This Longing Vessel: The Studio Museum Artists in Residence 2019–20
NEW YORK, NY, December 8, 2020— On December 10, The Studio Museum in Harlem’s annual Artist-in-Residence exhibition will open at MoMA PS1, moving this presentation outside the Studio Museum’s walls for the second time as part of a multiyear partnership with the Museum of Modern Art and PS1. This Longing Vessel will feature new work by the 2019–20 cohort of the Studio Museum’s signature residency program—artists E. Jane (b. 1990, Bethesda, MD), Naudline Pierre (b. 1989, Leominster, MA), and Elliot Reed (b. 1992, Milwaukee, WI)—whose artistic practices span new media, performance, and painting. With a title that suggests radical intimacy, a vessel to hold and to be held by, this exhibition presents the intersection between queerness and Blackness as a waypoint to yearn from, reach toward, and leap beyond. This Longing Vessel complicates and excites conventional ways of seeing, seeking new language for the building of extraordinary futures.
Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of the Studio Museum, said, “E. Jane, Naudline Pierre, and Elliot Reed participated in The Studio Museum in Harlem’s defining Artists-in-Residence program during an unprecedented year, when the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated physical separation in what has always been a deeply communal experience between each cohort. With stunning creativity, these three artists responded to the pandemic’s challenge—one that is by now familiar to all of us—with an exhibition that addresses this moment in time through a moving exploration of intimacy within the spectrum of Black experience.”
Kate Fowle, Director of MoMA PS1, added, “It has been a privilege to have the opportunity to engage with these artists as they worked through unprecedented challenges to arrive at what can only be described as a masterful exhibition. This year, our collaboration with The Studio Museum in Harlem was also further enriched through the artists using PS1’s project rooms in preparation for the show. To have artists at work in the building is truly part of PS1’s DNA.”
Legacy Russell, Associate Curator, Exhibitions at the Studio Museum, writes in the exhibition’s curatorial essay, “[L]onging is a rococo gesture. In longing, we reach with a flourish. There is drama, remix, style, suspense. It is every “O” that traverses the lines of James Joyce’s Ulysses or Dante’s The Divine Comedy. It is Toni Braxton’s lyrics, “Oo, I get so high / When I’m around you baby.” Longing is an O and Oo: it is known for the holes it makes in us, and famous for the things (within, without) it makes us see. Artists E. Jane, Naudline Pierre, and Elliot Reed in sharing this space, puncture it...holes they make, and holes they fill with desire.”
Each artist presents an immersive installation as a gesture of radical intimacy, in exploration of Black desire, idolatry, spirituality, and the body politic. Naudline Pierre’s vibrant paintings expand on a fictional world driven by an avatar of herself, through which she imagines a more expansive possibility for Black life. E. Jane utilizes video, photography, and ephemera to pay homage to the Black diva, creating a space to celebrate and complicate our relationship to Black femmehood. Elliot Reed’s video and sculptural work challenges the sensationalism and fetishization of Black queer bodies, actively troubling the field of performance and the questions of power proposed therein.
This Longing Vessel is organized by Legacy Russell, Associate Curator, Exhibitions, The Studio Museum in Harlem; with Yelena Keller, Curatorial Assistant, Exhibitions, The Studio Museum in Harlem; and Josephine Graf, Assistant Curator, MoMA PS1. Exhibition research is provided by Makayla Bailey and Angelique Rosales Salgado, The Studio Museum in Harlem and MoMA Curatorial Fellows, and Elana Bridges, Mellon Curatorial Fellow.
Support for This Longing Vessel: Studio Museum Artists in Residence 2019–20 is provided to The Studio Museum in Harlem by the Open Society Foundations. MoMA PS1 support for the exhibition is provided by the Tom Slaughter Exhibition Fund, the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, and the MoMA PS1 Annual Exhibition Fund.
The Artist-in-Residence program is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts; Rockefeller Brothers Fund; the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation; New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; Kiki Smith; the Jerome Foundation; the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation; and by endowments established by the Andrea Frank Foundation; the Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Trust; and Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Digital programs have been made possible thanks to support provided by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation’s Frankenthaler Digital Initiative and Art Bridges. Additional support is provided by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and contributors to the Studio Museum’s Exhibition Fund.
Upcoming Artist in Residence Events
Live Event: Artist in Residence 2019–20 Roundtable
On December 7th, at 7:00 pm, the Studio Museum and MoMA PS1 presented a live-streamed online discussion with E. Jane, Naudline Pierre, and Elliot Reed, moderated by Legacy Russell, with introductory remarks by Thelma Golden and closing remarks by Kate Fowle. The conversation was recorded and will be available to view on both institutions’ websites.
Studio Live: Artist-in-Residence Series
Join us for a special week of Studio LIVE programming celebrating the 2019–20 Artists in Residence! Meet us on Instagram to hear E. Jane, Naudline Pierre, and Elliot Reed discuss their practice and works exhibited in This Longing Vessel: Studio Museum Artists in Residence 2019–20, opening on Thursday, December 10, 2020, at MoMA PS1.
Tuesday, December 15, 1:00–2:00 pm
Wednesday, December 16, 1:00–1:30 pm
Thursday, December 17, 1:00–1:30 pm
Studio Screen: Elliot Reed's New Videos (2020–21)
Tuesday, January 26, 6:00 pm
Live on Zoom
In Conversation: E. Jane, Ja'Tovia Gary, and Jessica Lynne
March 2021
Live on YouTube
ABOUT THE ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM
The Studio Museum’s iconic Artist-in-Residence program gives emerging (and now midcareer) artists of African and/or Latin American descent an unparalleled opportunity to develop their practice in an eleven-month residency, and offers audiences the chance to view this work in annual exhibitions. Alumni of the program, who now number nearly 150, include some of today’s most significant and innovative artists, including Njideka Akunyili Crosby, David Hammons, Titus Kaphar, Simone Leigh, Kerry James Marshall, Julie Mehretu, Wangechi Mutu, Mickalene Thomas, and Kehinde Wiley.
Artists in residence for 2020–21 are Widline Cadet, Genesis Jerez, and Texas Isaiah, with Jacolby Satterwhite joining as the program’s mid-career participant.
ABOUT THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM
Founded in 1968 by a diverse group of artists, community activists, and philanthropists, The Studio Museum in Harlem is internationally known for its catalytic role in promoting the work of artists of African descent. As it celebrates its 50th anniversary, the Studio Museum is preparing to construct a new home at its longtime location on Manhattan’s West 125th Street, designed by Adjaye Associates in collaboration with Cooper Robertson. The first building created expressly for the institution’s program will enable the Studio Museum to better serve a growing and diverse audience, provide additional educational opportunities for people of all ages, expand its program of world-renowned exhibitions, effectively display its singular collection and strengthen its trailblazing Artist-in-Residence program.
While the Studio Museum is currently closed for construction, the Museum has opened Studio Museum 127, a temporary programming space located at 429 West 127th Street, and is working to deepen its roots in its neighborhood through inHarlem, a dynamic set of collaborative programs. The Museum’s groundbreaking exhibitions, thought-provoking conversations, and engaging art-making workshops continue at a variety of partner and satellite locations in Harlem and beyond.
ABOUT MoMA PS1
MoMA PS1 champions how art and artists operate at the intersection of the social, cultural, and political issues of their time. Providing audiences with the agency to ask questions, access to knowledge, and a forum for public debate, PS1 has offered insight into artists’ diverse worldviews for more than 40 years. Founded in 1976 by Alanna Heiss, the institution was a defining force in the alternative space movement in New York City, transforming a nineteenth-century public schoolhouse in Long Island City into a site for artistic experimentation and creative expression. PS1 has been a member of New York City’s Cultural Institutions Group (CIG) since 1982, and affiliated with The Museum of Modern Art since 2000.
Hours: MoMA PS1 is open from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Thursday through Monday, and until 8 p.m. on Saturdays. Closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.
Admission: $10 suggested donation; $5 for students and senior citizens; free for New York City residents, MoMA members, and MoMA admission ticket holders within 14 days of visit. Free admission for NYC residents is made possible by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.
Visitor Guide: Discover even more from PS1 with the Bloomberg Connects app. Read wall text, hear directly from artists, and uncover the building’s history with this multimedia visitor guide. This digital experience is made possible through the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Directions: MoMA PS1 is located at 22-25 Jackson Avenue at 46th Ave in Long Island City, Queens, across the Queensboro Bridge from midtown Manhattan. Traveling by subway, take the E, M, or 7 to Court Sq; or the G to Court Sq or 21 St-Van Alst. By bus, take the Q67 to Jackson and 46th Ave or the B62 to 46th Ave.
Press Contacts
The Studio Museum in Harlem: Amanda Thomas, (214) 517-1677 or [email protected]
MoMA PS1: Molly Kurzius (718) 392-6447 or [email protected]
Full Press Release