In many ways, Rojas' stylish sculptures were born out of her talent for looking closely. After constantly wearing her pair of Nike Air Force 1s, Rojas noticed that the shoes appeared as though they were made out of clay.
Tim Donovan, who attended art school in his early forties while helping to manage a residential rehab brain injury program, is now a Co-Owner of New York’s LAUNCH F18 art gallery located in Tribeca.
If you ask Agnes Walden about art, just as I did at her Gowanus studio in February, you will undoubtedly hear her reference “the vocab,” that is, the vocabulary of her images: its lines, its colors, its textures and shapes.
Alexandra Smith’s works call upon the viewer’s gaze by magnifying human touch and expressing cropped carnal experiences. “…proximity to the skin, fingers, and sensuality of the body summons your gaze. While these works depict specific moments, they also serve as an offering.”
Elena Redmond’s figurative oil paintings in Be A Body depict ferociously bold female protagonists that grapple with personal, biological and environmental pressures.
Diving deep into her current exhibition, Wish You Were Here, Rachael Tarravechia sat down with Marissa Graziano to discuss her latest work from the incredibly popular exhibition.
Several ornate, large-scale paintings comprise Wish You Were Here, Rachael Tarravechia’s debut New York solo exhibition.
Rachael Tarravechia sat down with Daniel Lichterwaldt to discuss her fascination with architecture, design and inspirations behind her recent series of highly detailed, and colorful paintings.
Atmosphere and narrative are essential components of Tarravechia’s practice so it’s no surprise that her travels have inspired a new, exciting body of work.
Through her warped and trippy depictions of interiors, the Brooklyn-based artist explores intimacy, privacy and the growing impact of social media.
When looking at works by Brooklyn-based artist Rachael Tarravechia, one is drawn to the contrasting qualities of both deep intimacy and the stark aloofness of the environments she recreates.
For Meena Hasan's debut solo exhibition with LAUNCH F18, Hasan engages the process of tracing the “inventory” of her South Asian American diasporic consciousness.
Born in Cali, Columbia and encouraged by her architect father and artistic grandmother Didi’s childhood was creative and she went on to study fine art at the Pratt Institute in New York.
Artist and art dealer Sam Trioli of Tribeca New York's LAUNCH F18 gallery, sits down to join Whitehot Magazine founder, Noah Becker to discuss his gallery, start as a curator, and a little art world news.
Eric and I were close when he showed with Mary Boone and I was on her team. We'd sell his paintings before they could dry, clients would call up from the studio telling us what they'd be getting before we even knew they existed.
Brooklyn-based artist B. Chehayeb’s artistic expression straddles a wide range of mediums. Her practice centres on the reconstruction of memories and is a crucial element of her work.
Bobby’s series Parasitic Capacitance is currently on view with Launch F18 Gallery in New York City, and he is the first artist to debut his NFT as part of their virtual “Viewing Room” series.
Known as the land of opportunity, America declares anybody can achieve ‘The American Dream’ and all things that come with it, the success, the wealth, social inclusion and ultimately the respect.
In her meditative color palette and form-driven paintings, Senem Oezdogan explores her canvases’ space by experimenting with colour, dimensionality and flatness.
Artist Senem Oezdogan discussed with Leila Antakly her exploration of light's transformative quality as well as the emotional response its absence and presence creates in her current exhibition, The Night Paintings.
The Night Paintings by Senem Oezdogan made Two Coats of Paint's: Two Coats Selected Gallery Guide: May 2021. Visit Two Coats of Paint to see Senem's exhibition, along with a variety of other exhibitions around New York City.
Since we have this moment to consider where our heartfelt longings might be realized or dashed, it is a useful moment to consider recent models of possibility. Launch F18, at its tenth anniversary, is an alternative model that has been offered up as a different way, a developmental model different from the established gallery path.
The title of Noah Becker’s show, “A Landing Field: Selected Paintings 2019-20,” is a compilation of skillfully constructed landscapes. Becker is highly prominent as the editor of Whitehot, the well-known contemporary art review. But he has also been an active painter for a long time, favoring open views of the outside world.
Lost in decadence, we caught up with the unconventional tastemaker Chad Bentley. Some might say Chad is American Royalty, the country club shenanigans, Penthouse living, popping a few bottles in a downtown’s member’s only club.
Andrej Dubravsky speaks to Sam Trioli about his new paintings for his current dual exhibition at LAUNCH F18, Aggressive Slav and Friendly Slav. Created from his countryside home in rural Slovakia, Andrej shares the effects on his work and life with returning to nature.
Opening in late 2020 at LAUNCH F18 (New York) was a new viewing room focusing on a new series of work by Tampa based artist, Taylor O. Thomas. With vibrant, and remarkably expressive new paintings, Taylor came out of months of quarantine with an explosively expressive energy that she carried through right into her work.
Reinventing the subjects of Old Masters, Dubravsky paints scenes of adolescent boys, idyllic landscapes, and animal portraits that express his reflective journey through adolescence in understanding the discourse of male identity and sexuality.
Terence Koh’s untitled installation at Launch F18 opened with an endurance performance on the 19th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. I sat outside the Tribeca gallery drinking a beer, waiting my turn in the very intimate, very socially distant audience.
Florida based artist Taylor O. Thomas engages gestural abstraction to explore human tendencies and the relationship between body and mind.
Andrej Dubravsky’s painting themes vary unlimitedly using techniques conveyed through gestural and figurative iconography. His paintings contain a plethora of contradictory imagery; from impressive roosters to young male figures.
For Brooklyn based artists duo Adam Frezza & Terri Chiao also known as CHIAOZZA. Art is a physical experience as much as a conceptual one.
Currently, his latest body of works Cavern Fire which consist of new work is being featured by LAUNCH F18, in partnership with ABSTRACT GALLERY. We recently had a chance to catch up with Vinuesa to talk to him about his creative process, inspiration and more.
LAUNCH F18 was founded in 2011 by Tim Donovan and Sam Trioli. Since then, the program has conducted over 55 exhibitions, showing the work of emerging, mid career as well as established artists.
Andrej Dúbravský uses the unforgiving and irreversible alla prima technique on raw canvas to produce his works. Not only the medium he uses but also the objects and subjects of some of his paintings convey atmosphere clouded in smoke, mist, mystery and vague arousal.
Clifford Prince King is a photographer who documents black gay male desire. Given that artists such as James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, and Marlon Riggs are among his canonical forebears, his approach might seem a daunting gambit for any young artist to pursue.
Abstract Magazine presents a joint interview of Sam Trioli and Roman Sviridov in which they talked with Nelo Vinuesa, learning more about his early period, and a new series of works that are presented in his online exhibition, Cavern Fire.
Gracelee Lawrence often talks about her usage of fruit as a representational placeholder for human bodies, as “image and metaphor” in relation to fertility, sex, and the consumptive language that surrounds women’s bodies in particular.
The Black Lives Matter protests across the U.S. have created reams of indelible imagery, much of it captured by Black photographers.
The six works presented in Clifford Prince King’s current exhibition, Want 2 Love U, currently on view at Launch F18, capture the tenderness and intimacy of people coming together.
New York–based gallery LAUNCH F18 is hosting a print sale with work by Clifford Prince King. All proceeds go to the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, which focuses on ensuring human rights for black transgender people.
Nathan Dilworth’s new non-figurative paintings remarkably juxtapose manifold colours and arrangements in a variety of formations.
Shara Hughes selects Nathan Dilworth as part of her favorite works from Future Fair online. Visit Artsy.com to see some of Shara's exciting and dynamic selections from the online art fair.
Nathan Dilworth discusses his current online presentation of new works at the inaugural art fair, Future Fair. Nathan's culmination of 4 years of work is showcased in this unique and rare online exhibition.
Colombia-born, Brooklyn-based artist Diana ‘Didi’ Rojas wants us to think more critically about why we buy what we buy: “Do we make purchases because we truly connect with an $800 pair of sneakers or is it solely for others to see?”
Future Fair sat down with Co-Owner and Director, Sam Trioli to discuss the history of the program, vision and driving force behind the gallery's nine years of exhibitions and programming.
Rachael Tarravechia’s works are candy-coloured kingdoms, saturated with references to fashion brands and icons of visual culture. Her work shows us an overstimulating material world that’s recognisable to those born, like the artist, in the mid 90s.
Don't fret about missing out on your gallery fix. Check out all the best art exhibitions digitally courtsey of the new Instagram account, @artofsocialdistancing, which is documenting all the shows impacted by the coronavirus, including Planted Thoughts by B.D. Graft.
Sam Trioli and Roman Sviridov decided to talk with B.D Graft about his current exhibition at LAUNCH F18, Planted Thoughts. Known for his playful and colorful compositions and designs, B.D. breaks down his creative process, insprirations and ideas behind his debut solo exhibition in New York.
Art Plugged is glad to welcome Netherlands based artist the renown B.D. Graft. He is a multi-discipline artist, focusing on working in the fields of collage and painting. B.D work places emphasis on exploring concepts of ownership and the deceptively decorative.
"I believe in art telling a story. Even if my last piece is drastically different from my first, I want it to be known how I got there." Frankie Rice had the chance to speak at legnth with artist and writer, Rafael Soldi at Strange Fire Collective to discuss his artwork, practice and inspriration he draws from working on the outer Cape Cod of Massachusetts.
Who couldn’t use a look at the bright side of life these days? Opening this Saturday, February 29 at Launch F18 gallery in Tribeca, is Planted Thoughts, a solo exhibition of new work by B.D. Graft. Presented in collaboration with Abstract Gallery, the exhibition will run through April 11, 2020, and will surely cure any wintertime blues that ail you.
The New York subway is a fashion runway. People from all walks of life show off their personalities, mostly through their all-black ensembles and sneakers. Artist Didi Rojas started paying attention to these outfits, especially the footwear, around 2016, when the hype of Air Force 1s, Converses and Stan Smiths started building up in New York City.
One of the most delightful discoveries of the fall season in New York was the debut solo exhibition of Columbian ceramicist Didi Rojas at the fantastic shoebox of a space, Launch F18. You’re Doing Amazing Sweetie, featured a selection of around two dozen of Rojas’ quickly-becoming-iconic ceramic reproductions of shoes.
Despite his apathy towards promotion, Frankie Rice is cementing himself as one of the artworld’s favourites. Conceptually-focussed as well as technically impressive, Rice transforms found-objects and stone into architectural structures.
From re-creating the Jacquemus Le Chiquito Bag (including one that’s even tinier than the original!) to sculpting everyone’s favorite Glossier products in clay, Brooklyn-based ceramic artist Didi Rojas is making art out of the most-coveted fashion and beauty items.
You’re Doing Amazing Sweetie features a curation of over 20 ceramic sculpture shoes, presented in an iconic and sculptural form. Similar to Didi’s previous bodies of work, this exhibition focuses on the delicacy and detail within her sculptures, and reveals a broader cultural context.
Consisting of medium scale sculptures in clay, Didi Roja’s new solo show visually addresses her fascination for footwear. The young artist’s perspective lies on the contemporary functions of shoes that envisage multiple aesthetic and symbolic functions.
“You’re doing amazing sweetie!” said notorious momager Kris Jenner to her most famous little dividend, Kim Kardashian, during her daughter’s 2007 photo shoot for Playboy. Kris’s croon serves as the title for Didi Rojas’s first solo show in New York, which features forty-two single shoes (right foot only!) on a low pedestal in the center of the petite gallery.
Featured in their online journal, ABSTRACT Mag includes You're Doing Amazing Sweetie by Didi Rojas. The feature profiles a selection of installation images from the exhibition and takes an indepth look at the over 40 works Rojas made for the exhibition.
It’s hard to not be beguiled by an art show entitled You’re Doing Amazing Sweetie — now on view at LAUNCH F18 F18 until October 19th — and it’s even harder to not fall in love with the whimsical, colorful ceramic shoes created by Didi Rojas for the show.
Didi Rojas’ boots are not made for walking. Neither are her sneakers, flip flops, or her Balenciaga crocs, which landed office magazine's Issue 08 cover. In fact, all of her LAUNCH F18 gallery solo exhibition creations are strictly ceramic. The Brooklyn based artist’s show titled You’re Doing Amazing Sweetie will be open through October 19 with selections of Rojas' famous footwear sculptures.
Shoes fascinate Brooklyn-based ceramic artist Diana Rojas. First using ceramics in college, she soon began to casting her favorite sneakers, heels, and boots using clay, making some life-size and some gigantic.
Colombian-born Pratt graduate Didi Rojas is making her solo debut with a curated collection of over 20 ceramic shoes: heels, flats, sneakers, the works. These zany sculptural confections locate style as both identity and form, nodding at pop progenitors like Koons and Warhol without the slick material distancing.
New York-based artist Didi Rojas aka 0h_heck is known for creating standalone sculptures of objects found within popular culture and fashion. The artist created a ceramic work entitled This could be us… (2019) that hijacks the likeness of a Converse Chuck Taylor All Star sneaker.
In their online journal, ABSTRACT Mag features Future Starts Slow at LAUNCH F18. The gallery's group exhibition featuring the work of Chiaozza, Corinne Bernard, Nathan Dilworth, Erika Mahr, Dan Perkins, Taylor O. Thomas and Rose Vickers.
Future Starts Slow artist, Rose Vickers sat down with Sam Trioli for Riot Material to discuss her work in the gallery's current exhibition as well as her practices as a writer, critic and curator.
In their Photo Stories series, Arte Fuse features several installation images from the current group exhibition at LAUNCH F18, Future Starts Slow. Curated by Christin Graham and Sam Trioli.
The echo — a sound wave returning to its source, doubling back through space and time — can be an apt metaphor for diasporic experiences and familial legacy. This metaphor is apparent throughout Other Echoes Inhabit the Garden, a small two-person exhibition of paintings, photographs, and sculptures made of paper by artists Tommy Kha and Meena Hasan.
To complement last Thursday Spotlight’s article on Meena Hasan, today, we speak wtih fellow artist Tommy Kha who, alongside Meena, is deconstructing identity through their joint show at LAUNCH F18 Gallery in Tribeca.
Meena Hasan’s newest show at LAUNCH F18 is, what she brilliantly and comically calls, a “kaleidoscopic onion.” To understand that, one must first understand her vivid works that stem from diverse compositions and series but are now in giddy and ponderous conversation with each other in one show.
Two New York-based artists, Meena Hasan and Tommy Kha, will be featured in a show at Launch F18 Gallery at 373 Broadway (at White). The show delves into the artists’ American and cultural identities and focuses on women in their families and post-colonial legacies.
Launch F18 is in Manhattan, but Tyler Lafreniere is a Greenpoint boy (except for his unending devotion to Maspeth, Queens, where he runs Mrs. Gallery with Sara Maria Salamone).
The remarkably inventive sculptor Nathaniel Robinson makes technically impressive, philosophically provocative works that play in the gap between perception and cognition — between what you see and what you understand.
Walking into the space, the audience is introduced to non-objective, mixed media pieces placed on the wall and the floor, set on cinderblocks and installed for the onlooker to interpret.
If Dilworth’s approach had to be summed up with a single word, “inclusive” might well fit the bill. Very little is discarded in his practice; almost everything that is cut away from one work finds its way into another.
Photographer and artist Jack Pierson assembled this massive roster of 19 artists from a variety of mediums and generations, all of whom are unrepresented by commercial galleries in New York.
Eric Freeman is known for painting illusory tricks of color and light. A textured grayscale surface may appear to be bumpy concrete up-close or a rippling nighttime ocean from a distance.
Like so many, photographer Matt Ducklo seems to have a complicated relationship with his hometown. He was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, and around 2010, after a decade-long stint in New York, he moved back there.
When I first saw Matt Ducklo’s photographs of Memphis at Launch F18 Gallery, I didn’t immediately connect them with my own experience of that city, which I visited over ten years ago. Although Ducklo is originally from Memphis, he had lived in New York for a long time before returning to his home town.
Featuring images by photographer Matt Ducklo, "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" presents the viewer with start black-and-white images of Memphis, a city viewers have most likely seen in color through William Eggleston's eyes.