Alum selected for the Shed's 2025-2026 Open Call
The 1969 Gallery is pleased to announce that Jarrett Key has been named one of 17 artists selected out of 1,200 applicants for the Shed's 2025-2026 Open Call! The commissioned Hair Painting no. 40 is a celebration of 10 years of this particular practice and body of work.
Jarrett Key's hair paintings have become an integral part of the artist's practice. Inspired by the artist's grandmother, Ruth Mae Giles, Key blends painting and performance to create gestural works painted with their hair. These works have been created and exhibited locally and internationally, and Key's Hair Painting #37 (2023), performed at Marsha P. Johnson State Park in Brooklyn, was photographed and enlarged to be used as the backdrop for for the 2023 New York Pride Parade grandstand.
Jarrett will be performing three to four hair paintings over the course of the run of the show starting Summer 2025.
Image credit
The 2025 – 2026 Open Call artists
Left to right, front row: James Caverly, Nicholas Oh and A young Yu (AYDO).
Middle row: Andrew Morrill, Mel Corchado, Laurena Finéus, Jarrett Key, Zain Alam, Luis Vasquez La Roche.
Back row: Katherine Paola De La Cruz, Marwa Eltahir, Patricia Encarnación, Tyson Houseman, Nehprii Amenii, Victor “MARKA27” Quiñonez, Avi Amon, Lily Yang (of Lily Honglei), Yelaine Rodriguez.
Not pictured: Rudi Goblen, Chelsea Odufu.
Photo: Dana Golan.
Images and text courtesy of the 1969 Gallery
