A vip artist talk

Private VIP reception and discussion | July 30, 2022
in partnership with fairchain

WORTHLESSSTUDIOS is thrilled to have partnered with Fairchain to host a private VIP Artist Talk at The Reform Club on July 30th to open our 2022 Summer Social! Guest and joined us in the shade of Manta de Cielo, a textile sculpture by Mexican artist group, Celeste, for an intimate conversation about the state of the art ecosystem, public art, and new models for supporting artists. The conversation was moderated by Allison Glenn (Senior Curator, Public Art Fund), and panelists included Eric Fischl (artist), Kennedy Yanko (artist), Charlie Jarvis (Co-founder, Fairchain) and Stephanie Dockery (Bloomberg Philanthropies).

All proceeds from the VIP Artist Talk and the Summer Social went directly towards supporting our artistic programming, including our upcoming project, 1-800 HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Witness the conversation yourself by listening to the full audio below:

stephanie dockery

Stephanie Dockery leads Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge, a national competition that supports temporary public art projects in cities throughout the U.S. Stephanie manages Bloomberg Connects, a portfolio of grants to support technology development at cultural institutions around the world. Additionally, Stephanie manages partnerships for Bloomberg Connects Mobile, a portfolio app developed by Bloomberg Philanthropies and LP which partners with arts institutions to deliver content to worldwide audiences.

eric fischl

Eric Fischl is an internationally acclaimed American painter and sculptor. His artwork is represented in many distinguished museums throughout the world and has been featured in over a thousand publications. His extraordinary achievements throughout his career have made him one of the most influential figurative painters of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Eric Fischl is also the founder, President and lead curator for America: Now and Here and is a Fellow at both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Science. He lives and works in Sag Harbor, NY with his wife, the painter April Gornik.

allison glenn

Allison Glenn is a curator and writer deeply invested in working closely with artists to develop ideas, artworks, and exhibitions that respond to and transform our understanding of the world. Glenn’s curatorial work focuses on the intersection of art and publics, through public art, biennials, special projects, and major new commissions by leading contemporary artists. She is currently a Senior Curator at Public Art Fund in New York City and one of the curators of Counterpublic 2023, a St. Louis-based triennial.

Charlie jarvis

Charlie Jarvis is the co-founder and Vice President of Fairchain. She is an entrepreneur, technologist and creative with a passion for art, culture and social justice. Previous to founding Fairchain, Jarvis worked in engineering and product management roles at Google and Youtube Music. Jarvis studied Computer Science and Studio Art at Stanford, where she met co-founder Max Kendrick. Jarvis is committed to building at the intersection of tech and creativity, while creating frameworks for lasting social change.

kennedy yanko

Kennedy Yanko is a sculptor and installation artist working in found metal and paint skin. Yanko deploys her materials in ways that explore the limitations of optic vision, underlining the opportunities we miss when looking with eyes alone. Her methods reflect a dual abstract expressionist-surrealist approach that centers the seen and unseen factors that affect, contribute to, and moderate human experience.

In 2019, Yanko debuted three solo shows: Highly Worked (Denny Dimin Gallery, New York), Hannah (Kavi Gupta, Chicago), and Before Words (UICA, Grand Rapids), and installed her first public sculpture, 3 WAYS, on the Poydras Corridor in New Orleans in collaboration with The Helis Foundation and the Ogden Museum of Art. In 2020, she opened two solo shows, Because it’s in my blood (Galleria Poggiali, Milan) and Salient Queens (Vielmetter Gallery, Los Angeles), and in 2021, Yanko presented her solo exhibition Postcapitalist Desire (Tilton Gallery, New York), and White, Passing at the Rubell Museum (Miami, FL).

Yanko was named Art Forum’s “Critic’s Pick” in 2019 and was featured in 100 Sculptors of Tomorrow published by Thames & Hudson. She was the 2021 Artist in Residence at the Rubell Museum.

Yanko's institutional exhibitions include the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (Parallels and Peripheries); University of South Florida (Life During WarTime). Her work is included in private museums, namely: The Bunker Artspace, West Palm Beach, Espacio Tacuari, Buenos Aires, and the Rubell Museum, Miami.