Join us in the gallery on Wednesday, May 22nd from 9:00–11:00 pm for a special event to mark the closing of the solo exhibition Sometimes My Accent Slips Out by Bhen Alan. The event will include karaoke with the artist, with lyrics projected onto Alan’s large-scale work, Mother Tongue (2023).
Join us in the gallery on Saturday, March 16th for a special event to mark the closing of the solo exhibition worried notes by Keli Safia Maksud. The event will include a conversation with Maksud, exhibition mentor Abigail DeVille, and writing mentor Renee Gladman (moderated by catalogue essayist Jordan Jones), followed by a performance from improvisational bassist Brandon Lopez.
Join us in the gallery on Wednesday, December 20th for a closing reception with artist Ling-lin Ku to celebrate the final week of her solo exhibition, Insight Outsight, and to toast to the end of 2023 with CUE’s community of friends, alumni, and supporters.
Join us on Friday, October 20th for Rooted Wanderings, a special event to mark the culmination of the solo exhibition Vendah by Cornelius Tulloch. This program will begin with an exhibition walkthrough hosted by ArtNoir and led by exhibition mentor Danny Baez, followed by performances by Iyanna James-Stephenson and Coco Villa, accompanied by a sound arrangement by DJ Young Wavy Fox that creates a journey through the diasporic sounds of the Caribbean – from reggae to dancehall, dembow, hip hop, and more.
Join us in the gallery on Saturday, May 13th for a closing program for A thought is a memory, presented in partnership with the New York Arab Festival and organized by Kamelya Omayma Youssef. Participants include: George Abraham (remote participation), Bazeed, Tsohil Bhatia, Rawya El Chab, Nadia Khayrallah, Noel Maghathe, and Tenaya Nasser-Frederick.
Join us in the gallery on Saturday, March 11th for exhibition walkthroughs with artist Carolina Aranibar-Fernández to mark the closing of her first solo exhibition, Agua entre la metalurgia (Water in between metallurgy).
Artist Talk + Closing Reception:
In the Shadows by Fereidoun Ghaffari
Saturday, July 9th, 5:00 - 7:00 pm
RSVP HERE
Join us for a closing reception and talk with artist Fereidoun Ghaffari marking the conclusion of his debut solo exhibition, In the Shadows, at CUE Art Foundation. The artist will be joined by exhibition mentor and Publisher/Artistic Director of The Brooklyn Rail Phong Bui as well as visual artist and filmmaker Shoja Azari.
Years in the making, this exhibition represents the first time Ghaffari has invited a public audience to witness the outcomes of his private and solitary practice. This conversation will locate the artist’s work within a broader history of self-portraiture, and address the meaning of his longstanding process of painting himself based on sight alone, stripped bare of any markers that might suggest a particular culture, space, history, or ethics.
After the conversation, guests are invited to join us for a closing reception with light refreshments to celebrate the artist and the exhibition. Attendance is free and open to all; RSVPs are requested.
Read more about the exhibition here.
About the Participants
Fereidoun Ghaffari was born in Tehran, Iran. He studied painting at the University of Art in Tehran, earning a BFA in 1998 and an MFA in 2002. In 2003, he attended a special studies program at Konstfack, University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, Sweden. He returned to Tehran in 2004 and taught in universities there until 2006, when he moved to New York and enrolled in the New York Academy of Art, attaining his second MFA in painting in 2008. In 2013, Ghaffari had a solo show of self-portraits at the Tarahan-Azad Gallery in Tehran. His group exhibitions include EDGE (Emkan Gallery, Tehran – 2018); In Between, Contemporary Iranian Art (MANA Contemporary, Jersey City – 2017); VISAGE: Image of Self (O Gallery, Tehran – 2016); and SELF: Portraits of Artists in Their Absence (National Museum Academy of Fine Arts, New York – 2015). Ghaffari lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Phong H. Bui is an artist, writer, independent curator, and Co-Founder and Publisher/Artistic Director of the Brooklyn Rail, Rail Editions, River Rail, and Rail Curatorial Projects. He has organized more than sixty exhibitions since 2000, and has been named one of the “100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture” by Brooklyn Magazine. Bui has been a Curatorial Advisor at MoMA PS1, as well as a senior critic in the MFA programs at Yale, Columbia, and University of Pennsylvania. He has taught graduate seminars in the MFA programs for Writing and Criticism and Photography, Video, and Related Media at the School of Visual Arts. He has received numerous awards and has served as a board member of many organizations. Bui lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Shoja Azari was born in Shiraz, Iran in 1958. As a teenager, Azari experimented with short films, and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution involved himself in underground culture – literature, theater, and politics. After moving to New York in 1983, he received a Master’s degree in Psychology from New York University. In his work, Azari confronts broad themes of gender, politics, and piety, drawing inspiration from and re-interpreting religious icons. Azari’s work has been exhibited globally, with solo shows throughout Europe and North America. He has participated in exhibitions at the Venice Biennale, at museums such as Germany’s Haus der Kulturen and the MUSAC in Spain, and at art fairs including Art Basel, Switzerland, ARCO, Spain, and Art Dubai. His works are in the permanent collections of various museums and foundations, including the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in the United States, and the Farjam Collection in the UAE. He lives and works in New York.
