LIU SHIMING ART FOUNDATION AWARDS NEW ROUND OF ARTIST GRANTS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2025. NEW YORK. The Liu Shiming Art Foundation proudly announces our second year of Liu Shiming Artist Grants, awarded to five exceptional artists: Jing Huang, Lulú Osnaya, Belen Santamarina, Ayesha Singh, and Sergei Zinchuk. “We are deeply committed to preserving and celebrating the legacy of Liu Shiming while supporting artists who share his passion for storytelling, craftsmanship, and cultural reflection,” observes Executive Director Puiking Hui. “Today’s announcement is a celebration of that legacy and a step forward in advancing the foundation’s mission on a global scale.”
Each artist will receive a $5,000 grant to support their work on projects exploring the intersection between traditional cultural or historical influences and contemporary artistic practice. “Providing grants to artists at the early stages of their career can be invaluable to their development, allowing them the ability to move forward with projects that may otherwise have been out of reach,” notes Curatorial Director Fran Kaufman. “Knowing that their work has been recognized by arts professionals outside of their normal circle of support boosts confidence, and can be a catalyst for further creative exploration. We are excited to watch these artists as they continue to make new work.”
Their art ranges from examinations of “built architecture as spaces that embed power dynamics” (Singh), to creations from textile embroidered with human hair (Santamarina), to explorations of cultural displacement through ceramic sculpture (Huang), sculptures “combining traditional and experimental techniques such as onion epidermis textiles and crystallized paper sculpture” (Osnaya), and transformations of the ephemeral into “a fragile tapestry that whispers of the stories embedded in the detritus of the everyday” (Zinchuk).
With nearly 1,000 applicants representing over 90 nationalities, this year’s selection process proved especially challenging. Two internal rounds of review winnowed the pool down to a group of 30, which our Selection Panel then rated. Headed up by Curatorial Director Fran Kaufman, Selection Panel members included painter and professor Peter Wayne Lewis; Sotheby’s specialist Cindy Qi; artist, curator, and writer Yohanna M Roa; and Dr. Lindsey Schneider, Executive Director of International Foundation for Art Research.
While there were many compelling applications, the final five grantees stood out for their unique vision, thoughtful creative process, and striking body of work. “The quality of applicants reflected an extraordinary breadth of creativity, with the winners showcasing a striking range of artistic practices, media, and conceptual approaches,” observed Dr. Schneider. “It was a privilege to review work of such technical caliber, coupled with emotional resonance and rich storytelling. I am delighted that the financial support of the Liu Shiming Foundation will enable these five artists to further develop their craft, take creative risks, and create work that challenges, inspires, and connects.”
We congratulate this year’s grant recipients and look forward to sharing updates on their projects over the coming months!
JING HUANG
From China, currently living in Charlotte, NC. Graduated with a BA from Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute; MFA in Ceramic Art from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Debut exhibition in a group show at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto in the spring of 2015. Exhibited in Canada, USA, China, Taiwan and UK. Work in permanent collections of Victoria & Albert Museum, Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, Yingge Ceramics Museum, and three university museum collections in the UK.
Appreciating the past and embracing the possibilities of the future, Huang’s work is “extracted from a recollection of experience and imagination.” She plans “to create a series of hand-built ceramic sculptures that deconstruct elements from…snow-covered terrains in North America, and the landscapes of my hometown in my memory, expressed in the form of Chinese scholar’s rocks.” The sculptures will "invite viewers to reflect on their own connections to place, heritage, and the ever-evolving nature of identity.”
Mexican living in Mexico City. Undergraduate degree from the Industrial Design Research Center at UNAM; MFA from Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, Sweden. Debut exhibition with a solo show, “The Paradox of Tears,” at muca-Roman University Museum of Sciences & Arts in Mexico City in the spring of 2020. Exhibited in Mexico, Sweden, Portugal, Japan. Selected for the 15th Havana Biennial.
Deploying unusual materials, including sugar, salt and wax, Osnaya seeks “a convergence between the spiritual and emotional with the everyday, investigating tradition as a constantly evolving result of collective and multicultural thinking.” She plans to develop a new series of nine sculptures from onion skins and salt, “one for each day of the ‘novenario,’ which in Mexican culture is the nine consecutive days of rosaries for the souls of the departed at the home of the deceased.”
LULÚ OSNAYA
From Argentina, currently living in London. Studied textile and fashion design at the Faculty of Architecture, Design, and Urbanism (FADU) at University of Buenos Aires. Debut exhibition at Conserva N2 – Fundación Cazadores in Buenos Aires in the summer of 2019. Exhibited in Argentina, Spain, Chicago, London and Taiwan, where her work was acquired by the Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts.
Santamarina “engages with personal and collective migration experiences…to imagine and propose alternative narratives to dominant discourses.” She plans to develop an installation incorporating more than 18 meters of linked, hair-embroidered loops that will “challenge contemporary consumption and perceived ideas of value.” The projected work will “bring together…the different lands in which [she] lives as a migrant.”
BELEN SANTAMARINA
Indian, living in New Delhi. BFA Graduate from Slade School of Fine Art in London; MFA in Sculpture from School of Art Institute of Chicago. Debut exhibition with solo show “As You Can See” at Exhibit320 in New Delhi in the summer of 2016. Exhibited across India (Mumbai, New Delhi, Punjab, Gujrat, Rajasthan, Kolkata) and internationally including in the UK, USA, United Arab Emirates, and Austria. Her work is held by public collections in India, Hong Kong, UK and the USA.
Deploying architectural elements and fragments, Singh creates “critical spatial interventions that emphasize collaboration and coexistence.” She plans to conduct “an inquiry on the ornament,” investigating how architecture embodies histories of migration, war, erasure and existence. The resulting archive will support the creation of “new installations of sculpture and/or photographic work.”
AYESHA SINGH
British Ukrainian artist, currently based in Portugal. BA (Hons) in Sculpture from Central St Martins College of Art & Design in London; MFA in Contemporary Art Practice at Royal College of Art. Debut exhibition in London group show in summer of 2021. Exhibited in Portugal, Germany, Spain, UK, France, and the Netherlands.
Zinchuk transforms the overlooked and discarded—dust, ash, saw dust, paint flakes, paper and textile waste—into weavings, installations, and performances. Using the techniques he developed in his physical process, he plans to create a new methodology for approaching the “current environmental and geopolitical discourse and encourage reflection on the movement and transformation of ideas and on how we get shaped and transformed by localities we occupy.”
SERGEI ZINCHUK
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Image courtesy of Nature Morte and Ayesha Singh. Photography by Jeetin Sharma.
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Image courtesy of Belen Santamarina. Photography by Catalina Romero.
2024 Distinguished Selection Panel
FRAN KAUFMAN
FRAN KAUFMAN is Curatorial Director of the Liu Shiming Art Foundation and the Liu Shiming Art Gallery. She is also a principal in Kaufman Vardy Projects, an international consultancy focused on strategic marketing and curatorial practice, where she worked with The Warhol Museum on special projects. Fran was previously a partner in Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, a contemporary gallery with an international roster of artists and a dedicated center for dialogue between visual art, literature, criticism, and music. She launched the premier International Houston Fine Art Fair, and served as Director of palmbeach3 contemporary art fair. She has been a regular lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, NYU’s Graduate School of the Arts, and Pratt Institute among other venues, and frequently writes about art. Her curatorial projects have been featured in the US, Italy, Germany, and Latin America., including the first solo photography exhibition at the Museo de Bellas Artes (Buenos Aires).
PETER WAYNE LEWIS
PETER WAYNE LEWIS has exhibited his paintings extensively in the US, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. Recent solo museum exhibitions include The Delaware Contemporary (Wilmington), UCCA - Ullens Center of Contemporary Art (Beijing), and MOCA-North Miami. Upcoming exhibitions include Scully Tomasko Foundation (NYC) and PAHM-Pan African Heritage Museum (Accra). His work is in numerous public and private collections in the US, Europe, and Asia. Peter also served as Chairman of the Department of Painting at Massachusetts College of Art and Design (Boston) where he held a tenured faculty position for 25 years. He maintains an ambitious studio practice, splitting his time between the New York Metro area and Beijing.
CINDY QI
CINDY QI is an Associate Specialist in Chinese Art at Sotheby’s New York. She previously worked at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and at Christie’s. Cindy earned an MA in Chinese Art from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, with expertise in ceramics and works of art of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
YOHANNA M ROA
YOHANNA M ROA is a New York-based transcultural visual artist, art historian, art critic, and a permanent collaborator of ArtNexus and Whitehot art magazines. She has developed curatorial projects and educational art and archive projects for various institutions, including the National Center of the Arts CENIDIAP (Mexico City), WhiteBox (NYC), and La Tertulia Museum of Modern Art (Cali). Yohanna received a PhD in History and Critical Theories of Art from the Universidad Iberoamericana, México. Her most recent solo-performance Pocahontas and La Malinche, took place in May at The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid, Spain.
DR. LINDSEY SCHNEIDER
DR. LINDSEY SCHNEIDER is Executive Director of The International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR), and Editor-In-Chief of the IFAR Journal. A scholar of Italian Renaissance and Baroque art, she has over two decades of management experience at institutions including The Bard Graduate Center, American Academy in Rome, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She received an MA and PhD from NYU's Institute of Fine Arts, and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Lindsey is also an adjunct professor in Columbia's art history department.
