2003) in Painting and Drawing from California College of the Arts, San Francisco CA. Previous solo exhibitions include chashama 461 Gallery, New York NY, Rowan Morrison Gallery, Oakland CA and Santa Clara University Gallery, Santa Clara CA. Group exhibits include San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito CA, and Arts Benicia Gallery, Benicia CA. He is a recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award, a Walter and Elise Haas Fund Creative Work Fund Grant, and a Chashama Studio Award. His artworks are included in many private and public collections. Precise, measured drawing provides structure upon which abstract and representational paintings are built. A musical background conjoins a sense of place; humbling moments and banal snapshots provide the source material for calm yet tumultuous paintings. Images of contemporary reality and personal narrative collide.

Opening March 26th: Victoria Milo’s The Features We Ignore a painting collection that calls attention to the attributes of the human figure that live in the shadows. We chatted with Victoria about it:

Alex Teplitzky: Your past work has involved a lot of underground spaces--most often, subways. First of all, what are your methods for paintings these spaces (like photographing them or painting en plein air, but below ground?)? Secondly, what is your fascination with the underground?

Victoria Milo: When I see something that is visually interesting to me, I usually just snap a photo with my phone. I use the photo to reference proportions and lighting but by the end of it, the final painting hardly resembles the original image.

My last collection focused on underground subway system but I don't exclusively paint things below ground. I like to paint things that are not traditionally regarded as "beautiful". I've painted dirty wine glasses, toilets, and am extending the idea to my current collection. I am focusing on parts of the human figure that are overlooked, just like the tiles in the subway. 

A journey into tactility, the works in this exhibition engage sensuality and touch, as related to time. Non-verbal modes of communication such as body language and physical contact are explored as manifesting in painting, drawing, collage, and sculpture. Continue reading >>

Work by Seunghwui Koo on view at the upcoming exhibition of work by artists at our 441 West 37th street Studios.

Paintings by Victoria Milo. She will be exhibiting new works in an exhibition in our 266 West 37th Street space at the end of March.

chashama studio artists Elizabeth Tisdale and Leigh Ferst have collaborated on an exhibition called "Nature Walk" on view at our 266 West 37th Street gallery. The title of the exhibition sums up what ties the two artists' work together, but stroll into the gallery and ask Elizabeth about her sculptures, and you'll find yourself transported on 10 nature walks at once. The picture at top shows a sculpture with various detritus Elizabeth picked up on trips with her daughter: coral from Costa Rica, wooden beam from an old church, Spanish moss from Monroe, New York. The sculpture is pulled together by a set of chimera creatures hand cast by the artist. The face, Elizabeth tells us, is modeled on the actor Sandra Oh's, known for her work in Grey's Anatomy. As Elizabeth tells you stories about each element of the sculpture--how, for instance, she and her daughter saw a phosphorescent tide in Ashbury Park the night Obama was elected--you will find yourself easily transported from midtown Manhattan. The pieces in the exhibition are fixed sculptures, but to view them and talk about them with the artists is a performance in and of itself. 

Steve Zolin - Nothing Is Specific But Everything Is Clear, 2014

One of their friends, who they described as 6 feet tall and darker-skinned, was stopped. “It was a pretty traumatizing experience for him,” Ben said. “Anytime he walks by police he says he has this constant fear about what if they stop him, what’s going to happen.” The twins’ father, Peter said, said he’s had his own conversations with his sons. “Be polite, never run, no sudden movements, hands out in front all the time — all those things,” he said. Peter Francis said that although he is black, he was born in the United Kingdom and never thought he would need to have that particular talk.