GALLERY CUBED presents NEA: NETWORK OF EXTRAORDINARY ARTISTS

HEHG has invited GALLERY CUBED by Nathan Sinai Rayman to take up residence in Hunter East Harlem Gallery’s project space.

GALLERY CUBED (GC) is a portable pop-up, a 4 x 8 foot gallery in a box. The franchise kit includes hidden electrical power, easily replaceable parts, and manageable, stackable, flat-pack, space-saving, interlocking panels that are easy to assemble. Anyone can put together the pieces to make a sturdy, load-bearing exhibition space appear out of thin air. GC’s mission is to empower communities and artists through the transformative power of a sustainable art experience. More art for more people for less money.

Inside of the walls of GALLERY CUBED, Nathan Rayman presents his artistic project, NEA: Network of Extraordinary Artists. The NEA supports international artists applying for the O-1 US Visa or Green Card by offering them opportunities to fulfill specific requirements—exhibitions, publications, panel participation, etc.—that prove their “extraordinariness” to immigration authorities. Like HEHG’s exhibition, The Extraordinary, the NEA is populated through an open call put out by GALLERY CUBED and selected by a jury of established arts workers.

The NEA will present a series of six solo exhibitions beginning on October 16, 2019 and rotating through March, 2020. The NEA began in 2019 and serves as an inclusive, generative network at a time when the US’s original NEA (the National Endowment for the Arts) is at risk of being dismantled and money is more often channelled through the secondary art market. In this environment of dwindling support and funding for art production, the NEA calls into question the metrics used to obtain the status of an “extraordinary” or “successful” artist. How is this lofty goal made even more difficult for non-residents? How can we re-imagine existing structures so that they might yield a more inclusive dividend of success rather than creating competition, scarcity, and rejection?

Selected NEA Artists:

Andy Van Dinh, Canada October 16 - November 8, 2019

Yen Yen Chou, Taiwan November 13 - December 4, 2019

Tutu Gallery (April Zhu) x Xingze Li, China December 7 - December 28, 2019

Jeffrey Meris, Bahamas January 3 - January 25, 2020

Gil Arnaud Ngolé, Republic of Congo January 29 - February 18, 2020

Lisa McCleary, Australia + Ireland February 22 - March 13, 2020

NEA Jury:

✦ Heather Bhandari, Curator at The Remix NYC and Program Director of Art World Conference

✦ Gabriel de Guzman, Curator & Director at Smack Mellon

✦ Gee Wesley, Independent Curator

GALLERY CUBED NEA: Network of Extraordinary Artists is a program of the exhibition, The Extraordinary. Support for this exhibition is generously provided by Nathan Sinai Rayman, The American Chai Trust, Hunter College, and the artists. Special thanks for the DUMBO Business Improvement District for loaning their GALLERY CUBED.