Foundwork

“Thrown slightly off-kilter, Megan Plunkett conjures an amalgam of content that tracks the inherent strangeness and volatility of imaginal distribution. She extracts and reshapes content from circulating media systems, or else she constructs it anew in order to work through and destabilize visual grammar,” writes @reillykdavidson of the second of three artists she selected from our platform. “This is always a matter of framing, rather than holding fast to the oft-invoked, overly romantic “decisive moment.” Her photographs are not “moments,” but rather interjections into the lives of objects and the dissemination of information. Methods of deconstruction, repurposing, and recapitulation are fodder for a mapping of the symbolic threads, desirous productions, and subjective orientations that underpin her field of interest.” ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Megan Plunkett lives and works in Los Angeles. Her serial photographic practice examines the unstable relationship between image and object, questioning how visual suggestions affect perception. She has presented two solo exhibitions at @sweetwater_berlin , most recently in 2025. Other recent solo and two-person exhibitions have been held at @draculasrevenge , @emalinofficial , and F Gallery. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at @_____thewig_____ , @bonnerkunstverein , and @mostyngallery . ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Seen here: “The Hollywood Upstairs 03,” 2025; inkjet print mounted to 1/4 in. black gatorboard ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #ReillyDavidson #MeganPlunkett #foundworkart #foundworkguestcurators

“Helen Shu (@uhsneleh ) rarely regards two works alike, instead cruising across an endless highway of visual signals. She picks up and ditches motifs along the way, gaining constant momentum as she seeks new methods of material arbitration—geometrical tenors intersect with objet trouvé fragments, just as fractured abstractions abut fluid shape-play,” writes @reillykdavidson of the first of three artists she selected from our platform. “Each composition is thus a capsule of freely spun gestures and objects. Rather than commit to a fixed methodology, Shu moves freely between systematic terrains; her will toward formal freedom manifests in unbidden improvisation and recombination.” ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Helen Shu is a painter from Shanghai, China. She currently lives and works in New York. Shu has been featured in exhibitions around the city since 2017. Shu’s deft use of flat planes of color, combined with her nuanced capture of her subjects’ expressions, forms a powerful body of work. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Seen here: “Nail Salon,” 2024; oil on wood panel ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #ReillyDavidson #HelenShu #foundworkart #foundworkguestcurators

We’re pleased to introduce the next participant in our guest curators program—Reilly Davidson (@reillykdavidson )—a curator and writer based in New York who has organized exhibitions at @damien.and.the.love.guru (Brussels), C L E A R I N G (New York and Los Angeles), @shootthelobster (New York), @martos_gallery (New York), and @gallery.castle (Los Angeles), among others. Her writing has also appeared in a range of exhibition catalogues, editorial projects, and publications such as @curamagazine , @artforum , and @kaleidoscopemagazine . ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Davidson selected three artists from our platform whose work stood out to her: Helen Shu (@uhsneleh ), Megan Plunkett, and Maddie Butler (@mb_00_dm ). Discover what resonated about their practices at www.foundwork.art/guest-curators. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #ReillyDavidson #HelenShu #MeganPlunkett #MaddieButler #foundworkart foundworkguestcurators

Congratulations to @dominiquehwhite —our 2022 Foundwork Artist Prize winner—who opened her solo exhibition “All Great Powers Collapse from the Centre” earlier this year at @kunsthallebasel . ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ White’s practice “interweaves maritime mythologies of the Black diaspora with the undoing of hydrarchy through the object that unifies both Blackness and the nation-state: the ship. At the core of the works made for this exhibition is the term ‘shipwreck(ed).’” ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The exhibition, which is open through May 16, expands on themes White and critic @lynne_bias discussed in their conversation for our Dialogues program—in particular, the possibilities in a worldview that centers the sea. You can find the interview at https://foundwork.art/dialogues/dominique-white ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Pictured: Dominique White, “All Great Powers Collapse from the Centre,” exhibition view, Kunsthalle Basel, 2026, photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #Foundworkart #Foundworkdialogues #DominiqueWhite #JessicaLynne

“As a multidisciplinary artist, Tianyi Sun (@tianyisun_ ) contextualises the dilemma of a generation drifting into the technosphere, unwilling to relinquish what it means to be human, theorist and curator Yana Kadykova (@yane.kvs ) writes about her third artist selection from our platform. “The shifting of her media seems as a position. Operating within a language that moves between the Symbolic, the Real and the Imaginary, transparency becomes central in any medium, both in materiality and semantics. Preservation and processing appear at once as liberation and confinement, as the question of what one chooses, and until which moment choice remains possible, stays inscribed.” ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Tianyi Sun is a multidisciplinary artist and researcher based in New York. Her work has been exhibited in NY, Los Angeles, and Beijing and she was recently an artist in residence at 99canal.nyc and @vermontstudiocenter . ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Seen here:Store in a cool dry place (下午), 2024. Heat treated Plexiglass, cast acrylic, silicone, jujube, goji berries, shiitake mushroom, Daoxiangcun pastry, American ginseng, osmanthus, lily bulb, anchovy, acrylic polymer, resin, wax, deconstructed stainless steel dim sum cart, steam. 31 x 28 x 17 in. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #yanakadykova #tianyisun #foundworkart #foundworkguestcurators

“Anna Ehrenstein (@annaehrenstein ) works from a position she must continuously relocate. Moving between different cultures, across shifting power structures, she has come to understand collaboration not as a romantic ideal but as a matter of honest positioning,” writes theorist and curator Yana Kadykova (@yane.kvs ) aboujt the second of three artists she selected from our platform. “Her practice is fundamentally relational, built on the inclusion of people and the reciprocal work of learning from one another. What becomes visible is only ever the surface of something far more layered. Through an opulent material language, she traces and negotiates the flows that circulate between bodies and systems. Permeated by multinational codes, her work unfolds differently depending on who encounters it and from which position. No single interpretation exhausts it.” ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Anna Ehrenstein is an interdisciplinary artist weaving multipolar cosmogony between Berlin, Tirana, and the cloud. She is a professor in the photography department at HGB Leipzig. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Seen here: “Melody For A Harem Girl By The Sea,” 2023. Work cycle encompasses Assemblage / Painting, Textile works, Lenticular Sculptures and Sculpture with Video Work in Phone. 700 x 800 x 800 in. 4:09. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #yanakadykova #annaehrenstein #foundworkart #foundworkguestcurators

“alfatih’s (@alfatiharufa ) works require a counterpart. Not in the sense of an audience that observes, but rather a structural prerequisite. The work becomes complete only in the moment of encounter,” theorist and curator Yana Kadykova (@yane.kvs ) writes about the first of three artists she selected from our platform. “It is the active passage through the work, the act of engaging with it through specific actions or movement, that sets it in motion. His practice brings people together and breaks down the distance sometimes found in passive contemplation. Guided by expectation and irritation, familiar objects lose their original function and slip into the absurd. There lies its humor, and perhaps that is also where its joy comes from.” ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ alfatih lives and works in Switzerland. He has presented interactive, installation and video works in institutions and spaces across Europe and abroad. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Seen here: “Untitled,” 2025; rotating light box. Photograph Sandra Pointet. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #yanakadykova #alfatih #foundworkart #foundworkguestcurators

We’re excited to welcome our latest guest curator—Yana Kadykova (@yane.kvs ) who is an art theorist and curator based in Switzerland and Germany. She serves as an Assistant Curator at @kunsthallebasel and holds an engagement as curator at @47m.contemporary in Leipzig. Her practice moves between exhibitions, listening formats, and editorial work, with a sustained focus on migration, language, and the politics of knowledge-making. She researches how different formats–readers, symposia, translation, and text–produce meaning and make contested social experiences discussable. She is currently developing a multilingual reader gathering voices from artists of first and second migrant generations across Europe. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Yana selected three artists from our platform whose work especially resonated with her: alfatih (@alfatiharufa ) , Anna Ehrenstein (@annaehrenstein ), and Tianyi Sun (@tianyisun_ ). Read more about what stands out about each of their practices at www.foundwork.art/guest-curators. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #yanakadykova #alfatih #annaehrenstein #tianyisun #foundworkart foundworkguestcurators

@junecanedodesouza — who is among the 2026–27 Core Fellows at @mfahouston ’s Glassell School of Art—has much to celebrate this month. In addition to the 2026 Core Exhibition debut (the first public presentation of work produced during the residency), her solo show “All top teeth knocked out at once” opens on March 28th at @nicodimgallery in Los Angeles, where she’s also included in the group exhibition “The Body Does Not Explain Itself” on view through this Saturday 3/21. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ For a deeper dive on how the artist’s practice metabolizes lived experience through mark marking, from migration and motherhood to the eternal human struggle with the intricacies of perception and belonging, check out our 2023 Dialogues interview with Canedo de Souza and editorial director @isabelflower : https://foundwork.art/dialogues/june-canedo-de-souza ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Pictured here: ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Canedo de Souza in the studio, courtesy of the artist ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ forest landscape painting, 2026; oil on canvas, courtesy of Nicodim Gallery ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #Foundworkart #Foundworkdialogues #JuneCanedodeSouza #IsabelFlower

“Since I had my kids, my work has become more concerned with the human experience—coming of age—and thinking about living in this particular time and what it means to be a child or a parent. We’re all children or parents,” (@_sayre_gomez_ ) tells (@nawinawinawi ) in their conversation for our Dialogues program. Read about how Gomez’s most recent solo show, “Precious Moments” at @davidkordanskygallery , helped expand the humanistic impulse in his work at www.foundwork.art/dialogues. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Pictured here: “Your One Stop Shop (Pink Panther),” 2025; Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the Artist and David Kordansky Gallery. Photo: Jeff McLane. © Sayre Gomez. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #SayreGomez #DianaNawi #foundworkart #foundworkdialogues

“You go through a lot of different phases as an artist, trying on different hats. I was always into drawing. I was always into making stuff; I felt the best when I got my hands dirty. I always would say in studio visits, ‘if I’m ever able to hire anyone, I would hire an idea person, and then I would just make everything,’” (@_sayre_gomez_ ) tells (@nawinawinawi ) in their conversation for our Dialogues program. “I like making stuff and I always have. That’s the one pitfall of the conceptual framework—it sort of teaches you that anything you do with your body is dumb. There’s an elitism there; you’ll just get a fabricator or a craftsperson. You’re the artist, so you’re about brains, and the body is for someone else to deal with. And, let’s be fair, that’s how capitalism has suppressed minorities for… forever.” Read their expanded discussion about our perception of craft, stylization, and the value of the human hand at www.foundwork.art/dialogues. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Seen here: “Family Haircuts,” 2025; Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the Artist and David Kordansky Gallery. Photo: Jeff McLane. © Sayre Gomez. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #SayreGomez #DianaNawi #foundworkart #foundworkdialogues

We’re thrilled to announce the next interview in our Dialogues program—a conversation between artist Sayre Gomez (@_sayre_gomez_ ) and curator Diana Nawi (@nawinawinawi ), both based in Los Angeles. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ “Making a photorealistic painting using airbrush has meaning because airbrush is traditionally outside this gamut of what’s been accepted and taught. It has a politics to it, in and of itself. It’s tapping into a history that’s about something else, and that is never not in conversation with photography. From its inception [airbrushing], the material itself, the tool, was invented to retouch photographs,” Gomez tells Nawi; in this wide-ranging conversation, two discuss the politics of vernacular imagemaking, the myths of originality and expression, and whether art can make you cry. Find the full interview at https://foundwork.art/dialogues. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Sayre Gomez was born in Chicago and holds an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His works are held in the permanent collections of museums across the US and world, and his latest solo exhibition, “Sayre Gomez: Precious Moments,” runs from January 16–March 1, 2026 at @davidkordanskygallery in Los Angeles. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Diana Nawi is Curator of Special Projects at @lacma . ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Seen here: “Ice Cream Groceries,” 2025; Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the Artist and David Kordansky Gallery. Photo: Jeff McLane. © Sayre Gomez. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #SayreGomez #DianaNawi #foundworkart #foundworkdialogues