Lucien Smith Serves The People for Adidas

June 11, 2021

In an effort to benefit his nonprofit, “Serving the People”, artist and filmmaker, Lucien Smith, has partnered up with Adidas to release 200 Adidas Originals Forum sneakers. Supporters can purchase these Adidas sneakers for $250 a pair, where proceeds will go to the mentorship of young artists to aid them in navigating the gallery system and commercial market. Along with the release of these sneakers, Smith has also partnered with director, Rick Rocha, and Sneeze LLC, to create a short film entitled, “Fire Finder.”

In his film, Smith portrays a firefighter who works his way through fine art, acting, music, and skateboarding. Other stars in the film include actors such as Julia Fox, Anthony Hayden Guest, Arsun Sorrenti, and many others. The 7-minute short film went live on June 3, while the sneakers will be released on June 10. Smith customized these sneakers at Spring Studios, where he will feature his unique “rain painting” technique.

Text By Cassandra Jekanoski
Interview by Tiana Randall
Photos by David “Shadi” Perez

What was the point in your life where you realized that 'Serving The People' was necessary?

I guess I was just going through my own hardships with understanding and for me, I went to art school unaware of the art market. And I guess outside of school, I kind of had an accelerated career where I sort of had to learn all these lessons, and sort of seeing behind the curtain of something I didn't really know existed. And at a certain point, it kind of took all the fun out of it for me. I started to look for something that I could use my skillset with that maybe had more resonance, more responsibility to society, and to the people in my life. And, you know, my community, and that's slowly formed in STP. It was definitely not something that happened overnight. It's definitely been a process and STP is still sort of developing and figuring out at its core what the future is. But at the very minimum — the base foundation of the mission is to really create a healthier creative world and to sort of allowing more accessibility for artists, especially the young and emerging.

And what does a healthy and creative art world look like to you?

I think one where we all have equal footing in. And that artists are at first and foremost, the ones that are being respected and being cherished, and not the galleries or the collectors. But, you know, the creators. And I think at this point now, you know, the important "artists" in the world are the ones that have the highest selling prices or show at the best galleries. And I don't think that's necessarily a world that I wanted to go into. And I don't think that's a world that a lot of artists that I share community with enjoy either.

Nice. so 'Serving The People' is about eliminating the barrier within the art world?

I think it's reinventing what we think the art world is. You know, I think that the art world, as it is today is not one that I want to adopt, right. Or not one that anyone that I know wants to adopt. And so we want to create a new art world and replace the old one. So it's definitely not an alternative. Our plan is to create a better one.
Can you give concrete examples about how you're breaking down these barriers, and what impact has it had within the art community?
Right now, our focus has been just purely on the community and linking those communities internationally, and throughout the United States. And DFA shows was one of the ways that that sort of came together and really started to build that core of a thousand artists and more. They sort of gave us the platform — more now artists are approaching us and wanting to be involved. And so, now that we have sort of linked that community together, we are building a platform for that to exist for those artists to really be able to not just for us to handpick the artists that we work with, but for them to be able to feel free, to create their own programming, publish their own artworks. And a lot of the software, a lot of the functionality of that comes from the recent developments with the sort of blockchain technology.

And so STP, I hope is just one of the many new marketplaces and that, that, that spawn from this revolution, um, that all linked together on this same software that makes it possible for artists to enjoy, you know, some of the benefits of what the blockchain has shown us with digital art, as far as smart contracts and artists ownership, and really like inventing a new way for collectors to not necessarily manipulate the market and still enjoy a lot of the benefits of collecting young art. But at the same time, the first and foremost is protecting young artists and giving them a place where they feel that their work is being healthily shown and shared, and for them to have a community and not have this sort of like a competitive speculative market that runs that sort of operation.

What do you think of NFTs and the market of NFTs, and getting young artists into that?

I think NFTs have really exposed to me, what's more important than an NFT is the blockchain. The security and the democratization, and the transparency that something like that can provide. I think NFT with the first example, I do think NFTs are a really good way of artists being able to share their vision and introduce their imagination and build careers from that. Because a lot of artists can't afford studio spaces and can't afford artist supplies. And NFT is like a really easy way for them to sort of put that vision into that. So it's a consider NFT as a new media, you know, and I see the next generation of artists — instead of struggling to try to find a studio space or, making ends meet with trying to get oil paint and things like that, putting a lot of their vision in the NFTs and sort of building a following and an audience. And then, entering into the studio practice.

It's visibility, right. There's so many platforms now where you don't have to live in New York city to necessarily gain notoriety, as an artist. That's something that I think spawns from the very early days of even computing the idea that one could work from home and run a business, not from a major city, but from somewhere more rural. And I think that's starting to happen. I think blockchain is finally allowing us to be able to use the internet in a much healthier way than it was that it has been. You know, imagine if the rolling stones had YouTube, and didn't have to sign to a label and how amazing it would be for them to rapport and to share their music instantaneously.

So how has the impact of 'Serving the people' had on you, emotionally and internally as well?

It's gratifying, you know, I think that I often, when speaking to people at STP we've been thinking about how we had an online marketplace for art when people laughed at us and said "art will never sell online."And now you see galleries starting to switch to creating platforms and through the pandemic, they have sort of have expedited that online viewing room. And so I think we've always been ahead of the curve. And so we're not so in a rush to necessarily evolve our current existing platform, but more, 20-10 years ahead of the game with trying to really build something that can link all of those platforms together.
Can you tell us about the specific initiative you're working with this time around for Adidas?
I've always thought of STP as a way to sort of use a lot of the commercial strategies, like, you know, the marketing strategies to sort of push our mission across. Adidas was very supportive in the idea that if I was going to do a sneaker, which was very commercial, I'd allow my community to participate in it. So from hiring, from finding Rick Rochet, and having Rick being able to sort of bring together his community as the star of the operation, that was really like a really good example of how STP works. We want to work with brands, you know because obviously, they want relatability, and they want to be able to evolve and tap into these sort of micro pop-cultural communities. And STP is that, you know, it's not an agency, but we have access to so many artists that do certainly a great thing. Or if we can sort of funnel them into these creative projects that we're working on and using these brands as like a platform with a high audience to sort of highlight them — that's like mission accomplished there for us.

Why this specific silhouette? And why make a shoe over anything else, like a t-shirt?

I think that was more on their end, that was more something that they wanted and they wanted to move a certain model. So I'm fine with having to work within sort of these sort of regimens. When you give someone free creative control, it's almost scarier because it's like 'Oh God, I got to like really think about this.' But when they're saying like Oh, you wanted a sneaker, that limits the amount of thinking I have to do— which made my job a little bit easier. Then obviously, you know, just doing a sneaker wasn't enough for me. I really wanted to do a film and I wanted to not take myself too seriously, you know? And that's why the film has this sort of slapstick self-deprecating vibe to it because I think artist takes themselves way too seriously. And I wanted to do a fun project and like help an organization, but also like art is supposed to be fun. It's not supposed to be so rigid and it's not supposed to be such a transactional process. So the film really helped to show you know, that we're here to have fun and, connect, and enjoy ourselves.

It seemed really funny and just like definitely a different side of you — you seem very serious.

I take what I do seriously, but what I do isn't serious. You know, it's art, it's creative, it's fun. And like that's a lot of what STP has brought back to me. It's that sort of like inspiration and sort of that mentality of 'I want to be enjoying what I'm doing first and foremost, but I'm going to spend my life doing it.'
Can you tell us about the film? You have people like Julia Fox and a great cast in it. How did you come together to make that?
Well, yeah, STP actually is hosting. We hosted one, but it's sort of gone on hiatus for a second as it's summertime, but we're hosting a podcast series of Julia. So she's entered into our community. And she really expressed— she came to us and really expressed interest in being involved. And we love that. So just naturally, you know, it came to fruition that she would star in this film with us.

Right. What is next for STP?

We are building a new marketplace that runs on a software that I think is really gonna help connect a lot of these digital marketplaces that are separated right now. We are also starting to really branch out and start to create a network of contributors, photo, and photojournalists, writers on our sub stack platform and allow for people to freely upload content. Whether it's photo galleries, or articles, or essays. So you'll see a contributor call-out, um, going live soon. And that's really exciting to me because I feel like we spent a lot of time building the platform, but not a lot of time really allowing for other types of artists, not just painters and sculptors to have a place where they can share their content.

Art

Pamela Sneed’s Speaking Tongue opens at Dashwood Projects

November 15, 2024

Pamela Sneed’s latest exhibition, Speaking Tongue, will be on view at Dashwood Projects from November 20 to December 21. The show features twenty watercolor and ink paintings inspired by her recent trip to Kenya, where she was deeply moved by the elegance of giraffes, the landscapes, and the energy of Nairobi.

Blending her background as a poet and visual artist, Sneed’s work reflects on themes of identity, nature, and connection. Her paintings capture the beauty and spirit of the animals she encountered, alongside reflections on her own experiences as part of the African diaspora.

This exhibition marks Sneed’s first solo show with Dashwood Projects and will be accompanied by a new book, also titled Speaking Tongue, to be released in December.

By Enzo Holdt
Artworks by Pamela Sneed

Art

Tiebreaker - Alvin Armstrong

November 15, 2024

There is a moment of silence right before the play. Just before the racket strikes the ball as it hangs weightless in the air, breathless and charged. It’s the fleeting yet decisive instant that can alter the course of the match, determining who wins and who loses.

Alvin Armstrong depicts this crucial moment in his new exhibition Tiebreaker, symbolizing the risks and rewards of competition. It’s an implication of something else at stake, where athletes push not only their bodies, but their spirits to the absolute limit.

The dynamic figures embody the strength, grace, and agility juxtaposed by the vibrant color palette evoking not just the joy of competition but the charged energy of the court.

Tiebreaker is opening Thursday, November 16th at Anna Zorina Gallery.

By Rea Brayshaw
Artworks by Alvin Armstrong

Art

The Things People Are Ashamed To Take Photos Of: The Photography and Films of Yuhan Cheng

Yuhan’s latest exhibition of photo and video work titled 窗子外 Outside the Window, Inside the Tank 鱼缸里 takes its namesake from what could’ve been a mundane encounter. A month after moving to New York City from Chengdu, China, they stumbled across an abandoned fish tank left curbside. It reminded them of “the rotating fish in a tank that faded into the background of their mother’s home in Chengdu”, a thread connecting childhood familiarity that transformed into a symbol of greater significance in adulthood. A tank is a world within a world; a microcosm secluded from the broader chaos of the outside. Since then Yuhan has captured the other kinds of “fish tanks” closest to them in their photography and short films. Not literal ones necessarily– but intimate confined spaces in Chengdu and NYC where time stands still.

In the midst of taking snapshots of loved ones, Yuhan decided to turn their tender but examining lens on themselves. They realized shooting self-portraits unraveled a deeper understanding of their own nonbinary gender and queer sexuality. Yuhan admits in one of their short films “I hide from looking at my own body.” Yet, in the seclusion of their room which doubles as a dark room, Yuhan began to develop their first nude photos chronicling the subtle wounds; bitten cuticles, bruises, and scrapes they’ve accumulated involuntarily, once again documenting the things people choose to hide.

窗子外 Outside the Window, Inside the Tank 鱼缸里, debuted at FAR-NEAR Studio Hours a gallery in Chinatown focused on expanding the art world's view of Asia and Asian artists curated by Lulu Yao Gioiello. The event merged Yuhan’s works from the past three years, including 70 photographs, three short documentaries, and one installation. There was something uncanny about the gallery’s atmosphere – from the dollar store teal green curtains obscuring every window to the clusters of framed photos mimicking how photos of relatives are displayed in one’s childhood home, to the darkened lighting that was both disorienting and cozy. All these details were meticulously chosen to imitate the rooms depicted in Yuhan’s films and photography. In other words, the audience was invited to Yuhan’s “fishtank”, to share the odd balance of comfort and unease of being known intimately. We talked to Yuhan at Cafe Reggio to understand how their latest body of work came into being.

Initially, I was exploring my friends’ identities through the lens, but slowly, it became a tool to confront and understand my own queerness and gender identity.

Ora Margolis— Were any memories/childhood experiences you had in Chengdu important to how you've developed as an artist?

Yuhan Cheng— Growing up in Chengdu, especially in a military household, shaped and gave me a source of contention how I understood my identity. There was always a sense of conflict when it came to my body and feeling like I didn’t quite fit the expectations around me. This tension has been a driving force in my practice, pushing me to explore identity and belonging in my work.

Tell us a bit about your latest exhibition Outside the Window, Inside the Tank at Far. What headspace were you in when taking these photos?

YC— Outside the Window, Inside the Tank is about the fluidity of self; our bodies, our environments, and our identities. The idea of water as both a symbol of confinement and freedom is central to the photos and film that comprise the exhibit. This fluidity much like how I see my experience moving between Chengdu and New York, where similar feelings follow me no matter where I am. Water mirrors the body, the frame, and the room, which are all containers of the self.

Previously, you’ve said you wanted the exhibition space to look "like your room". How did you make that happen and why is your NYC room important to you?

YC— My room in NYC is an extension of my identity. It’s where I feel vulnerable and where I explore myself most openly. It’s a manifestation of my sense of self. I recreated certain elements in the exhibition—the green sheer curtains, the dollar store shower curtain with bubbles, and the center installation depicted a self-portrait deteriorating in water, reminiscent of a fish in a tank. This room, like any other room or container, magnifies the tension of self-exploration.

Has your idea or comfort with your gender identity and /sexuality changed since you’ve delved into photography?

YC— Yes. The process of photography and filming has been a mirror to my own understanding of self. Initially, I was exploring my friends’ identities through the lens, but slowly, it became a tool to confront and understand my own queerness and gender identity. The process of photographing my queer friends and then myself allowed me to come to terms with who I am.

How did you and Lulu Yao of FAR-NEAR Studio meet, and what makes her a good collaborator?

YC— We first connected when I reached out with my series Princess of Funan River. Lulu understood the struggles and complexities in the work and she invited me to expand on those ideas with her. Our collaboration has worked because Lulu truly resonates with the themes I’m drawn to, like fluidity, transformation, and the intimacy of navigating belonging.

After completing Fish Tank and Remnants of an Amateur Film, what kind of movie do you want to make next?

YC— Right now, I’m more focused on writing. I need to understand what I want to say before making another film. Writing helps me find clarity;it’s a crucial part of my process.

What kind of camera do you use and why?

YC— I use a Canon AE-1. I started with it and I still love it. It's small, spontaneous, easy to use, and light. It allows me to capture moments naturally without overthinking.

What's your biggest fear?

YC— Being disconnected from my sense of self, from others, and from the things I love.

When do you feel most like yourself?

YC— It’s during those fleeting moments when I complete a project. That feeling fades quickly, leaving me searching for the next project to reconnect with that sense of fulfillment.

How do you want people to feel when they interact with your art?

YC— I want them to feel whatever resonates with them. I don’t want to prescribe the experience; it should feel right for each person.

Your work focuses on the close knit communities that surround you or various metaphorical “fish tanks”. What communities do you feel closest to?
YC— The queer artist community, both in Chengdu and NYC, has been a source of comfort and understanding for me. There’s something about shared struggles and shared creative language that feels like home.

What's the biggest difference between living life as a queer artist in NYC and in Chengdu?

YC— In both NYC and Chengdu, I’m learning more about myself. NYC offers a sense of freedom, while Chengdu is home, a place of comfort and history. Neither place defines me but both are significant parts of my path.

What are your next moves/goals?

YC— I want to continue exploring both film and photography, expanding my narrative style and experimenting across mediums. During my show, I found new ways of seeing my photographs such as by adding a window screen between frames or letting a self-portrait fade and grow mold in water. These approaches allowed me to see my work not just as 2D images but as 3D objects.

I want to keep pushing the boundaries of how photo and film can interact, and I’m also interested in trying photojournalism. My focus remains on collaborating across mediums and continuing to accumulate experiences that I can translate into sincere honest work.