MAIN GALLERY:
A Bag of Tricks
A Solo Exhibition by Samuel Alexander Forest
July 25th - Aug 16th

Opening Reception: Saturday, July 25, 6–8 pm Performance at 7 pm

Inside Samuel Alexander Forest's "A Bag of Tricks", Surface, Sofia Quintero, August 2026

Ortega y Gasset Projects (OyG) is proud to present A Bag of Tricks, a solo exhibition by Samuel Alexander Forest in the main space, curated by OyG co-director Xingze Li.

The exhibition is activated by a series of in-the-round music performances by the artist on Saturday, July 25 at 7 pm, Saturday, August 1 at 2 pm, and Sunday, August 16 at 5 pm.

Across a dark empty stage, a rotating cast of performers step on and off the frame. A ringleader, a violinist, a magician, an aerialist, a jester, and a one-man band, each traced and described by the gleam of the spotlight, bare their life’s work. Walk down to the backstage and you’ll find their bags of tricks. Cases that held and safely transported tools for their acts now sit and await the end. The lights go out, the bags are packed. We leave behind the stage and the stripes of the tent that lured us in to peer. After the show is over, what is left?

A Bag of Tricks features graphite drawings in artist’s frames that represent performances on- and off-stage. Six drawings show solo performers standing in a spotlight, set in stepped wood frames that act as steps to the stage of the drawing surface. Other drawings depict performers’ bags of tricks, closed instrument cases and containers backstage that hold equipment for the show. Placed throughout are references to Alexander Forest’s idols: virtuosic musician, singer and composer Owen Pallett; the historic drag aerialist performer Barbette; Gillian Welch and David Rawlings’ case of small tools they bring out to all their shows; and Mary Poppins’ magical carpet bag.

Two sculptures expand on the thematic and conceptual threads found in the drawings. Central to the show is an oversized briefcase, left closed and rendered in colored pencils and pastels with the same careful hand displayed in the drawings. This sculpture is activated in the performances, in which Alexander Forest opens it to reveal musical instruments housed within while transforming it into a stage to perform on. It’s Curtains (2025) is a kinetic miniature circus tent where the curtain opening reveals smaller rotating circus tents inside. Only when all the openings line up can one see through to the innermost, empty, circle.

Artist bio: 

Samuel Alexander Forest (b. 1998, Surabaya, Indonesia) maintains a primarily drawing-based practice. Through book, video and sculpture forms, his works place special attention on unsung objects and slip across moments of humor and poetry. He received his BFA from the Cooper Union in 2021 and his MFA from NYU Steinhardt in 2024. His works have been reviewed in Hyperallergic, IMPULSE, and the New York Review of Architecture among others. He lives and works in New York, NY and runs a publishing practice through his small press Figure Bound.
samuelalexanderforest.com/  @samuelalexanderforest

Curator bio: 
Xingze Li (b. Yan'an, China) is a visual artist and independent curator based in Brooklyn. Poised at the intersection of photography, painting, and sculpture, his work uses the portrayals of natural and artificial light effects to provoke the daily experience of the phenomenal world. He has had solo and two-person exhibitions in New York City at venues including Yi Gallery, Ortega y Gasset Projects, and Hunter East Harlem Gallery. Recent group exhibitions have taken place at the Bullet Space and the Gala Art Center. Notable awards include the visual artist fellowship at the Edward F. Albee Foundation (NY), artist-in-residence at the Marble House Project (VT), and 77ART Residency (VT). Li’s work has been reviewed in Whitehot Magazine, Two Coats of Paint, and featured in Evergreen Review. He has curated group shows in New York City at Accent Sisters and Tutu Gallery. Li joined OyG as a co-director in 2025.
www.xingzeli.com  @xing.ze