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Tribeca Gallery Night! Thank you to everyone who joined us for the opening of “Julian V.L. Gaines: Fly in the Sugar Bowl.” The exhibition will be on view through Saturday, June 20th. #CristinTierneyGallery #JulianVLGaines #FlyintheSugarBowl #49Walker @juworkingonprojects @cristintierney Photos by Kevin Czopek. Thank you, @bfa

Great Show! @kozo_tattoo

Join us tonight from 6:00 to 8:00 pm for the opening of “Fly in the Sugar Bowl,” an exhibition of new and recent works by Julian V.L. Gaines. This is the artist’s first solo show with the gallery, who will be present at the opening reception, coinciding with Tribeca Gallery Night. The exhibition will be on view through Saturday, June 20th. #CristinTierneyGallery #JulianVLGaines #FlyintheSugarBowl #49Walker @juworkingonprojects @cristintierney Installation views by @mishin.photo

Fly in the Sugar Bowl is a body of work that examines the uneasy relationship between Black presence and American prosperity. The phrase suggests a contradiction: the sweetness of opportunity paired with the suspicion of contamination. A sugar bowl represents comfort, abundance, and the promise of refinement, yet the presence of a fly instantly transforms that sweetness into tension. What was desirable becomes threatened. Within this metaphor, the fly becomes a figure for Black existence in spaces historically built without us in mind. The work reflects on what it means to be inside the bowl—inside the American dream, inside cultural institutions, inside systems of wealth and visibility—while still being perceived as an intrusion. Throughout American history, Black figures have entered the sugar bowl in different ways: through sports, music, politics, media, and culture. Publications like Jet magazine documented these moments, capturing the complicated visibility of Black life in America. Success, notoriety, beauty, scandal, resistance—all appeared in its pages. Each figure, in their own way, became a fly in the bowl: present, influential, impossible to ignore, yet often framed as disruptive to the order of things. The works in this exhibition move between painting, assemblage, and symbolic objects. Everyday materials, cultural imagery, and historical references collide to reflect the layered experience of visibility and alienation. The pieces are not literal depictions of flies or sugar bowls; rather, they explore the psychological and historical weight of the metaphor. Sweetness becomes a trap. Access becomes scrutiny. Presence becomes protest. Underlying the work is the idea of double consciousness described by W.E.B. Du Bois—the experience of seeing oneself through one’s own eyes while simultaneously being seen through the lens of a society that questions one’s belonging. The fly does not merely land in the sugar bowl; it reveals something about the bowl itself. Fly in the Sugar Bowl asks a simple but unsettling question: Who gets to enjoy the sweetness of America, and who is still treated like they do not belong there?

Tribeca Gallery Night is tomorrow from 6:00 to 8:00pm! Join us for the opening reception of “Julian V.L. Gaines: Fly in the Sugar Bowl.” #CristinTierneyGallery #JulianVLGaines #FlyInTheSugarbowl #TribecaGalleryNight #49Walker @seesawmap @juworkingonprojects @cristintierney

OPENING THIS FRIDAY — “Julian V.L. Gaines: Fly in the Sugar Bowl” This marks Gaines’s first solo show with the gallery, who will be present at the opening reception, Friday, May 15th, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, coinciding with Tribeca Gallery Night. Spanning painting, sculpture, and assemblage, the artist’s work examines the tensions between Black experience and the structures of systemic inequality in the United States. Gaines reimagines the realm of representation with his “JET BLACK” series, which reworks imagery from the mid-century publication Jet Magazine. In his painting “JET BLACK.17 (The First Leap Took Courage)” (2025), Michael Jordan emerges against uniform grounds with graphic elements. Suspended between portraiture and reproduction, this work foregrounds how Black identity has been framed and consumed, while reclaiming these images as sites of cultural authorship and self-definition. #CristinTierneyGallery #JulianVLGaines #FlyintheSugarBowl #49Walker @juworkingonprojects @cristintierneygallery Julian V.L. Gaines, JET BLACK.17 (The First Leap Took Courage), 2025. Oil on linen. 72 x 60 inches (182.9 x 152.4 cm).

We are pleased to present “Fly in the Sugar Bowl,” a solo exhibition of new and recent works by Julian V.L. Gaines. This is the artist’s first solo show with the gallery. The exhibition opens Friday, May 15th and will be on view through Saturday, June 20th. The artist will be present at the opening reception on May 15th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, coinciding with Tribeca Gallery Night.   Spanning painting, sculpture, and assemblage, Gaines’s work examines the tensions between Black experience and the structures of systemic inequality in the United States. “Fly in the Sugar Bowl” takes its title from multiple sources, including Thomas J. Lax’s essay in “Among Others: Blackness at MoMA” (2019), Greg Tate’s “Flyboy in the Buttermilk” (1992), and a line from the traditional American folk song and singing game “Skip to My Lou.” It serves as a central metaphor for the exclusion and exploitation of Black accomplishment within a white-dominant society. To be a “fly in the sugar bowl”—at most literal, a dark speck against a sea of white—is to exist as an insider and an outsider at once: influential yet unable to fully partake in the nectar of prosperity. Underlying the work is a condition akin to W.E.B. Du Bois’s formulation of double consciousness—the experience of seeing oneself simultaneously through one’s own eyes and through the lens of a hostile society. Here, the “fly” does not simply disturb the sugar bowl; it reveals something about the bowl itself, prompting the question: Who is permitted to partake in the sweetness of America, and who is marked as a disturbance.* *[link in bio to read the full press release] #CristinTierneyGallery #JulianVLGaines #FlyInTheSugarBowl #painting #sculpture @juworkingonprojects @cristintierney

Bro said he’s curating next year’s exhibit.

In honor of Women’s History Month. Mrs. Mamie Till-Mobley, Thank You. (Bulletproof), 2025 Painted metal, bullet holes, light 46 x 40 x 5 in. 🏗️✨

Honored and grateful to have been selected for the National Football League’s 1st Masterclass last weekend during Art Basel. Shoutout to the entire team for making the evening feel kinda like Draft Night; I made my momma proud! Thanks to the @nfl for this incredible opportunity to exhibit my piece “Still In The Field” alongside the works of these amazing artists. I appreciate you @camkirk for your wisdom and all the game you passed along to us: (I took your advice). Excited for what’s ahead! 🏗️✨ Still In The Field, 2024 60 x 72 in Cleats and cement on linen

Meet Julian V.L. Gaines our next featured artist in the Artist Replay Program. Originally from Chicago and now based in Portland, Julian’s passion for football runs deep – playing the game that now inspires his art 🎨 Visit /artistreplayto dive deeper into their work and discover more about each artist ➡️

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