Emerging from the East Broadway F subway station into a blustery, dark October evening, I lowered my head against the wind and turned towards the East River on East Broadway. It’s a long walk to Abrons Arts Center—plenty of time to take in your surroundings. Illuminated by neon lights, a young couple bickered on the sidewalk. Adults held children’s hands to cross the street. At the end of my path is an exhibition fittingly titled Long walk from the F train, which Abrons is hosting.
This new group show curated by Camila Palomino and Joshua Lubin-Levy showcases work from alumni of Abrons’ Visual Artist AIRspace Residency. Beginning in 1980 with the program’s first cohort all the way up to the present day, Long walk from the F train synthesizes artwork from 13 artists, including a duo, to honor the influence of Abrons’ physical space as well as that of the surrounding neighborhood on their practices. Emerging from an amalgamation of mediums—sculptures, collages, photographs, paintings, video installations, and even human hair—as well as archival material documenting the artists’ residencies, the exhibition is a physical manifestation of being an artist in residence at Abrons. Pieces come together to build a collective memory of the residency, recognizing remembering as a group activity. In doing so, the exhibition beckons people out of their individualism and encourages them to witness the world.
The act of witnessing is emphasized in Grand Street Window Typology, 2017, and 1975/2017, 2017. In the two pieces, artist Alan Ruiz interprets how Abrons’ storefront windows function in the building. Windows bring the outside in, inviting passersby to observe the art exhibited on the indoor walls. While Grand Street Window Typology catalogs window types, 1975/2017 engages Abrons’ architect, Lo-Yi Chan, in a conversation about his design of the building’s iconic exterior, examining how the structure functions within public and artistic life. Alongside Ruiz’s works, two photographs are juxtaposed: one from 1989 of the art collective Gran Fury’s “All people with AIDS are innocent” banner hung across Grand Street and the other a 2016 photo looking out the Grand Street windows of Ruiz’s site-specific work Organizational Transparency. This work by Ruiz turns a window into a reflective surface, literally mirroring public life.
Like Ruiz, Oji Haynes breaks down barriers between the indoors and outdoors—though more literally. Haynes’ Scriptures, 2024, is a rich, mixed-media assemblage of found objects mounted on a vertical sofa foraged from the curb near Abrons. The careful arrangement of CDs, dollar bills, and crumpled cans mounted on cushions that open like a book conveys a reverence for the mundane. In using a salvaged sofa from the neighborhood, Haynes draws inspiration and material itself from the Lower East Side. Both Ruiz and Haynes’ pieces—and indeed the other 11 artists’ works—facilitate the idea of art as interpretive of public life, specifically that of Abrons and its community.
Though the exhibition could be construed as a motley assortment of artworks pieced together by happenstance, the thread tying all the pieces and the artists themselves together is how their time in residency at Abrons shaped their processes. Art does not exist in a bubble. Art and the artists that make it are directly influenced by the spaces—whether that’s physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual—where they exist. So what is it like to be in residence at Abrons? It’s a deeply communal experience rooted in the surrounding built environment and creative legacy. Long walk from the F train tells a story of the collective artist in residence at Abrons, situating it within a lineage and transcending generations. Rather than simply illustrating a timeline to chronicle history, the exhibition activates the past and invites viewers to lean into their own walk from the subway.
Featured artists include Willie Birch (1980-1981), Baseera Khan (2016-2017), Girl (Chitra Ganesh, 2002-2003 + Simone Leigh, 2005-2006), Oji Haynes (2023-2024), Yoko Inoue (2000-2002), William Jung (1980-87), Emily Manwaring (2022-2023), Alan Ruiz (2016-2017), Juan Sánchez (1980-1987), Tuesday Smillie (2018-2019), Ho Tam (1998-1999), Mary Ting (1986-1987), and Lynne Yamamoto (1995-1996).
Curated by Curatorial AIRspace Residency Alumni Joshua Lubin-Levy and Camila Palomino.
Long walk from the F train is on view at Abrons Arts Center until Jan. 5.
