Contents for January 19th, 2026
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Dominic McGill, FF Alumn, In Memoriam
Weekly Spotlight: Luis Eduardo, FF FUND Recipient 2025-26, at Danspace Project, New York, 7:30PM onwards on Jan. 30th
1. Joyce Yu Jean Lee, FF Alumn, at Fulton Transit Center, Manhattan, thru March
2. Coco Fusco, FF Alumn, now online at ImpulseMagazine.com
3. Mendi + Keith Obadike, FF Alumns, receive 2026 United States Artists Fellowship
4. Analia Segal, FF Alumn, named 2026 Joan Mitchell Center Artist-in-Residence
5. Agnes Denes, FF Alumn, at Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
6. Linda Mary Montano & Paul McMahon, FF Alumns, at Artists Space, Manhattan, Feb. 14
7. Adrianne Wortzel, FF Alumn, at Earth Gallery, Manhattan, Jan. 21
8. Richard Kostelanetz, FF Alumn, at Kosti’s Last Sunday Bookstore, Ridgewood, Queens, Jan,. 25
9. Morgan O’Hara, FF Alumn, at Studio La Linea Verticale, Bologna, Italy, Jan. 30-Mar. 7
10. Agnes Denes, FF Alumn, at AIUla Saudi Arabia, thru Feb. 28
11. John Held Jr., FF Alumn, new publication
12. Benoît Maubrey, FF Alumn, at Le Mans Sonore Festival, France, thru Jan. 25
13. Babs Reingold, FF Alumn, live online at Artists Talk on Art, Jan. 26
14. Mark Russell, FF Alumn, now online at NYTimes.com
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Dominic McGill, FF Alumn, In Memoriam
II just found out that Dominic McGill, a dear artist friend, passed on January 12. I first encountered Dominic and his collaborator, David Brown, when I worked at the Franklin Furnace in the early ‘90s when they received a FF Performance Art award. Their project was titled Red Carpet Rollers, and they would arrive not just at art openings, but subversively, at political events dressed in tuxedos while unraveling their red carpet for elites to walk on, but nobody would show up. People would be waiting for someone to arrive, including one time outside of Trump Tower. I finally got to work with Dominic in November of 2000 at the Chelsea Inn Hotel Our most recent project was Hell is Empty and All the Devils are Here (2024) . The 2000 show was titled The Parallax Hotel, and the other artists exhibited were Bik Van der Pol, Stuart Croft (RIP), Javier Téllez, and Teresa Serrano. Dominic was one of the most imaginative artists I have worked with; the hotel project was documentation of him dressing up in different characters, filming public responses to him in a hidden camera that he carried in a box, clothes, or suitcase, as he would take the train from DUMBO to Central Park, where portrait artists would eventually draw him in character. He said the most difficult persona was when he dressed up as a very overweight person, and everyone he encountered body shamed him. Other characters included a priest, a baseball fan, a tourist, a Fedex employee, an art collector, a drunk; Dominic’s participation in the hotel exhibition consisted of 50 portraits of 50 different characters, plus the videos he made. His presentation was so over-the-top and larger-than-life. His day job was as a creator of special effects for plays, movies, and commercials. That’s where his incredible craft came from that made its way into his art, truly one of a kind. He also made incredible detailed graphite drawings that included collaged as well as sculptural elements. He was also part of Paris 68 Redux, an artist/activist group he worked under based in the UK, where he was from. These incredible posters referenced some of the agitprop of the student riots of May 68, hence the collective’s name, but also definitely influenced by the Guerrilla Girls, among others. He would generously send posters at his own cost, around the world where they were used in protests and demonstrations. He lived in DUMBO in the late 80s, and early 90s when that area was gnarly, especially when the sun went down. When he finally moved back to the UK post 9-11, I would always visit him in England where he lived in Brighton with his wife and daughters. The “Portrait Project” referred to above, he explains below in his own words:
“Some of the portraits drawn by Chinese #portraitartists in #centralpark #nyc there are 50 in total last image is an installation shot with hidden camera footage shown at #hotelchelsea #hourly rates available curated by @_raulzamudio in 2000 video monitors installed in suitcases in the hotel room showed hidden camera footage of the subway ride to Central Park #art #portraitproject #installationart #performanceart #portraiture #drawing #costume #identity”
RIP amigo; you’ll be so missed and never forgotten…..
Raul Zamudio
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Weekly Spotlight: Luis Eduardo, FF FUND Recipient 2025-26, at Danspace Project, New York, 7:30PM onwards on Jan. 30th
Upcoming FUND Performance: Luis Eduardo (FUND 2025-26) @luiseduardogg
“WAR CRY”
Friday, January 30th, 2026. 7:30PM. Doors open at 6:45PM.
Danspace Project, 131 E 10th St. New York, NY.
$20 cash at the door.
Project description:
WAR CRY uses elaborate costumes, movement, and technology to delve into themes of detention, ancestral wisdom, and unity in three acts.
Drawing from sacrifice rituals, Mexican folklore, and contemporary techniques, the work tells the story of Pardo, a migratory bird who returns to his ancestral homeland, his sequester and subsequent exile.
Through ritualistic acts—chopping red prickly pear and drinking spring water— Pardo will perform a powerful land reclamation ritual.
WAR CRY is an immersive performance that inspires hope, encourages audience participation, and reflects on the immigrant experience through performance art.
Artist bio:
Luis Eduardo is a choreographer whose work explores storytelling through movement, sound, and design. He has presented choreography at Tulsa Ballet and Exchange Choreography Festival, and has produced immersive, evening-length performances including La Muerte del Ego and Force x Distance. These works combine dance, visual elements, and audience interaction to create emotionally resonant experiences.
Rooted in a belief that performance can be both therapeutic and transformative, Luis uses dance to process and share the complexities of the human experience. He views the stage as a space for healing, connection, and dialogue—both for performers and audiences alike.
Luis is preparing for his New York debut by expanding into costume making, music production, and new choreographic work. His creative process blends intuitive exploration with technical precision, resulting in work that is both visceral and reflective. Whether producing independent work or collaborating across disciplines, Luis is committed to creating art that is accessible, meaningful, and deeply human. youtube.com/@luiseduardogg
Credit:
This work was made possible, in part, by the Franklin Furnace FUND 2025-26, supported by Jerome Foundation and the members and friends of Franklin Furnace Archive.
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Llanto De Guerra utiliza vestuarios extravagantes, danza y tecnología para enfrentar temas de detención, sabiduría ancestral y el poder en la unidad.
Inspirada en rituales de sacrificio, folclore Mexicano y técnicas de baile contemporáneo, la obra narra la historia de Pardo, una ave migratoria que regresa a su tierra ancestral, su secuestro y posterior exilio.
A través de actos rituales —cortar tuna roja y beber agua de manantial— Pardo realizará un poderoso ritual de reclamación de tierra.
Llanto De Guerra es una experiencia escénica inmersiva que inspira esperanza y reflexiona sobre la experiencia inmigrante a través del arte teatral.
Cuándo: Viernes, 30 de Enero de 2026 a las 7:30 PM. Puertas abren a las 6:45 PM.
Dónde: Danspace Project, 131 E 10th St. Nueva York, NY.
$20 en efectivo para la entrada.
Esta obra fue posible, en parte, gracias al Franklin Furnace FUND 2025–26, con el apoyo de Jerome Foundation y los miembros y amistades de Franklin Furnace Archive.
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1. Joyce Yu Jean Lee, FF Alumn, at Fulton Transit Center, Manhattan, thru March
“Manahatta Waterways: a Sanctuary” commissioned by NYC Metropolitan Transportation Authority at Fulton Transit Center from January – March 2026
My MTA public art commission Manahatta Waterways: a Sanctuary is on view! The artwork invites commuters to imagine Manhattan as a timeless reef shaped by cycles of climate and evolution. Featuring footage of whales, corals, fish, and flowing water filmed at the Long Island Aquarium, the installation transforms Fulton Center into an underwater sanctuary.
Stop by Fulton station in Manhattan at the top of every hour to view, now through March.
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2. Coco Fusco, FF Alumn, now online at ImpulseMagazine.com
Please visit this link:
Thank you.
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3. Mendi + Keith Obadike, FF Alumns, receive 2026 United States Artists Fellowship
Please visit this link:
https://www.unitedstatesartists.org/programs/usa-fellowship/2026
Thank you.
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4. Analia Segal, FF Alumn, named 2026 Joan Mitchell Center Artist-in-Residence
Announcing the 2026 Joan Mitchell Center Artists-in-Residence
We are thrilled to announce the 31 visual artists who have been selected for residencies this year at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans. The dynamic and diverse 2026 cohort includes 14 artists who will travel to the Center from across the United States and 17 artists based in New Orleans—all of whom will participate in either 6- or 14-week residencies in the Spring, Summer, or Fall sessions, with up to 9 artists in residence at any given time. The participating artists range in age from 27 to 75 and represent a variety of ethnicities, personal backgrounds, and creative practices rooted in the visual arts.
Residencies at the Joan Mitchell Center support individual artistic growth, while also fostering community in the heart of one of America’s most creatively rich cities. The program provides artists at pivotal junctures in their careers with critical resources, including private studio space, a weekly materials stipend, on-site studio assistants, professional development, and community-building opportunities.
Now in its 11th year of operation, the Center has hosted over 350 artists, more than a third of whom are local to New Orleans. This mix of visiting and local artists working together in all sessions is a hallmark of the program, as local artists can serve as ambassadors to the city’s culture and resources, while national residents bring expanded networks and experiences that can benefit the local residents. This year, four of the selected national artists are native to New Orleans but living elsewhere—an outcome that aligns with one of the residency program’s goals of supporting the return of displaced artists to the city post-Katrina.
The 2026 Artists-in-Residence are:
Vee Adams, New Orleans, LA
Michael Arcega, San Francisco, CA
Rachel Berwick, Killingworth, CT
Farah Billah, New Orleans, LA
Efrem Z. Boles (Big Chief ZeeBo),
New Orleans, LA
Kelly Pearson Boles (Big Queen Kelly), New Orleans, LA
paris cian, New Orleans, LA
Dillon Dillon, Bronx, NY
Michel Droge, Arrowsic, ME
Celia Eberle, Ennis, TX
Brandon Felix, New Orleans, LA
Rachel Gorman, New Orleans, LA
Shana M. griffin, New Orleans, LA
Ana María Agüero Jahannes,
New Orleans, LA
Fred H. C. Liang, Boston, MA
Felicita Felli Maynard,
New Orleans, LA
Jessica Monette, East Palo Alto, CA
Nadrea Njoku, Atlanta, GA
Hakeem Olayinka, Brooklyn, NY
Rachel Parish, Atlanta, GA
Mary Jane Parker, New Orleans, LA
Sienna Pinderhughes,
New Orleans, LA
Naomi Kawanishi Reis, Brooklyn, NY
SÉAN, New Orleans, LA
Analia Segal, Brooklyn, NY
Shaina Simmons, New Orleans, LA
Edra Soto, Chicago, IL
Jade Thiraswas, New Orleans, LA
Trish Tillman, Brooklyn, NY
Gabrielle Tolliver, New Orleans, LA
Caitlin Ezell Waugh, New Orleans, LA
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5. Agnes Denes, FF Alumn, at Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
Wheatfield – A Confrontation 1982 (2023)
A Video Work by Agnes Denes
in the collection of the
Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin
We are extremely pleased to announce that Wheatfield – A Confrontation 1982, a video work by Agnes Denes, has entered the permanent collection of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, Germany. The acquisition was made possible through the generosity of the Friends of the National Gallery. It is the artist’s first video and is the definitive moving image art work documenting the original creation of Wheatfield in 1982. Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects
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6. Linda Mary Montano & Paul McMahon, FF Alumns, at Artists Space, Manhattan, Feb. 14
Linda Mary Montano and Paul McMahon will perform at Artists Space on Valentine’s Day in the Segue Series. Paul will also release a new single on that day. Paul and Linda are both dedicated to the idea of Love and performed together once before on Valentine’s Day several years back in Saugerties.
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7. Adrianne Wortzel, FF Alumn, at Earth Gallery, Manhattan, Jan. 21
Dear All,
I’m pleased to invite you to a special program presented by Rhizome: WE LIVE IN PRIVATE: Art Dirt NYC & the 90s online underground at Earth Gallery this Wednesday, January 21 at 7 PM.
This event fondly looks back on Art Dirt, an internet culture series of live webcasts organized by G.H. Hovagimyan and co-hosted and co-produced with myself and Robbin Murphy. These webcasts were weekly broadcasts featuring interviews with artists, curators, educators and anyone else engaged in the new developments of new media art in the 1990s. The Art Dirt recordings now live within the Walker Art Center Archives.
For this event, selected clips of the show will be screened, along with live commentary by myself, G.H. Hovagimyan, and to conclude, Art Dirt’s original broadcaster, Josh Harris, will join for a virtual TV show.
WE LIVE IN PRIVATE: Art Dirt NYC & the 90s online underground
Earth Gallery
49 Orchard Street
New York, NY 10002
January 21, 7:00 PM
Open to the public & free admission
I hope you can join us!
Warm regards,
Adrianne Wortzel
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8. Richard Kostelanetz, FF Alumn, at Kosti’s Last Sunday Bookstore, Ridgewood, Queens, Jan,. 25
THE NEXT KOSTI’S LAST SUNDAY BOOKSTORE, 25 January, noon to 5 at Wyckoff Ave & Norman St., Ridgewood (NE corner).
My newly spiffed-up store, resembling a branch of B&N, has copies of most of my three hundred or so titles, some officially out of print, as well as many previously owned books (written by others) that I’ll sell below any listed price including postage upon presentation of a copy of that price in comparable condition. 10% additional discount on 3 books; 20% discount on 5 or more copies; 40% discount on ten or more. With much here that can’t be found elsewhere, MAY I HELP YOU FIND A BOOK YOU MIGHT WANT?
I will also make available for display some of the unique copies of typescripts I’ve recently been producing–at the nexus of literature and book art, that I hope will be recognized historically as monumental.
I also have scarce copies of Archae Editions and Avant-Garde Classics that Amazon KDP has ceased offering, mostly for you to see, perhaps for me to sell. Many of the former explore inventively that nexus, perhaps uniquely mine, of book-art and literature.
Note: please bring moolah, as I can’t accept credit cards and reluctantly take checks.
Incidentally, I’m developing a Substack presence at https://richardkostelanetz.substack.com/ that, if you like, please recommend to others.
For a rich inventory of books authored by me (other than those released by Amazon KDP, which has deleted me), try my eponymous website or: https://www.amazon.com/Rich…/e/B000APUC9O/ref=sr_tc_2_0…
For a short film presenting some of my book-art in my bookstore, enjoy: https://vimeo.com/476944615. The back pages of this site has covers of many of them:https://www.betterworldbooks.com/search/results?q=RICHARD%20KOSTELANETZ&p=3
DIRECTIONS TO KOSTI’S SUNDAY BOOKSTORE: Take L-train (aka the Hipster Highway), which should be working, 20 min. from Union Square to Halsey St., 10 stops into Brooklyn, one stop after Myrtle-Wyckoff. Get out in the FRONT (eastern end) of the train. At top of stairs, you’ll see a large laundry on the other side of Wyckoff Avenue. Cross Wyckoff Avenue to the base of Norman Street to the right. Across Norman Street from the laundry is a single beige industrial building with a large Hulu billboard facing the laundry and, around its corner, a street door on Wyckoff Avenue, adjacent to a Lane Twitchell painted wall to the right and the subway entrance back to the left. If, as sometimes happens, subway halts at Myrtle-Wyckoff, consider walking east down Wyckoff Ave., 1 km. east, or taking the shuttle bus down Wyckoff one stop, and then continue walking east to Norman Street, to the bookstore door on Wyckoff in the industrial building on the left. If lost, call my cell 347-563-0634.
Enter the door on the left, here shuttered.
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9. Morgan O’Hara, FF Alumn, at Studio La Linea Verticale, Bologna, Italy, Jan. 30-Mar. 7
Please visit this link:
https://www.studiolalineaverticale.it/livetransmission
Thank you.
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10. Agnes Denes, FF Alumn, at AIUla Saudi Arabia, thru Feb. 28
Agnes Denes
at
Desert X 2026
AlUla Saudi Arabia
January 16 – February 28, 2026
We are extremely pleased to announce Agnes Denes’s participation in Desert X 2026 in Saudi Arabia. Her work, The Living Pyramid, a monumental sculpture and environmental intervention, is currently on view in the AlUla Oasis
Originally commissioned in 2015 by Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, New York, The Living Pyramid was the artist’s first major site work in New York City since 1982 when she created the now iconic Wheatfield—A Confrontation on two acres in lower Manhattan. It unites Denes’s powerful environmental interventions with her ongoing exploration and invention of pyramidal structures—a central theme in her work throughout her long and distinguished career. Spanning 30 feet at the base and standing 30 feet high, its towering, curving form echoes the organic architecture that first appeared in the artist’s pyramid drawings of the 1970s. She writes:
The Living Pyramid, planted with growing material, renews itself just as evolution does to our species. The rigid angle becomes an arc to aspirationally reach above. It is not just planting, but the planting of a paradox, a structured edifice of soil and foliage, not on a farm or field but in the heart of a busy mega-city or various parts of our world. It is planting the seed into soil and human minds.
The Living Pyramid brings mathematics and plant-life into wondrous harmony, engineering accuracy and stability mixed with the daily changes of growth. Again, my obsession with blending nature and the human intellect is at play, visualizing opposite forces to exist in harmony creating the powerful paradox that governs this art form and gives it such strength.
The Living Pyramid, AlUla, Saudi Arabia
Photo: Neville Wakefield
Denes intends the work to be presented throughout the world, representing the ecologies of each individual site. In 2017, it was featured in documenta 14 in Kassel, Germany where vegetables were planted together with local grasses and flowers. In 2022, at the Sakip Sabanci Museum in Istanbul, the work was planted with a lush profusion of indigenous foliage. In 2023, it was installed indoors for the first time at the Hayward Gallery in London as a central part of the exhibition Dear Earth: Art in a Time of Crisis. At Desert X 2025 in Rancho Mirage, California, its first appearance in a desert landscape, it featured a variety of native succulents and grasses that grew and changed throughout the run of the biennial. Local plants were featured in the presentation of the work at MUDAM Luxembourg, in the spring and fall of 2025.
For The Living Pyramid at Desert X AlUla, the artist has selected a variety of fragrant native herbs and grasses, adding a new sensual element to the experience of the work. It anticipates a series of monumental sculptural works by the artist, commissioned by the Royal Commission for AlUla, to be featured in Wadi AlFann (“Valley of the Arts), within the region’s spectacular desert landscape.
Curated by Wejdan Reda and Zoé Whitley, under the vision of Founding Artistic Director Neville Wakefield and returning 2026 Artistic Director Raneem Farsi, Desert X AlUla 2026 features visionary contemporary artworks by Saudi and international artists, reflecting the region’s long history of cross-cultural exchange.
Inspired by the poetry of Kahlil Gibran, this year’s theme, Space Without Measure, presents each artwork as a point on a new map, marking flourishes of imagination, from flowering utopias to previously inconceivable vistas and sound corridors.
Leslie Tonkonow Art Works + Projects
401 Broadway, Suite 411
New York, NY 10013
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11. John Held Jr., FF Alumn, new publication
“RUBBER STAMP ANTHOLOGY”
by John Held Jr
12.5 x 19 cm limited edition book. – 52 pages
Hard cover, hand bound – 150 numbered copies.
Price: 32 euro / 28 GBP / 40 $US
A collection of over 300 rubber stamps impressed by the author over a fifty year period during his Mail Art activities, accompanied by miscellaneous texts including excerpts from his book, L’Arte del Timbro/Rubber Stamp Art (AAA Edizione, 1999), a partial interview conducted with the Archives of American Art (2017), a record of rubber stamp activity by the author (1976-2024) and a contemporary afterword.
For more information and to order please visit this link:
https://www.redfoxpress.com/AB-held3.html
Thank you.
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12. Benoît Maubrey, FF Alumn, at Le Mans Sonore Festival, France, thru Jan. 25
OBLISK
a participative sound sculpture with 400 loudspeakers from Benoît Maubrey
at Le Mans Sonore Festival
From January 17-25 2026
Address:
ESAD Talm
28 avenue Rostov Sur Le Don
72100 Le Mans France
https://www.lemans-tourisme.com/fr/obelisk-sonore-avec-benoit-maubrey.html
Greetings
Benoît Maubrey
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13. Babs Reingold, FF Alumn, live online at Artists Talk on Art, Jan. 26
INVITATION
Artists Talk on Art Dialogue
January 26th at 7pm
Upcoming Dialogue
Monday January 26th at 7pm on
“Artists Talk on Art” zoom forum
Dear Friends
I’m delighted to invite you to
Artist Babs Reingold in dialogue with
Senior Curator Katherine Pill, the Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg about Reingold’s solo exhibition
“After Venus” (Date To Come)
Link to zoom:
https://us05web.zoom.us/j/83513881707?pwd=oyJPEfgP3ZcS0Q5oOPXphc2xUdonCt.1
Password: 202174
Link to zoom available on ATOA site too:
https://www.artiststalkonart.org
I look forward to seeing you online!
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14. Mark Russell, FF Alumn, now online at NYTimes.com
Please visit this link:
Thank you.
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For subscriptions, un-subscriptions, queries and comments, please email mail@franklinfurnace.org
Join Franklin Furnace today:
https://franklinfurnace.org/membership/
Goings On for Artists is compiled weekly by Rohan Subramaniam, Archive Intern, 2024/2025
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