West Side Fest: Meet the Artist + Ice Cream
A day with artist Jairo Sosa, plus ice cream by Paul John / @ijsmaaker
Date: Saturday, July 12, 2025
Time: 12:00–6:00 pm
Join us in the gallery during West Side Fest to meet exhibiting artist Jairo Sosa and learn about the work in his solo show, Boomerang. Sosa was nominated for the opportunity by artist Hugh Hayden. While you’re here, cool down with a custom ice cream flavor made by artist and arts worker Paul John especially for the occasion, as part of his community project @ijsmaaker.
Ice cream is available (for free!) starting at 1 pm until we run out. Attendance is free and open to all. RSVPs are encouraged but not required.
Artist Jairo Sosa at his solo exhibition, Boomerang. Photo by Leo Ng.
About West Side Fest
CUE is a proud member of the West Side Cultural Network, which organizes West Side Fest, an annual event that brings together twenty arts and culture organizations on the west side of Manhattan for a weekend of activations and programming. This year’s festival takes place from July 11th–13th. Throughout the weekend, visitors get free admission to participating museums and cultural institutions and are invited to participate in performances, artmaking, exhibition tours, open studios, music, and more.
Learn more about West Side Fest and see the full program here.
About the Artist
Jairo Sosa is a Dominican-American multidisciplinary artist born, raised, and based in New York City. He studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He went on to complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts at The Cooper Union for the Advancement for Science and Art in New York (2017), during which he studied abroad at the Universitat de Barcelona Escuela de Bellas Artes in Barcelona, Spain (2016). He also received a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University (2023).
Sosa’s work has been presented in the solo exhibition Be True To The Game at Room 3557, Los Angeles, CA (2024), as well as several group exhibitions, including: Dark Matter at Kates-Ferri Projects, New York, NY (2023), Stand-outs: Selections from the Columbia MFA Program at Fredric Snitzer Gallery. Miami, FL (2023); 11:11 at At Peace Gallery, New York, NY (2020); and Traces at Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ (2017), among others.
About the Ice Cream Maker
Paul John (he/him) is an artist, community organizer, photographer, and educator currently working as Head of Community at NEW INC. His work is to connect people and create community via resource sharing, bookmaking, hosting events, and institution building. Paul co-founded Endless Editions and the Brooklyn Art Book Fair. Both organizations focus on creating free or low-risk opportunities in independent publishing and bookmaking by offering low-cost or free resources. Prior to NEW INC, he developed the risograph printing program at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, was the coordinator of printing and publishing at the Jan van Eyck Academie, and taught risograph printing at the School of Visual Arts. Paul is a board member at the Center for Book Arts. His future ambitions are to continue to foster noncompetitive spaces for communities to flourish via ice cream making and hosting a breakfast residency.