Wendi Men: The Wind Rises
Evercore Artist Empowerment Award 2026

The Wind Rises is a solo presentation of works by Wendi Men, organized in partnership with Evercore at their New York City headquarters.

Excerpt from Men’s artist statement:

“My practice explores the vitality of life forms under duress, capturing the force and fragility of plants thriving in extreme conditions. Rather than representing nature as it is, I use abstraction to evoke its emotional complexity. On large-scale canvases, I employ a physical process, using industrial tools and my hands to inscribe movement into layered, atmospheric grounds. These erratic, gestural disruptions inject vitality against stillness, while color anchors the tension between fragility and resilience.

The work is deeply rooted in my experience as a woman and an immigrant. For me, abstraction becomes a space to reconcile contradictions: rootedness and flux, defiance and displacement. Painting inhabits the liminal space between existence and dissolution, exploring the raw beauty of survival.”

For inquiries, please email info@cueartfoundation.org.

About the Artist

Wendi Men (b. 1993) is a Brooklyn-based artist whose practice explores the vitality and internal tension of life forms under duress. Utilizing powerful, expressive mark-making, she employs abstraction to reconcile themes of displacement, energy, and feminine resilience. Men holds an MA in the History of Art and Archaeology from SOAS University of London (2021), specializing in Buddhist Art, and a BA in Painting from Edinburgh College of Art (2017).

Men’s work has been exhibited internationally. Recent exhibitions include Field Notes at O2Art Gallery (Beijing), (Sur)real at Waave Foundation (New York), and Bloom at HERCLIQUE Gallery (Mexico City). Additionally, she has been featured in numerous exhibitions with Harper's Gallery, notably Holiday, 36 Paintings, and the Felix Art Fair in Los Angeles. She was awarded the 2025 NYWAM Art Award, selected by the Waave Foundation and curator Hall W. Rockefeller.

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 the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; the Arison Arts Foundation; Evercore, Inc; ING Group; and members of CUE. 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.