CULTUREfix presents a retrospective of art.les.nyc. studios’ resident artists and contributors from the past five years.

Since opening in 2005, art.les.nyc studio has been a progressive artistic force on the Lower East Side underground scene. From contemporary art installations to after-school student projects, promoting events combining performance, art, fashion, and design. art.les.nyc has striven to be a shining beacon representing the eternal independent artistic spirit of this neighborhood.

Now, after a five-year span featuring over 30 extravagant, large-sale multimedia shows, they are bidding farewell to their homestead at 202 Rivington Street due to the gentrification and uncontrollable homogenization of our beloved neighborhood of the Lower East Side.

The show will focus on the main icons of art.les.nyc, including, the Xanadu Moons Tree (created by founding artist Aaron Thompson for the HOWL Festival 2005), The World Famous Jamaican Lounge Tiki Bar (built in 2006), Twist her (created in 2006) and the festive brilliance of Candy Cane Lane (created in 2006). The retrospective will also present works by featured artists: Dianne Bowen and Heins Kim (Wire Tap, September 2008), Andrea Greco (Mothra from The Oragami that Ate NYC, August 2009), Dimtry Gubin and Sen One (collaborative painting from Mind-f-Art , August 2008), Pond Scum and John Czop (collaborative painting from Hallowseen I, October 2007) and Cornelia Jensen (Microstructures, June 2009). Plus a selection of art.les.nyc short films including performances by Jessica Delfino, Jigsaw Soul, Michelle Leona, GLOB, Trachtenburg Family Slide Show Players, Actualities, Dethrace and many more Lower Manhattan performers.

Alongside its contribution to the Lower East Side underground arts scene, art.les.nyc studios has also offered art educational services to many New York after-school programs by producing and hosting many different kids’ art projects. Through the studio’s community partnerships with Beacon Highroad Center (Grand Street Settlement), LEAP Rave after school program in the Bronx, and East Village Home School group, art.les.nyc studios gave the children the freedom to express themselves to their fullest extent by offering them large sized canvases (9 feet by 12 feet) in an urban outdoor setting nestled in the heart of the Lower East Side.

This retrospective will discuss and explain how the ever-changing continual pace of the Lower East Side affects the community, its art and its culture.

The goal: to create a living time capsule of what once was. A lasting footprint that has been transformed by history and time, the Future will be illuminated.