Curatorial Squad: In the House
Inaugural exhibition opening April 30th
Our Curatorial Squad is a new curatorial initiative and exhibition on view April 30 through June 30, 2026, in the downstairs gallery at Pen + Brush in New York City. The program brings together curators, art advocates, and cultural leaders to review artist portfolios within the Pen + Brush archive and collectively champion women and gender expansive artists through exhibitions and professional visibility.
Curatorial Squad expands Pen + Brush’s artist first incubation model by expanding our peer-based pipeline between artists and curators working across museums, galleries, and independent platforms. Each participating curator commits time to reviewing artists within the Pen + Brush portfolio files, identifying work that resonates with them and contributing a short-written reflection advocating for their selections. Through this process, curators help surface artists whose work merits deeper recognition and contextual visibility.
More than a review process, Curatorial Squad expands on our field-based network of peers willing to champion artists and expand the pathways through which they enter exhibitions and broader cultural conversations. Artists identified through the Curatorial Squad process will be featured in tailored exhibitions and integrated into Pen + Brush programming throughout the year, creating a sustained pipeline for discovery and professional advancement.
The inaugural Curatorial Squad includes Vida Sabbaghi, curator and Director of Exhibitions at 630 Flushing Avenue and founder of COPE NYC, whose work advances socially engaged art and international cultural exchange through exhibitions, public programming, and institutional collaborations, including projects presented at the Queens Museum; Amy Rosenblum Martín, an independent curator whose practice spans biennials and museum exhibitions and whose career includes positions at the Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, and curatorial work with MoMA and MoMA PS1; and Vai Jong Hunken and Alfonso Alday Vergara, co-directors of Alday Hunken Gallery in Mexico City and Atlanta, whose collaborative program supports emerging and mid-career artists through exhibitions, international collaborations, and participation in art fairs including SCOPE Miami and Atlanta Art Fair.
Works lauded by this class of curators will be exhibited from April 30th through June 30th, 2026.
