NEW YORK, NY.- The FLAG Art Foundation celebrates its 5th anniversary this fall. To commemorate this milestone, the 9th floor features a 5th Anniversary Group Exhibition and on the 10th floor, Images of Venus from Wayne Lawrence’s Orchard Beach: The Bronx Riviera curated by Awol Erizku. Both exhibitions are on view October 5 through December 14.

FLAG has organized 30 exhibitions since it opened to the public in 2008. FLAG would like to thank the curators and artists for their participation. Their vision and talent have been invaluable and has impacted thousands of viewers. FLAG remains committed to its mission to encourage the appreciation of contemporary art among a diverse audience.

Through the duration of the exhibitions, FLAG will host a series of salon events to thank FLAG's supporters and welcome new viewers. In the spirit of FLAG’s focus on collaboration, the events will intersect art with performance, fashion, food, and more.

9th floor
The 5th Anniversary Group Exhibition includes 15 emerging and established artists, the majority of whom have previously shown at FLAG.

Cecily Brown • Marc Dennis • Ellen Gallagher • Jane Hammond • Nir Hod • Jim Hodges • Wayne Lawrence • Josephine Meckseper • Julie Mehretu • Chris Ofili • Ged Quinn • Charles Ray • Gerhard Richter • Jeff Sonhouse • Mathew Weir

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Identifying and promoting emerging talent is core to FLAG's program. FLAG presents Images of Venus from Wayne Lawrence's Orchard Beach: The Bronx Riviera curated by artist Awol Erizku. Awol exhibited in FLAG's 2011 Art² and 2013 personal, political, mysterious exhibitions.

The Orchard Beach series resonates with Awol's approach to portraiture. When discussing Wayne's work, Awol notes it quotes both photography and painting and that it both engages and leaves the spectator wanting to see more. The images are subtle yet confrontational; this aspect of the artist's image making enables him to navigate two complementary axes-as a form of documentation and as a reference to classical portraiture.

"Originally from St. Kitts, West Indies, I immigrated to the United States almost 20 years ago, settling in Los Angeles, California, where I worked as a commercial carpenter for five years. In my mid-twenties, while searching for new direction in my life, I discovered the autobiography of Gordon Parks, A Choice of Weapons, along with the work of Richard Avedon and Eli Reed at the local library. As an immigrant searching for my place within American society, I immediately identified parallels within Parks' life story and my own journey. The inherent emotion in Reed and Avedon's work was palpable, and I felt immediately that I, too, could master this new language of photography. For the first time I was faced with imagery that dealt with the human condition, and I committed to use photography as a tool for my own personal education and to confront long-standing ideas about race and class.

In 2002, while continuing my pursuit of photographic education in California, I received news that my older brother, David, had been murdered back home in St. Kitts. This tragedy marked a major turning point in my journey, and photography became an integral part of my healing process.

With the realization that my life's work, my survival, would require a heightened level of personal engagement, I gave up the isolation I had always felt in Los Angeles and relocated to the bustling streets and diverse culture of New York City. With a new sense of purpose, over the next six years I began focusing my lens on the only beach in New York's Bronx, Orchard Beach.

Although the Bronx is considered one of the most diverse communities in America, its image has been largely defined by the urban blight that the city endured during the late 1960's through the 1980's when arson, drug addiction, and social neglect decimated many of its neighborhoods.

Built in the 1930's, Orchard Beach, or 'Chocha Beach' as it is commonly known, remains an oasis for generations of Bronx families but is stigmatized as one of the worst beaches in New York. My personal experience of Orchard Beach, however, has been one of the most fulfilling of my life, and I have strived over many years to create an honorable representation of the community there.

Orchard Beach consists of portraits of proud men and women with audacious attitude, loving couples, and families at play. In this work I am interested in challenging the stereotypes associated with working-class people by highlighting themes of community, cultural pride and the individuals' quest for identity."
- Wayne Lawrence