CURRENT & Upcoming EXHIBITIONS
Modern Ink
Crossing Media, Blending Cultures
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 5, 6 - 9pm
​
Visual art has been an essential component of human civilization for more than 3,500 years. From the earliest ancient Greek palace murals to contemporary artistic practices, art like language, music, and theater has evolved through ongoing cultural exchange. Art reflects human thought and artworks shape society; when these forces converge, they generate profound creative energy.
​
Ink is the soul of Chinese art. In celebration of the 2026 Chinese New Year, Culture Lab LIC presents Modern Ink: Crossing Media, Blending Cultures, a group exhibition of contemporary Chinese artists. The five participating artists each possess a distinctive style and unique artistic language. Through their works, audiences can hear a voice that traverses Eastern and Western artistic media, integrates the essence of both cultures, and resonates with the pulse of contemporary society; they can also see conceptual expressions that range from the concentrated spirit of Chinese calligraphy and expressions to the Wall Street Series, which is deeply connected to the realities of modern life.
​Drawing on years of artistic practice, the artists reveal both their personal creative pursuits and broader cultural concerns. These works invite viewers into a multilayered aesthetic experience while encouraging reflection on classical and contemporary art, Eastern and Western traditions, and the human condition of our time.
​
Artists:
Li Geng
Wang Houtang
Gan Yu
Qin Feng
Bian Hong
Curator: Ethan Cohen
Assistant Curators: Chere Hong and Jessica Yang
Academic Host: Tess Howsam and Gan Yu
​
Full support from Culture Lab LIC, New York
Generous sponsorship from Kung-Fu Ink, Inc., New York
​
On view February 6 - March 29 during gallery hours:
Thursday & Friday, 5-9pm, and Saturday & Sunday, 2-9pm.
Free Admission. Donations Welcome.
The Stories Behind Their Names
Queens Women in Action
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 5, 6 - 9pm
On view: February 6 - March 29 during gallery hours:
Thursday & Friday, 5-9pm, and Saturday & Sunday, 2-9pm.
Free Admission. Donations Welcome.
​
The Stories Behind Their Names: Queens Women in Action is a community-centered public history exhibition honoring women whose names are woven into our public landscape and whose stories are integral to the making of Queens. Presented during Women’s History Month by the Queens Memory Project in partnership with Urban Archive, the exhibition invites visitors to consider how history lives in our neighborhoods - on the streets, schools, parks, and buildings we pass every day, often without knowing the stories they hold.
​
Drawing from the Queens Name Explorer project, this exhibition honors the democratic power of participatory archiving by including photographs shared by families, oral histories recorded with neighbors, and records shared across generations. These materials reflect a collaborative approach to history-making, where community members are not just subjects of history, but active stewards of it.
​
From Long Island City to Jamaica to the northeastern corner of Queens, the exhibition highlights a diverse group of women whose contributions reshaped neighborhoods and paved the way for a more sustainable future. The women featured here are educators, activists, journalists, public servants, artists, and community advocates, many of them breaking barriers in race, gender, class, and language to create systems of change central to thriving communities.
These women's names mark more than the places they occupy. They tell stories of collective action and sustained efforts, stories that continue to resonate today. By uncovering the stories behind their names, we invite visitors to consider how public memory is constructed, and whose contributions are celebrated.
​
Curated by the Queens Memory Project team: Meral Agish, Dacia Metes, Aimai Reporter, and J. Faye Yuan. Thank you to Queens Public Library’s Archives and Marketing & Communications Department and John Paul Chirdon.
Fine Art At Culture Lab LIC
Culture Lab LIC is a nonprofit art gallery providing a full calendar of monthly exhibitions by emerging and mid-career artists working in visual, installation, interactive, digital and video art. Our exhibitions are often complemented by a diverse series of multidisciplinary performances as well as artist talks, panel discussions & workshops. Culture Lab LIC collaborates with local organizations, individual artists and curators to bring in new ideas, develop cohesive monthly programming and participatory events, with a goal of promoting the cultural growth of our community.
Currently Culture Lab LIC programs between 20 - 36 exhibitions annually with an average of over 1000 visitors monthly, and does not take a commission from the art we sell. Per our mission statement, all proceeds from the sale of art exhibited at Culture Lab LIC goes back to the artist.
Our programming is unique because of the proposal structure we work with as well as our open-door policy towards community volunteers and outside organizations seeking space for different projects. For almost all the exhibitions we have an “Open Call” where all artists have the opportunity to submit their artwork for consideration.
Our team works hard to bring thoughtful, beautiful and groundbreaking programming to Queens.
