80WSE Gallery

On view, “Beetles, Cats, Clouds"

Sept 10, 2025-Jan 24, 2026
Curated by Ryan Holmberg

“Beetles, Cats, Clouds” features three women manga artists—Tsurita Kuniko, Yamada Murasaki, and Kondoh Akino—whose work defied the reigning gender conventions within Japanese comics 1960s into 2000s.

Adam Putnam in ESCAPEMENTS now on view.

(L to R)
Adam Putnam
(Untitled) - Hole 2, 2022
Visualizations (Escapement Annex), 2025
Tower VI, 2022

Photo: Carter Seddon

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ESCAPEMENTS

Jesse Chun
Taína Cruz
Hamishi Farah
Mark Lombardi
Adam Putnam
Mark van Yetter

September 10, 2025 – January 24, 2026
Opening Reception
Wednesday, September 10 | 6–8PM

80WSE
80 Washington Square East
New York

Escapements brings together drawings by artists whose works navigate the space between opposing worlds, constructing psycho-social metaphors through gesture, mark-making, and image. The exhibition traces tensions between heaven and earth, presence and absence, freedom and constraint, and self and society—revealing the delicate mechanisms that mediate human experience.

In horology, the escapement is the precision mechanism of a timepiece that mediates between two realms, the stored energy of the mainspring and its measured release into motion. It is the element that both permits and resists, translating raw potential into the measured cadence of a second hand or pendulum. Acting as a counterforce to unwound chaos, it creates the illusion of control and stability through a hidden process in dialogue with infinity.

On view, Kondoh Akino, in “Beetles, Cats, Clouds"

Curated by Ryan Holmberg
Sept 10, 2025-Jan 24, 2026

“Beetles, Cats, Clouds” features three women manga artists—Tsurita Kuniko, Yamada Murasaki, and Kondoh Akino—whose work defied the reigning gender conventions within Japanese comics 1960s into 2000s.

Image:
Kondoh Akino
"Never Before Named" concept
Sketches
Acrylic on paper
2020-23

“Never Before Named” is the title of an
animation work that Kondoh is
currently working on. Arrayed here
are an assortment of concept
sketches for the project. Some have
been used as illustrations for book
and CD covers. Though her manga
tend to be more subdued and realist
of late, surrealist fantasy remains
strong in her animation work,
illustrations, and paintings.

Photo: Carter Seddon

ESCAPEMENTS now on view.

(L to R)
Taína Cruz, Before the shift, 2025. Courtesy of the artist.
Mark Lombardi, Study for World Finance Corporation 7th Version, 1999. Courtesy of Pierogi Gallery and the Lombardi Family

Photo: Carter Seddon

-------
ESCAPEMENTS

Jesse Chun
Taína Cruz
Hamishi Farah
Mark Lombardi
Adam Putnam
Mark van Yetter

September 10, 2025 – January 24, 2026
Opening Reception
Wednesday, September 10 | 6–8PM

80WSE
80 Washington Square East
New York

Escapements brings together drawings by artists whose works navigate the space between opposing worlds, constructing psycho-social metaphors through gesture, mark-making, and image. The exhibition traces tensions between heaven and earth, presence and absence, freedom and constraint, and self and society—revealing the delicate mechanisms that mediate human experience.

In horology, the escapement is the precision mechanism of a timepiece that mediates between two realms, the stored energy of the mainspring and its measured release into motion. It is the element that both permits and resists, translating raw potential into the measured cadence of a second hand or pendulum. Acting as a counterforce to unwound chaos, it creates the illusion of control and stability through a hidden process in dialogue with infinity.

ESCAPEMENTS now on view.
 
(L to R)
Taína Cruz, Before the shift, 2025. Courtesy of the artist.
Mark Lombardi, Study for World Finance Corporation 7th Version, 1999. Courtesy of Pierogi Gallery and the Lombardi Family 
 
Photo: Carter Seddon

——
ESCAPEMENTS

Jesse Chun
Taína Cruz
Hamishi Farah
Mark Lombardi
Adam Putnam
Mark van Yetter

September 10, 2025 – January 24, 2026
Opening Reception
Wednesday, September 10 | 6–8PM

80WSE
80 Washington Square East
New York

Escapements brings together drawings by artists whose works navigate the space between opposing worlds, constructing psycho-social metaphors through gesture, mark-making, and image. The exhibition traces tensions between heaven and earth, presence and absence, freedom and constraint, and self and society—revealing the delicate mechanisms that mediate human experience.

In horology, the escapement is the precision mechanism of a timepiece that mediates between two realms, the stored energy of the mainspring and its measured release into motion. It is the element that both permits and resists, translating raw potential into the measured cadence of a second hand or pendulum. Acting as a counterforce to unwound chaos, it creates the illusion of control and stability through a hidden process in dialogue with infinity.

Announcing our September exhibition:
ESCAPEMENTS

Jesse Chun
Taína Cruz
Hamishi Farah
Mark Lombardi
Adam Putnam
Mark van Yetter

September 10, 2025 – January 24, 2026
Opening Reception
Wednesday, September 10 | 6–8PM

80WSE
80 Washington Square East
New York

Escapements brings together drawings by artists whose works navigate the space between opposing worlds, constructing psycho-social metaphors through gesture, mark-making, and image. The exhibition traces tensions between heaven and earth, presence and absence, freedom and constraint, and self and society—revealing the delicate mechanisms that mediate human experience.

In horology, the escapement is the precision mechanism of a timepiece that mediates between two realms, the stored energy of the mainspring and its measured release into motion. It is the element that both permits and resists, translating raw potential into the measured cadence of a second hand or pendulum. Acting as a counterforce to unwound chaos, it creates the illusion of control and stability through a hidden process in dialogue with infinity.

Announcing our September exhibition:
Beetles, Cats, Clouds:
The Manga of Tsurita Kuniko, Yamada Murasaki, and Kondoh Akino

Curated by Ryan Holmberg

Sept 10, 2025-Jan 24, 2026
Opening reception September 10 | 6-8pm

80WSE
80 Washington Square East
New York

Beetles, Cats, Clouds features three women manga artists—Tsurita Kuniko, Yamada Murasaki, and Kondoh Akino—whose work defied the reigning gender conventions within Japanese comics 1960s into 2000s. Against the stereotypes of melodramatic romance in shōjo manga (girls’ comics) and sexual objectification of women characters in shōnen (boys’) and men’s manga, these artists explored gender issues and new languages of artistic expression in ways that challenged the social and aesthetic norms of their day.

While active in a variety of venues, and in some cases in multiple media, Tsurita, Yamada, and Kondoh are best known for their work in alternative manga periodicals, namely Garo, COM, and Ax. This exhibition focuses on original drawings from their comics, supplemented by sketches, illustrations, animated shorts, and printed books and magazines.

Emerging in the 1960s as part of the era’s vibrant counterculture and in opposition to the commercial and artistic strictures of the mainstream comics industry in Japan, alternative manga provided a platform for young artists to respond to rapid social change through experimental visual and narrative styles, autobiographical fiction, and anti-establishment themes. Though alternative manga was initially hampered by the same male-dominated hierarchies that governed the rest of the manga industry, over time women artists/editors reshaped their magazines into spaces where contributors could explore issues that mattered to them personally in a voice that was their own—be it on gender norms, sexual freedom, patriarchy at home and in the workplace, the trials of marriage and motherhood, or elder care. Tsurita, Yamada, and Kondoh were each at the forefront of this gradual revolution in their respective eras.

Images:
Tsurita Kuniko
Woman, 1966 | Max, 1974

Yamada Murasaki
Talk To My Back, 1981-84

Kondoh Akino
Ladybug's Requiem, 2003

On view, Soft Baroque and Serban Ionescu in Thrones at Broadway Windows.
 
—
 
THRONES
July 12 - December 7, 2025

Cometabolism Studio
Cluvens
Duyi Han
Jesse Groom
José León Cerrillo
Serban Ionescu
Soft Baroque
SR_A / Kohler
Tom Hancocks
Wentrcek Zebulon

Curated by Howie Chen and Craig Redman

Thrones showcases contemporary chairs by artists, commercial producers, and furniture designers to consider the chair as a site where function, symbolism, and narrative converge. Far from being mere objects, chairs can be seen as material expressions and symptoms of the present moment. Drawing on the legacy of design exhibitions, Thrones engages themes such as bodily activities, gaming, transgression, virtuality, and appropriation, among other currents shaping contemporary culture.

This 80WSE exhibition is organized and designed in collaboration with artist and designer Craig Redman.

Broadway Windows – 80WSE’s satellite space – is a series of five street-level windows located at the corner of Broadway and East 10th Street. The installations can be viewed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Image: Tom Hancocks, Flux, 2025. Courtesy of Artist

Opening next Thursday at Broadway Windows:

THRONES
July 12 - December 7, 2025

Cometabolism Studio
Cluvens
Duyi Han
Jesse Groom
José León Cerrillo
Serban Ionescu
Soft Baroque
SR_A / Kohler
Tom Hancocks
Wentrcek Zebulon

Curated by Howie Chen and Craig Redman

Thrones showcases contemporary chairs by artists, commercial producers, and furniture designers to consider the chair as a site where function, symbolism, and narrative converge. Far from being mere objects, chairs can be seen as material expressions and symptoms of the present moment. Drawing on the legacy of design exhibitions, Thrones engages themes such as bodily activities, gaming, transgression, virtuality, and appropriation, among other currents shaping contemporary culture.

This 80WSE exhibition is organized and designed in collaboration with artist and designer Craig Redman.

Broadway Windows – 80WSE's satellite space – is a series of five street-level windows located at the corner of Broadway and East 10th Street. The installations can be viewed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Image: Tom Hancocks, Flux, 2025. Courtesy of Artist

Last week to see Kevin Kelly, “Caute”, featuring an evocative new film employing speculative optics to journey the radical life and philosophy of Baruch Spinoza. Closes March 15.

Through meticulous research and experimental film techniques, Kelly captures the intimacies of Spinoza’s world, formed by his exile by the Amsterdam Sephardic Jewish community at the age of 23 and his life as a lens grinder for microscopes and telescopes — a chosen profession that informed his philosophical ideas.

Images: Courtesy of artist.

Simone Weil: On the Abolition of All Political Parties, features a new English translation of Note sur la suppression générale des partis politiques (1943) by French philosopher and activist Simone Weil whose life united thought and action.

SIMONE WEIL
ON THE ABOLITION OF ALL POLITICAL PARTIES
January 31 – May 31, 2025
Washington Square Windows

Written before her death and published posthumously with the support of her peer Albert Camus, Weil’s essay offers a critique of how political parties suppress individual will and moral conscience by transforming these energies into collective passions that can be manipulated by its totalitarian tendencies. Weil believed that formal democracy alone does not guarantee a moral society, but rather it is an ambivalent mechanism that needs individuals to act freely and ethically without corruption by institutions and political ideologies.

As a graduate of the École Normale Supérieure, Simone Weil's (1909–1943) practice included working in a Renault Factory in Paris, supporting labor strikes, and supporting the Republican resistance in the Spanish Civil War against Francisco Franco Nationalists. Reflecting on her Jewish heritage, her spiritual journey led her to Christianity, where she developed a mystical theology centered on attention to suffering, universal truth, and human needs.

Note sur la suppression générale des partis politiques (1943) by Simone Weil.
New English translation by Laura Mitterrand.

Organized by Howie Chen with Erika Airikh and Ariel He in collaboration with Fales Library and Special Collections, NYU.

Image:
Poster design draft for "Simone Weil: The Madness for Truth" conference at Columbia University, 1999. From Sylvère Lotringer Papers and Semiotext(e) Archive, MSS.221, Series V. Box: 94, Folder: 14. Courtesy Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University.

Opening Tonight: Kevin Kelly, “Caute”, featuring an evocative new film employing speculative optics to journey the radical life and philosophy of Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677). 

Kevin Kelly
CAUTE
January 31 – March 15, 2025

Opening reception: 
January 31, 2025
6–8PM 

Through meticulous research and experimental film techniques, Kelly captures the intimacies of Spinoza’s world, formed by his exile by the Amsterdam Sephardic Jewish community at the age of 23 and his life as a lens grinder for microscopes and telescopes — a chosen profession that informed his philosophical ideas. 

In Caute, Kelly’s exploration focuses on micro-details from his biography along with the sensorial. Through an interview with the caretaker of his former places of residence and recreating 17th-century optical perspectives by filming scenes Spinoza is known to have looked upon through his singlet lens. He brings viewers into Spinoza’s intellectual landscape and physical surroundings as Spinoza wrestled with radical ideas that linked God and nature, explored the dynamics of emotion, and championed intellectual autonomy in the face of religious dogma and state ideology. 

Through poetic visual fragments, the film reflects his pursuit of truth amid religious and social isolation and the tolerant community who supported him. The exhibition title, Caute—Spinoza’s motto meaning “be cautious”—is a tribute to his steadfast quest. Spinoza’s signet ring bore this message, marking letters he sent into the world.

Organized by Howie Chen 
Produced by Jon Huron