{"id":373065,"date":"2026-10-14T17:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T17:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/373065\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T17:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T17:00:11","slug":"subtitled-nyc-is-carving-out-a-third-path-for-new-york-artists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/373065\/","title":{"rendered":"Subtitled NYC Is Carving Out a Third Path for New York Artists"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"\"<\/a>Subtitled NYC began as a practical way for Jaejoon Jang to afford studio space and share work he admired. Courtesy Jaejoon Jang<\/p>\n

Museums move on their own inscrutable timelines, and the road to commercial recognition is long and narrow enough that many otherwise talented artists find themselves looking for some nebulous third path. And when they don\u2019t immediately find it, many do what artists do and carve it out for themselves, acting as curators, dealers, directors and publicists. Put another way, artist-led spaces usually start as a response to what galleries and museums won\u2019t, or can\u2019t, do\u2014namely, host site-specific installation and experimental work by talent that isn\u2019t yet what the market would deem \u201cemerging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Subtitled NYC<\/a> in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, is one such space, and Jaejoon Jang<\/a> is one such gallerist. The four-year-old artist-run gallery in New York was founded by the Korean-born artist after he completed his MFA at MICA in Baltimore in 2019. \u201cThe pandemic happened, and I had this unexpected pause for one or two years during which I couldn\u2019t really start my career as an artist in a serious way,\u201d he tells Observer. \u201cBut I still wanted to do something related to art.\u201d He knew he needed a studio and he\u2019d need to cover rent and material costs, and after running the numbers, he realized that inviting other creatives made financial sense. \u201cI also just wanted to introduce the artists I really liked to the people around me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jang had no formal curatorial training and no prior gallery experience when he opened Subtitled NYC<\/a>. The early shows were modest\u2014small paintings, small sculptures, placed with care but without any specific ambition. His instinct, in both art and life, he explains, is to start fast and correct as he goes. And he quickly realized he would have to pay more attention to what the artists he was working with actually needed.<\/p>\n

He noticed that young and emerging artists in New York were routinely expected to pay for the privilege of showing: delivery fees, application fees, material costs. He thought that was strange, and he started covering those costs himself. \u201cThe more shows I did, the more I wanted to give the artists freedom,\u201d he says. \u201cI realized how important it was to support them because that\u2019s another way of investing in an exhibition. The more I can support the artist and the exhibition, the better the shows turn out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/a>\u201cSky Blue,\u201d on through Oct. 25, 2026, features work by Louis Block, Spencer Finch, Byron Kim and Motohiro Takeda. Courtesy Subtitled NYC<\/p>\n

The name Subtitled emerged as spontaneously as the space\u2019s program. While conducting research into the feasibility of the project, Jang happened to label a folder \u2018Subtitled\u2019\u2014and the name stuck. \u201cAs an immigrant artist in New York, it resonates,\u201d he says. \u201cEven after 10 years in the United States, I still watch films and videos with subtitles. I don\u2019t want to have only immigrant artists showing at the gallery\u2014I want to have more diversity\u2014but \u201csubtitled\u201d is a good fit because in New York there are so many different kinds of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The guiding principle at Subtitled NYC is flexibility. Jang imposes few constraints on scale, medium or even sellability. He\u2019s particularly interested in showing experimental and installation-based work that more established galleries tend to avoid because it doesn\u2019t fit the standard white cube format. \u201cI don\u2019t want to say I\u2019m different from other spaces, because that sounds like I\u2019m saying I\u2019m better, and I don\u2019t think that\u2019s it,\u201d he reflects. \u201cBut I\u2019m doing something a little bit alternative, something other spaces can\u2019t easily do\u2026 experimental, unconventional work, especially installation, sound and things like that. I want to show more of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the years since Subtitled\u2019s opening, several artists Jang has long admired have shown in the space. He was also able to invite Siobhan Liddell, who had been something like a mentor to him at MICA\u2014they hadn\u2019t seen each other in six years, and the show brought them back together. \u201cThose have been genuinely important moments for me,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/a>\u201cOn Other Terms\u201d featured work by Pap Souleye Fall and Char Jer\u00e9. Photo: Garrett Carroll<\/p>\n

Subtitled NYC\u2019s current show, \u201cSky Blue<\/a>,\u201d featuring selected works by Louis Block<\/a>, Spencer Finch<\/a>, Byron Kim<\/a> and Motohiro Takeda<\/a>, feels fairly traditional in terms of layout, but past exhibitions have pushed the envelope. \u201cOn Other Terms<\/a>,\u201d which closed in spring and had work by Pap Souleye Fall<\/a> and Char Jer\u00e9<\/a> curated by Ho Won Kim<\/a>, turned the space into something of a maze, with an immersive environment of crisscrossing wood beams, metal and string paired with sculpture and textile works. \u201cThe Other Internet<\/a>,\u201d a solo exhibition by Yehwan Song<\/a> curated by Brian Droitcour<\/a>, had water spurting over phone screens in a looming angular scaffolding. On tap are two dual-artist presentations\u2014one with Michaela Bathrick<\/a> and Soyoung Chung<\/a> in November and one with Connor McNicholas<\/a> and Gijeong Goo<\/a> in December.<\/p>\n

Jang gives artists a month, sometimes more, to install, and the generosity of the timeline is something he is happy to be able to provide: \u201cMost artists in New York, even those with good careers, have other jobs. They\u2019re working elsewhere and have to commute there and here to the gallery. I don\u2019t want to tell them to just focus on the install and finish in three days. I try to give them a long runway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/a>Carrier Pigeon, an immersive artwork by Jun Lee, took over the gallery completely. Photo: Garrett Carroll<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t call what he\u2019s doing at Subtitled NYC a residency because he wants to stay focused on the exhibition itself rather than the process of its creation. And he says he\u2019s not interested in growing into an institution, because he feels like funders \u201cwould interrupt or interfere too much with my practice.\u201d He has even turned down grant offers because the organizations attached conditions he didn\u2019t want to meet, like upfront proof of programming: \u201cI don\u2019t want to limit too much\u2014not just in running the artist space, but I don\u2019t want to limit the budget, and I don\u2019t want to limit which artists have exhibitions, even if their work is very experimental, installation-based, site-specific, maybe hard to sell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked to describe his vision for the future of the space, Jang answers that his goal is to keep doing exactly what he\u2019s doing for at least another 10 years. What he finds most gratifying is watching an artist who showed at Subtitled NYC go on to show somewhere bigger. \u201cI want to stay a little more amateur,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t want too much pressure. I really like this situation, and I want to keep it going.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, he admits he\u2019s open to change. \u201cThat\u2019s my answer for right now,\u201d he hedges, \u201cbut it could be different tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

More in Galleries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Subtitled NYC began as a practical way for Jaejoon Jang to afford studio space and share work he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1804,100951,4982,21911,137398,98,137393,137395,137401,25853,137402,137396,2482,137389,137391,137399,103453,9,24,56,63,65,64,137394,137390,137400,137392,137403,137397],"class_list":["post-373065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-america-united-states","tag-art-dealers","tag-arts","tag-arts-interviews","tag-brian-droitcour","tag-brooklyn","tag-byron-kim","tag-char-jeru00e9","tag-connor-mcnicholas","tag-galleries","tag-gijeong-goo","tag-ho-won-kim","tag-interviews","tag-jaejoon-jang","tag-louis-block","tag-michaela-bathrick","tag-motohiro-takeda","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-pap-souleye-fall","tag-siobhan-little","tag-soyoung-chung","tag-spencer-finch","tag-subtitled-nyc","tag-yehwan-song"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}