Around Here
We The Cool Studio
42 West St.
Greenpoint, Brooklyn,
June 17-July 1, 2026
Perhaps it is Greenpoint’s industrial architecture, its proximity to the East River, or the creative energy that continues to pulse through the neighborhood, yet what ultimately emerges is a desire for connection—with people, artists, and the local community. Curated by Blayne Pearce Planit, Around Here brings together sixteen artists based in the area, transforming We The Cool Studio into a place where individual practices converge through material experimentation and exchange. The exhibition suggests that art-making is not only shaped by the neighborhood but also actively shapes it, with its creative identity emerging through relationships, exploration, and the everyday act of making.
Near the entrance of the gallery is Alex Maceda’s My Empty Womb Is Full of Paintings. Centered on the image of a germinating plant unfolding between day and night, the painting invites a more contemplative way of looking. A single sinuous blue line appears to trace the main form, drawing my eye across the composition and revealing new layers each time my gaze returns to it. The work asks for time. The longer I looked, the more I felt suspended between the painting and the exhibition space. What lingers is its elusive quality, as though the image were dissolving at the edges, never fully settling into form.
Walking through the exhibition, the space feels less like a conventional gallery than a working studio open to the public. Paintings, sculptures, and lamps by Nicholas Baker and Jack Taylor Platner, along with Daniel Michalik’s cork Cortiça Chaise Longue, coexist without hierarchy, creating an atmosphere that feels intimate yet constantly shifting. Large street-facing windows fill the gallery with natural light, inviting passersby inside and blurring the boundary between the exhibition and the street. A particularly striking detail was Michalik’s Praise of New Forests plant sculpture in the front window, which functions almost like an invitation, extending the exhibition outward before visitors even step inside.
Standing at the center of the gallery, SiSi Chen’s Guardian Lions II anchors the exhibition. The sculpture invites viewers to move around it, revealing details such as organic forms intertwined with animal imagery. From almost every corner of the room, the eye returns to it before moving outward again toward the surrounding paintings, lamps, and sculptural objects, creating a visual balance, where each work retains its own presence.
Founded by Mexican creative Amor Díaz, We The Cool Studio has developed a flexible platform for exhibitions, fashion, music, design, and community programming. The space adapts to the needs of each project, fostering encounters among artists, curators, and creatives. Through its sister PR agency, Projet Moné—founded by Amor Díaz and Georgina Villa—the platform extends this work beyond space, supporting artists, designers, curators, and cultural projects through strategic communications, partnerships, and collaborations.
Artists featured in the exhibition: Alex Maceda, Blayne Pearce Planit, Dana Otto, Daniel Michalik, Fernanda Uribe, Guillaume Bresson, Helena Elston, Jack Platner, Jocelyn Tsaih, Johnny Germanos, Nicholas Baker, Nicole James, Pol Morton, Roxana Hartmann, SiSi Chen, and Ted McGrath.