COCO HUNDAY is an exhibition space founded by Jason Lazarus (2016) and now co-directed with Libbi Ponce (2021). Located in the Seminole Heights neighborhood of Tampa, FL, programming is anchored by solo presentations of emerging and mid-career artists. Proposals are reviewed periodically and can be sent to jasonlazarus.com@gmail.com.
Learn more about Coco Hunday through our 2019 interview with maake magazine HERE.
Coco Hunday (version 2.0 in December 2020) was built by Coco artist Thad Kellstadt, who passed away in Summer 2023.
Forever thankful for you Thad–Rest in Peace.
PRESS
Creative Loafing
Burnaway
Creative Loafing
Tampa Bay Times
Temporary Art Review
Creative Loafing
photo by Matthew Bernucca
Libbi Ponce (Co-Director, 2021- )
(they/them, she/her, b.1997)) is an Ecuadorian-American artist, born at Tampa General Hospital in 1997. Ponce makes sculptures, 360 degree VR videos, installations, and performances. In their writing and curatorial practice, Ponce hopes to increase the visibility and voices of historically underrepresented artists. Libbi has shown her work in various locations including: Coco Hunday, Tampa, FL; Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta GA; the Broad Studio at the PAFA Museum, Philadelphia, PA; Off Site Project, online; Nous Tous, Los Angeles, CA; Friend, Columbus, OH; and The Wrong Biennale in Sao Paulo, Brazil, among others. They have attended the Oxbow School of Art, the Currents Undergraduate Residency at PAFA, the Yale Norfolk Undergraduate Residency, and ACRE (Artist’s Cooperative Residency & Exhibitions). Her work is held in the collection of the Robert B. Haas Family Art Library, Yale University. They hold a BFA in Studio Art and BA in Philosophy from the University of South Florida. Ponce serves as an art instructor at the Tampa Museum of Art and formerly as Exhibitions Coordinator at Tempus Projects. She has been awarded a Fulbright Grant to conduct creative research in Ecuador for the 2020-2021 academic period. More info at libbiponce.com
Jason Lazarus (Founder and Co-Director, 2016- )
(he/him, b1975) is an artist exploring vision and visibility. His work includes a range of fluid methodologies: original, found and appropriated images, text-as-image, animated GIFs, photo-derived sculptures made collaboratively with the public, pigment-inks-as-image, live archives, LED light images, and public submission repositories among others. This expanded photographic practice seeks new approaches of inquiry, embodiment, and bearing witness through both individual and collective research and image production. Lazarus organizes PDF-OBJECTS, an international nomadic sculpture library featuring artist-selected readings sculpturally paired with everyday objects; Coco Hunday, an alternative exhibition space in Tampa, FL providing solo exhibitions, artist-lectures, and new scholarship on emerging and mid-career artists; is a Co-Founder of #firstdayfirstimage, which asks artist-educators to actively rethink and broadcast their curricula starting with the first image shown to students on the first day of class; and is Co-Founder of Chicago Artist Writers, a platform that invites artists and art workers to write traditional and experimental criticism with a focus on under-represented arts programming in Chicago. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Art and Art History at the University of South Florida.
Selected exhibition venues include SF MOMA, Art Institute of Chicago, MASS MoCA, MCA Chicago, George Eastman Museum, Queens Museum of Art, High Museum of Art, Renaissance Society, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Ryan Lee Gallery NYC, Exgirlfriend Gallery Berlin, Contemporary Jewish Museum SF, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Columbia University, Stadtgalerie Kiel 9, Kunstlerhaus Behanien Berlin, Gallery 400, bitforms Gallery NYC, Blaffer Art Museum Houston, Biennial of Photography and Visual Arts Belgium, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography. His work has been covered in outlets including Artforum, Frieze, Hyperallergic, The Guardian, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and National Public Radio and written about by Martha Rosler, Hamza Walker, Abigail Solomon Godeau, Christopher Knight, Carment Winant, and Michelle Grabner among many others. Public lectures include Yale University, International Center of Photography, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; George Eastman Museum, California College of the Arts, Columbia University (NYC), the Art Institute of Chicago, University of California Berkeley, and Artists/Designs/Citizen (US Pavilion, 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale) among many others. Selected permanent collections include the Art Institute of Chicago, SFMOMA, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, High Museum of Art, and Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago. More info at jasonlazarus.com