“A four-minute walk from where you’re standing, my life changed. At the New York Studio School on West 8th Street, I walked into my first drawing class with Graham Nickson and never looked back. That room is why I moved to this city. The city never left me—I carry it still.”
Curtis
@talwst Santiago’s work “No Player Shall Gain An Advantage” (2025), originally made in flashé, acrylic paint, aerosol, and charcoal, has been scaled to 30 x 24 feet and transposed to scaffold netting, installed on active scaffolding on a building just off the corner of E 9th street and University Place in Manhattan.
On view through July 2026, our main supporter for the project is the FIFA 26 NYNJ Host Committee
@fwc26nynj , timed to the lead-up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the project is part of the Committee’s ongoing efforts to engage the region and incoming visitors.
Part of an ongoing body of work by Santiago in which soccer enters as a visual and conceptual framework, the title “No Player Shall Gain An Advantage” references FIFA’s Laws of the Game, specifically from Law 11, the offside rule, which penalizes a player if they “become actively involved in play.” The law is designed to prevent a player from “gaining an advantage by being in that position.” Across paintings, sculpture, and dioramas, the artist has been working to translate the movement and ritual of sport into a broader exploration, using soccer and its rules, as a way of thinking through legitimacy, positionality, and power.
All inquiries regarding the original 20 × 23 1/2 inch painting may be directed to the NY-based gallery
@uffnerliu .
Come visit the site 24/7 in any weather (it hits differently at different times of the day)––post some photos and tag
@facadefoundation ,
@talwst and
@fwc26nynj to be reposted over the next few months! Big thank you to our partners Andamio Scaffolding,
@designbuildmade and
@nyculture 🫡
Facade Foundation works with artists, scaffold companies and building owners, to turn active construction sites into a citywide platform for ambitious contemporary art—making works accessible, impactful, and woven into the fabric of everyday life.
