Ace Artist-in-Residence & Powerhouse Arts present — Gallerina (Do Not) Disturb by Lauren Cohen

In partnership with Ace Hotel Artist in Residence, Powerhouse Arts (PHA) is pleased to co-present Gallerina: Do Not Disturb a self-reflective multiverse that artist, Lauren Cohen, started in 2022. Cohen will participate as Artist in Residence, occupying a hotel guest room as a temporary studio, during the month of August. The residency culminates in an exhibition and series of programs hosted at the hotel opening Thursday, September 26th.

While in residence at Ace Hotel New York, Lauren Cohen has developed 2-3 characters from her Gallerina project. Cohen has created ceramic objects, completed her fifth graphic novel, made paintings, photographs and a film of the artist as the “Gallerina” in her Chelsea Gallery.

Continuing her series of graphic novels, Cohen draws a naked version of herself navigating her artistic life in New York City. Full of existential inquiry, she attempts to peek behind the curtain of the art world, landing a part-time job working at a prestigious art gallery which the artist calls: Someone’s Name Gallery. Her unresolved traumas and anxieties make progressing in her career a challenge. In assuming the role of gallery assistant, aka “Gallerina,” the artist uncovers her different masks, power struggles, and deepest insecurities as an artist fully immersed in one of the most competitive industries in the world. 

Rather than succumbing to cynicism and her own crippling self-doubt, she changes her perspective and begins to see herself within each character she comes across. Through her artwork, she takes on the identity of these archetypes in her environment. By applying humor, she pokes fun at her own shortcomings, and learns to process and cope with confusing human interactions and interpersonal faux pas. 

The dilemma of this insular universe that she has built poses an obvious problem: extreme loneliness and isolation. Creating community, accepting help, and respecting people’s individualism, despite the possible layers of flawed behavior, becomes the only way forward.   

Portraying the roles of the alpha male gallerist, a take-no-prisoners go-getter gallery director, and a shy, wall-flower gallerina, Cohen does the obvious, and sets up a one-person art fair in her hotel room at the Ace. On view will be documented videos of this and other actions around the hotel from the basis of the exhibition, with the addition of other works made. In the end, Cohen likens the art world to an over-sized game of chess, and twice-weekly she will be in attendance at the gallery, inviting hotel guests and the general public to play the game with one of her invented characters.

The exhibition opens to the public in Ace Hotel New York Gallery on Thursday, September 26th and remains on view through November.

Photo: @hollandrainwater 

About –

Lauren Cohen is a visual artist who explores subjects of control, power, sexuality and violence in her work. The forming of “the other” within any given society is at the core of her research. Cohen has produced five graphic novels that depict the trials and travails of a female artist’s journey. Her character grapples with the idea of success and existence. Cohen gathers the content for her work by documenting a constructed life that seems to blur truth and fiction. Her various part-time jobs become direct sources of inspiration. She was formerly a cue card girl for NBC’s Saturday Night Live as well as a Gallerina at an art gallery in Chelsea. @laurencohenstudio

Powerhouse Arts (PHA) is a not-for-profit organization committed to creative expression. The organization offers art fabrication programs for ceramic, print and public art, as well as space for communal education and events. The facility is also home to MGC Community Print Studio, nonprofit decorative arts fabrication shop The Alpha Workshops, and architectural metal design fabrication firm Workspace11. The building also houses multi-use facilities for education, events, and public engagement. @powerhouse_arts

Ace Artist in Residence program, curated in partnership with collectives and institutions that inspire us, provides time to think and space to create. Every quarter, we invite artists across the globe to turn one of our hotel rooms into their studio for a month, then showcase the resulting body of work with the Ace community. @acehotelnewyork