Exhibition Review: All the World's a Stage at SoMad

Keith Lafuente. "Souvenir 3 (Words of Affirmation)," 2025. Found ceramics, epoxy, enamel. 4 ½ x 5 x 4 ½." Photographed by Max C. Lee-Russell.

By COLLEEN DALUSONG November 26th, 2025

Keith Lafuente’s Flyer consists of fifteen madras plaid-patterned turtles stacked in a pyramid formation, slowly inching across the gallery space. While this balancing act appears to be an impressive feat of community and solidarity, there is a nearly-imperceptible shaking that you only notice if you look closely enough. The turtles at the base of the pyramid are being crushed by the weight of supporting the turtles who are fortunate enough to be closer to the tip of the pyramid. I am reminded of my lolo’s gloomy aphorism: “For someone to be on top, there will always have to be someone on the bottom.” 

Upon reaching adulthood, most of us have (hopefully) become highly aware of the invisible power dynamics which rule society: a gay man navigates the world completely differently from an immigrant woman, a wealthy art collector moves with much more ease in comparison to a line cook working three jobs just to make rent each month. In response, many people attempt to project what they believe to be an idealized version of themselves, choosing to emphasize specific traits such as intelligence or humor, in an effort to fulfill the societal roles they either crave to obtain or are condemned to occupy. Life effectively becomes a performance, and in the culmination of their residencies at SoMad, a femme and queer-led art space based in New York City, artists Keith Lafuente and Yi Hsuan Lai explore the absurdities of such an existence. 

Keith Lafuente. "Flyer," 2025. Fabric, poly-fil, plastic eyes, vibrational motors, drivers, power supply. 19 ½ x 24 x 8 ½." Photographed by Max C. Lee-Russell.

Lafuente’s animatronic Waiter (Kain Na!) has a perpetual smile on his face as he hoists a platter of pineapple slices with one hand, while Sailor (Acts of Service) pole dances on a spit roast, resembling a lechon ready to be devoured. The two figures are dressed in lacy fabric scraps, acting as avatars of both labor and desire. The audience can clearly see the machinery that dictates the Sisyphean existence of Waiter and Sailor, but the characters themselves are unaware of the structures which automate their own actions. Yet it is not only visitors to the gallery who are watching Waiter and Sailor; throughout the gallery space, tarsiers peek out of empty clocks and vintage mugs, acting as silent voyeurs. Lafuente reinforces this sensation of constantly being observed by including a series of five fabric collages resembling the stained glass windows found in Catholic churches, evoking the idea of an omnipresent God who watches over all. Nonetheless, Lafuente does offer a moment of respite from prying eyes — underneath the table, a pair of ceramic lovers clandestinely enjoy each other’s company, free from the burden of having to perform for anybody else. 

Keith Lafuente. "Sailor (Acts of Service)," 2025. Fabric, poly-fil, plastic eyes, pig spit, motor, conduit, fabric dye, beads, hardware. 33” x 8 ½‘ x 21 ½." Photographed by Max C. Lee-Russell.

Directly across from Lafuente’s voyeurs and performers, a nude-colored curtain descends from the ceiling, with a small opening that leads into a dimly-lit backstage area populated by Yi Hsuan Lai’s works. The gallery’s pre-existing architectural features are ingeniously utilized by Lai, who doesn’t shy away from installing works in unusual places such as a recessed alcove or the wall space between the floor and the window. Embed Into Soft Landing is one of these works, consisting of two sheets of rubber affixed behind a photographic print of a hosiery-clad Lai sprawled on the floor, with water balloons bulging in the crammed space between her skin and her tights. Elements from the photograph seem to spill out into the surrounding area: in the photograph, Lai is surrounded by white water balloons, and for the installation, she includes these same water balloons a few inches away. Similarly, in the photograph there is an image of rubber projected onto the wall behind Lai’s body, and she aligns this image of the rubber with the actual rubber sheet that makes up the assemblage. Through this, Lai successfully blurs the boundaries between projection, photograph, and sculpture. 

Yi Hsuan Lai. "Embed Into Soft Landing," 2025. Assemblage of dye sublimation prints on aluminum. 19 x 27 x 1." Photographed by Flaneur Shan Studio.

This act of blurring extends to Lai’s choice of material as well. In Reversed Confrontational, Lai cleverly folds rubber sheets to mimic legs and a torso, then superimposes images of the rubber over a photograph of her own reclining nude body, creating an amusing twist on the motif of the odalisque. Lai’s consistent incorporation of rubber invites the viewer to consider the often-overlooked material’s adaptability and resilience, and by juxtaposing the flesh-toned rubber against her own skin, Lai draws a direct parallel to the female immigrant experience. 

There is an undeniable tension present in Lai’s meticulously staged installations, whether it is the bodily tension of Lai’s own contorted figure, or the tension of figuring out where her assemblages end and her installations begin. Lai’s work is intelligent and elusive, it refuses to be neatly categorized into a single medium, much like how the full depth of a human being’s existence can never be fully captured by simplistic labels such as “immigrant,” “female,” or “queer.” Together, Keith Lafuente and Yi Hsuan Lai’s works acknowledge the effects of societal power dynamics upon the human body and psyche, yet they also echo the hopeful truth written by none other than The Bard himself: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts.” 

Yi Hsuan Lai. "Reversed Confrontational," 2025. Archival inkjet paper. 23 ½ x 31 ½ x 2." Edition 1 of 3. Photographed by Flaneur Shan Studio.

Keith Lafuente’s Acts of Service and Yi Hsuan Lai’s Rubber, Rubber are open through December 18, 2025 at SoMad, 34 E 23rd St, 4th floor, New York, NY 10010.