BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Art in America Guide - ECPv6.7.0//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Art in America Guide
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://artinamericaguide.com
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Art in America Guide
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20260308T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20261101T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260625
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260822
DTSTAMP:20260802T160052
CREATED:20260521T204125Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260521T204125Z
UID:116504-1782345600-1787356799@artinamericaguide.com
SUMMARY:Niu Systems
DESCRIPTION:Including work by Kaili Chun\, Sean Connelly\, Pier Fichefeux\, Kainoa Gruspe\, Amber Khan\, John Koga\, Roland Longstreet\, Nicole Parente-Lopez\, Nanea Lum\, Dane Nakama\, Enoka Phillips\, Nalani Sato\, and Lawrence Seward \nRYAN LEE Gallery is pleased to present Niu Systems\, a group exhibition of contemporary artists from Hawai‘i. \nNiu is not a coconut. This distinction is not merely linguistic. Where “coconut” names an object for consumption\, niu holds layers of ‘ike (knowledge): husk\, shell\, water\, flesh\, each revealing itself only through time\, care\, and engagement. Niu is a relation\, not a resource. It carries genealogy\, voyaging histories\, ancestral planting practices\, and future sustenance. Every part has purpose; nothing is isolated; nothing is wasted. To encounter niu is to slow down\, to work with one’s hands\, to engage in process rather than extraction. It becomes kumu\, a teacher\, reminding us that knowledge is not taken but revealed through relationships. \nNiu Systems takes this framework as its ground. The exhibition does not treat niu as metaphor or decoration\, but as a model for how the works here coexist: as distributed\, interdependent parts of a larger structure\, each distinct\, each inseparable from the whole. On islands\, time does not move forward. It gathers. Histories accumulate\, materials circulate\, and relationships to land deepen. In Hawai‘i\, ancestral knowledge\, migration\, and contemporary movement overlap within a compressed geography. Land is not distant. It is encountered through use\, through memory\, and through the conditions of daily life. \nAmber Khan employs niu cordage alongside wood and metal\, binding organic and constructed elements where every binding carries both physical and cultural tension. Sean Connelly’s structures rely on lashing and compression\, holding form through balance rather than fixed joinery\, a logic the niu itself enacts. Kainoa Gruspe maps surface and accumulation\, where fragments of environment\, sand\, line\, debris\, become quiet records of movement and contact. In Dane Nakama’s panels\, shells\, pumice\, and sand are embedded directly into the work\, collapsing image and shoreline into the same plane. \nNanea Lum’s use of kapa and video extends material into duration\, making process and time visible within the work. John Koga and Enoka Phillips both engage the inherited weight of objects\, how things carry histories that exceed their surfaces. Nalani Sato positions pōhaku within domestic interiors\, shifting land into spaces of habitation and memory. Nicole Parente-Lopez isolates the form of a single stone\, rendering it as both object and field. Roland Longstreet and Pier Fichefeux approach Hawai‘i from positions shaped by movement and distance\, engaging the islands as sites of encounter\, observation\, and projection\, perspectives that do not resolve into a singular view but exist in active relation to the others. \nLawrence Seward’s contribution brings the niu into direct sculptural presence. His works are not literal coconuts but representations: painted\, assembled forms that invoke the niu’s physical layers while opening onto something stranger and more interior. Organic materials\, found objects\, and bold surface treatments accumulate on forms that read simultaneously as vessel\, organism\, and world. Where other works in the exhibition engage niu as structural logic\, Seward’s pieces make its body visible – the husk\, the opening\, the held interior – as sites of mystery and meaning rather than utility. \nThe conceptual grounding for the exhibition draws in part from the thinking of Kaili Chun\, whose work is also included here. Chun’s articulation of niu as a relational framework\, one that holds layers of ‘ike rather than a single extractable use\, shapes how the exhibition understands its own materials and positions. Her contribution to the show reflects this same integration of concept and form. \nTogether\, the works in Niu Systems do not argue for a single relationship to land\, material\, or time. Some are grounded in genealogy. Others arrive through migration or temporary presence. What the exhibition holds is not a unified narrative but something closer to what the niu itself demonstrates: a system where each part participates in the whole\, where use is inseparable from responsibility\, and where meaning is not extracted but revealed slowly\, through attention\, care\, and relationship. \nNiu Systems is curated by Jon Santos within Ontopo\, a platform spanning performance\, installation\, and exhibition formats across sites and disciplines. This presentation continues Ontopo’s exhibition track centering Hawai‘i-based artists.
URL:https://artinamericaguide.com/event/niu-systems/
LOCATION:RYAN LEE\, 515 W 26th St\, 3rd Fl\, New York\, NY\, 10001\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://artinamericaguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Sean_Connelly_01-Helix_edit_CMYK-scaled.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="RYAN LEE":MAILTO:info@ryanleegallery.com
GEO:40.7500935;-74.0036112
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=RYAN LEE 515 W 26th St 3rd Fl New York NY 10001 United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=515 W 26th St\, 3rd Fl:geo:-74.0036112,40.7500935
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR