Keith Lafuente
NADA New York 2026

At NADA 2026, SoMad presents a solo booth by 2025 Artist-in-Residence Keith Lafuente, featuring sculptures and paintings anchored by Waiter (Kain Na!), an 8.5-foot-tall kinetic installation installed just outside the booth. Working with soft, tactile materials—felt, fabric, poly-fill, and plush forms—set into motion through motors and mechanical systems, Lafuente explores the layered meanings of “service,” drawing on Filipino hospitality traditions, colonial histories, and global labor dynamics. Developed during and following his residency, the works combine exaggerated, puppet-like figures with repetitive movement and exposed mechanics, bringing a charged physicality to themes of desire, care, subjugation, and performance. In Waiter (Kain Na!), a muppet-like go-go boy balances a platter of pineapple atop a table, his lace-clad legs moving in a continuous loop that turns a gesture of hospitality into something both seductive and uncanny.