High Line Nine x Sugarlift Artist Residency

Born during the COVID-19 shutdown, the High Line Nine x Sugarlift Artist Residency turned storefront galleries at High Line Nine in Chelsea into working studios. In place of packed openings, anyone could walk the building's corridor free of charge and watch art being made through the same windows that usually display finished work, then buy a piece by scanning a QR code on the glass.

The first season, Dare to Reimagine, ran in July and August 2020 with Nicolas V. Sanchez, Vicky Barranguet, Casey Baugh, Luke Baggott and Rubin415, each in a gallery of their own, chosen by a selection committee. On August 27 the five opened their studios for an evening exhibition, a masked walk-through of five rooms of new work.

From the fall of 2020 the residency continued with longer solo stays. Annesta Le, who makes illuminated neon sculptures and works on paper, arrived in October. Eileen Murphy, whose paintings draw on the landscape of Columbia County, New York, and photographer Humza Deas, who first made his name climbing to great heights to photograph the city, followed in November and December. Svetlana Rabey worked from December into January, and Liz Jaff, who makes installations, objects and works on and of paper, stayed through January and February 2021.

For a second summer, from August 5 to 30, 2021, Andrea von Bujdoss, Ryan Coleman, Edward Granger and Lydia Baker turned their galleries into live studios, covering the walls with murals and panoramic tableaus that went from blank to technicolor in four weeks. Lauren Matsumoto was in residence in the fall of 2021, and Maja Dlugolecki closed the program with a two-week stay in March 2022. In all, 16 artists worked in the residency.