The annual Pocantico Prize for Visual Artists has been awarded to Chie Fueki, who will receive a $25,000 grant and a two-month residency at The Pocantico Center, a cultural venue and conference center on the former Rockefeller family estate in Mount Pleasant.
Fueki will work in the 900-square-foot visual arts studio at the David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center at Pocantico through May 30. She will open her studio to the public on May 18 for Community Day at the Pocantico Center, which will also feature hands-on art and STEAM projects, bilingual Spanish-English story time, garden activities, face painting, and a Colombian music and dance performance by Folklore Urbano NYC’s Cumbia for Kids. Admission is free, but tickets must be claimed online at Pocantico.org.
Fueki lives and works in Beacon. Drawing on her experience as a Japanese-born artist growing up in Brazil and later practicing in the United States, Fueki’s work embraces the visual language of these three distinct cultures. Her paintings depict contemporary life in spectacular motion, featuring cryptic imagery ranging from American pop culture to traditional Japanese motifs. Through an intricate process of painting, drawing, cutting, and collaging, sometimes enriched with glitter and graphite rubbings, her dizzying-yet-harmonious compositions fuse jewel-like tones and dynamic patterns.
“From our earliest years, we imbue symbols with deep meaning that can connect or divide us across cultures and generations. I choose connection— I choose communication, beauty, exploration, and surprise,” Fueki said. “The Pocantico Prize and my residency at The Pocantico Center will afford me an opportunity to continue discovering new perspectives and imagining new linkages.”
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund established the Pocantico Prize in 2022 with the launch of the DR Center at Pocantico. The prize recognizes U.S. artists with a trajectory of artistic excellence who identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of color; disabled; women or gender non-binary; or from other groups that have been denied opportunities or recognition. It is awarded in alternating years to an artist working in the Hudson Valley and an artist selected from a national pool.
Previous winners include Athena LaTocha (2022) and Amaryllis R. Flowers (2023). The Pocantico Prize is funded by the RBF Culpeper Arts & Culture program.
“The Rockefeller Brothers Fund introduced the Pocantico Prize in 2022 as a final tile in the mosaic of arts programming at the Pocantico Center to celebrate the visual artists who help audiences explore and interpret the world around us through new lenses,” said Ben Rodriguez Cubeñas, director of the RBF Culpeper Arts & Culture program. “Chie Fueki and her work, fueled by curiosity and embracing expansiveness, embody the spirit of the prize.”
