Three friends sharing their work—an evening of performance and video at The Sunview Luncheonette.
“Sun Liss Dies (detail)” by Christopher Watkins
Three of Florida State University’s own will be showcasing their work at Brooklyn’s member-based social club, the Sunview Luncheonette on December 15th. A self-professed “storefront on pause,” what began as a restaurant and community space for neighborhood residents until its eventual closure in 2008 has become a hub for the art community. What exists there now is what the club calls a “microvenue” for art, poetry, and workshops as well as a studio for the design, publication and distribution of printed works. Huisi He (MFA ’15), Nathaniel Hendrickson (MFA ’18) and Christopher Watkins (BFA ’16) will add to the Sunview’s long tradition of resisting traditional commodification and gentrification.
Huisi He’s performance at the Sunview, A Journey to the Past, outlines narratives of escape, embrace and retrospection in a three-part choreography. Huisi He is a New York-based and Chinese-born artist. Her primary focuses are on performance, choreography, painting, and video. In the years since beginning her art practice, healing has become a central element, allowing her to let go of negative thoughts and emotions in order to embrace life.
Nathaniel Hendrickson will present Negative Symbolic Flesh or The Wonders of Withdrawal, is a 24-minute video-collage that explores collaborative performance, documentary street photography, erotic abandonment, field recorcings and appropriated YouTube gems to reveal violence, confusion and heartbreak. Nathaniel Hendrickson is an MFA candidate in visual art at Florida State University. Residing in New York city for the fall semester, he has been studying dance and performance through the FSU in NYC program and is a current Curatorial Intern at The Kitchen.
Christopher Watkins’ work, Sun-Liss-Dies, uses diaristic methods of storytelling to oscillate between tenderness and violence, relating the performer’s body to the apparatus of the camera. A recent BFA graduate from Florida State University, Christopher is the current director of programming at Abrons Art Center. His most recent exhibitions include Soup Experimental and has presented at the 2016 New York Art Book Fair.
Nate Hendrickson