Cassi Paguio: Currents of Elsewhere
Evercore Artist Empowerment Award 2025-26

Portal II, 2025; Oil on linen, 60 x 48 inches

Currents of Elsewhere is a solo exhibition by Cassi Paguio, presented in partnership with Evercore at their New York City offices.

Excerpt from Paguio’s artist statement:

“My work emerges from a lifelong connection to the ocean. As an artist and rescue scuba diver raised in the island nation of the Philippines, the sea has always been both backdrop and lifeline—a place of sustenance, culture, and living art. My practice centers marine life, presenting unconventional portraits of sea creatures as vibrant, vital beings rather than ominous, anonymous inhabitants of the deep.

My works reflect the perspective of a diver: immersive, intimate, and rooted in respect for the ocean as a living community. Celebrating the strange and unfamiliar through color and texture, I reframe the ocean not as a vast unknown, but as a space alive with individuality and presence.”

For inquiries, please email info@cueartfoundation.org.

About the Artist

Cassi Paguio (she/her) is a Filipina marine painter and mixed media artist based in New York City. Drawing on thirteen years of artistic practice and her experience as a rescue and research scuba diver, Paguio’s work centers on marine life, presenting vibrant portraits of sea creatures alongside immersive portrayals of shifting seascapes. Celebrating the strange and unfamiliar through vivid color and texture, she depicts the ocean not as a vast unknown, but as a living sanctuary.

Raised in the Philippines, Paguio’s lifelong connection to the sea informs her approach. Her process begins with exploration underwater, capturing subtle movements, shifts of light, and intimate encounters with sea life. In her New York City studio, these experiences become immersive works that act as windows into aquatic environments both familiar and surreal. Using oil paint and mixed media techniques, including integrated sculpture on canvases to mimic ocean floors, Paguio creates life sized and large scale works that explore materiality, movement, and memory.

Paguio has exhibited internationally since 2013, with notable shows including MvVO Art’s Ad Art Show 2024 at Outfront Media HQ and in Times Square, New York; The Mind’s Eye (2023) at Agora Gallery, New York; Finding Water (2021) at Van Der Plas Gallery, New York; and Kinship (2019) at ASPACE Gallery, Makati, Philippines. Her artwork was also published in the 101 Artbook: Nature Edition (2024). She is the recipient of the 2025 Evercore Artist Empowerment Award and was a finalist in Wild Heart Gallery’s International Ebb and Flow (2024) competition. Paguio earned her BFA in Fine Arts, graduating with honors from Parsons School of Design. Her practice continues to evolve as she explores new ways to translate the intimacy and vitality of marine ecosystems into visual experiences, creating art for anyone moved by the beauty of our coastal world.

Artwork Images

Catalogue

About the Evercore Artist Empowerment Award

The Evercore Artist Empowerment Award is an opportunity that seeks to recognize and support artists at a critical point in their careers. Each six-month engagement at Evercore’s New York City offices provides a platform for artists to present a solo exhibition of their work, and in turn creates an unparalleled opportunity for the Evercore community to experience and engage with contemporary art.

Applications for the Evercore Artist Empowerment Award are accepted via an opt-in option on CUE’s Open Call for Solo Exhibitions.

The Evercore Artist Empowerment Award is an opportunity for artists who:

  • Have not had a solo show in a commercial NYC gallery within the last five years

  • Do not have current, consistent commercial gallery representation in the United States

  • Are not currently enrolled in a degree program

  • Have a demonstrated, consistent studio practice outside an academic setting for three or more years

  • Currently live and work in the United States

Other Recent Artist Empowerment Award Recipients

Support

Programmatic support for CUE Art Foundation is provided by Evercore, Inc; The Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation; The William Talbott Hillman Foundation; and Corina Larkin & Nigel Dawn. Programs are also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Artist Empowerment Award was initiated by Corina Larkin, former Executive Director of CUE Art Foundation.