Informed by Filipino hospitality traditions, global inequities of labor, and the colonial history that shaped them, Lafuente examines the many connotations of “service” — sexual, military, culinary, religious, and altruistic, working across sculpture, painting, and installation with soft, tactile materials including felt, fabric, poly-fill, and plush forms that are often activated through motors and mechanical systems, bringing a charged physicality to his subjects as they navigate cultural and structural legacies of desire, subjugation, service, nostalgia, and adaptation.

Several of the sculptural works were first developed during Lafuente’s five-month residency and presented in his fall 2025 exhibition at SoMad, while a new body of works expand upon these themes.

SoMad’s residency program offers studio space, production resources, and tailored support, here enabling Lafuente to literally bring his sculptures to life through mechanical manipulation, with multiple works incorporating motors and repetitive movement.

In Waiter (Kain Na!), a teal and green muppet-like go-go boy waiter serves a platter of pineapple on top of a table. His legs, stuffed into lacy stockings and held up by a matching garter belt, move in a constant forward motion.

ABOUT KEITH LAFUENTE

Across media, including sculpture, painting, performance, film, and fashion, Keith Lafuente builds colorful worlds that feature characters navigating desire, power, and belonging via adornment and embodiment. Keith plays with Filipino-ness like a fabric that can be cut, sewn, unpicked, and reworked, pulling apart threads of idealized nostalgia for the past, domination by colonial regimes, and culturally ingrained values of service and adaptation. With a camp sensibility, Keith weaves in his own queer, diasporic experiences from growing up in the United States–critically reimagining both Filipino-ness and Americanness. Keith is a current artist in residence at SoMad. His short film Binibining Iniibig premiered in 2024. His work has been included in exhibitions at, among others, Jack Hanley Gallery, New York; New Release, New York; Pracownia Portretu, Poland; PULLPROOF, Pittsburgh; and the Institute of Contemporary Art, San José, California. His designs and drag have been featured in publications including The Cut, Cultured, Harper’s Bazaar Hong Kong, and Gayletter. Keith holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University.