Lauren’s XMAS SHOP
Artist, Lauren Cohen, inside her Xmas Shop at ArtX NYC
Photograph by Anastasiya Shelest @shelestanastasiya
Lauren Cohen, Visual Artist, opens a holiday store in the heart of the meatpacking district at ArtX NYC
ArtX NYC will present Lauren’s Xmas Shop, a joyful art exhibition with a dark twist. Soft opening on December 5th with a party and comedy show to follow on December 19th 2024.
Artist, Lauren Cohen, sitting on the bar counter at ArtX NYC
Photograph by Anastasiya Shelest @shelestanastasiya
The holidays can be difficult when you’re alone. ArtX NYC is pleased to present Lauren’s Xmas Shop, a unique holiday experience which explores the artist’s innermost fears, anxieties and a nuanced understanding of sexuality shaped by trauma and disconnection. The last several years of living in New York have not been easy. Cohen has been celebrating the holidays on her own by obsessively drawing sets of cards and sculpting ornaments which all seem to elude to her inability to connect with other people. When Covid arrived, she began setting up holiday booths on the side of the road in her neighborhood, but this year she is moving indoors to the former Lotus nightclub. Steeped in its 90s - 2000s nostalgia, when Leonardo DiCaprio and Prince would have been served drinks at the bar, this exhibition presents the ghosts from winter's past.
photo by Sabrina Barca @labarquita www.sabrinabarca.com
Phoenix Eisenberg and Lauren Cohen inside ArtX NYC
Photograph by Anastasiya Shelest @shelestanastasiya
After experiencing the front of Lauren’s Xmas Shop, guests are invited into the defunct club kitchen where an immersive installation has been produced by the venue’s director, Phoenix Eisenberg. During the pandemic, both Lauren and Phoenix found the therapeutic qualities of sculpting and these are the first moments they are revealing their creations. Works sit atop dusty stainless-steel countertops and in crusty pans that once cooked meals for patrons. Odd, anthropomorphized sculptures intermingle with floppy disks, VHS tapes and other evocative ephemera which feel like petrified reminders from another time and place.
Lauren Cohen and Phoenix Eisenberg inside their installation at ArtX NYC
Photograph by Anastasiya Shelest @shelestanastasiya
Lauren’s Xmas Shop
Dec 5th - Dec 22nd 2024
Party and Comedy Show : December 19th, 2024 5PM - 10PM
ArtX NYC
409 West 14th Street
Btw 9th and 10th Avenue
New York, NY 10014
Hours of Operation:
Thursday - Sunday or by Appointment
11am - 6pm
ArtX NYC
ArtX NYC is a multi-faceted art space in New York’s Meatpacking District, combining retail, events, artist agency, and immersive programming to revive one of Manhattan's most iconic former nightspots. Located at 409 West 14th Street, ArtX’s New York site occupies a three story former nightclub, once the favorite nightspot of musicians and celebrities, including performances by Prince and Madonna.
Lauren Cohen
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. Having grown up (and out) of Puritan New England, she connects historical events and characters to her own growth and development in order to form fictional mythologies. Cohen has been drawing a naked cartoon version of herself experiencing life and all of its challenges since moving to New York in 2018. She has produced five graphic novels that depict the trials and travails of a female artist’s journey and her character grapples with the idea of success and existence. Cohen gathers the content for her work by documenting a constructed life that seem 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.
Lauren Cohen holds a BFA from California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA and a Masters from Royal College of Art, London, UK. Her work has been exhibited at Ace Hotel, New York; KinoSaito, New York; ArtPort, New York; Raynham Hall Museum, New York; Ghost Machine Gallery, New York; Felix Art Fair Presented by Voloshyn Gallery, Los Angeles; Westbeth Gallery, New York; Wassaic Project, New York; Spring/Break Art Show, New York; The Museum of Modern Art Department of Film, New York; Van Der Plas Gallery, New York; Trestle Gallery, New York; Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York; The Maine Jewish Museum, Portland; Patricia Sweetow Gallery, San Francisco; The di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, California; The London Institute of Contemporary Art; The Blyth Gallery, London; and Goldsmiths College of London. She has been an Artist in Residence at MacDowell, NARS, The Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and MASS MoCA. Previous juried exhibitions include Bloomberg New Contemporaries, The Catlin Guide, and Saatchi New Sensations. Forthcoming exhibitions: Marinaro Gallery, New York; Ruby/Dakota, New York; Powerhouse Arts, New York, and Brigitte Mulholland, Paris, France
Website: www.laurencohenstudio.com
Email: laurenjcohen@gmail.com
IG: @laurencohenstudio
Phoenix Eisenberg
Phoenix Eisenberg, a native of New York, forged a strong bond with the city’s burgeoning street art scene. At the age of 21, he began documenting local artists, particularly in the 5 Pointz area. In 2011, he founded the Save 5 Pointz group and collaborated with a law firm to facilitate a lawsuit that resulted in a multi-million dollar settlement benefiting the artists. Prior to founding ArtX, Phoenix operated his own cultural venue called Redbird Gallery, across from the Whitney Museum, which showcased prominent figures from the international street art community. Currently, he serves as the director of ArtX, where he has developed diverse programming. Since 2014 Phoenix has organized exhibitions by Andres Serrano, a mural across from the Whitney Museum by JR, launched a new bottle by Belvedere in collaboration with Laolu, hosted a private concert by Twelfth Night prior to their debut at Carnegie Hall and he is currently hosting an immersive theater production by Third Rail Projects.
Website: www.artxnyc.com
Email: phoenix@artxny.com