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"Sasha Frolova is arranging nine color photographs in an unfinished space overlooking the Bowery, the famed New York art hub once favored by the likes of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat and now home to the boundary-pushing New Museum. At first glance, all of the photos in Sasha's series, titled \"Bikini Lines,\" look the same, but step a little closer and you see that each perfectly centered figure in a swimsuit is a different subject\u2014girls of various shapes, sizes, and yes, bikini line states.\n\n\"It was orientation week at Cornell,\" the 19-year-old says of her inspiration, \"and the girls had such a different attitude at night than they did during the day. They were so self-conscious, and the way they were defining and presenting themselves to the world was so much about going to these frat parties.\" So the New York native (who has since transferred to NYU) invited fellow freshmen to pose for her in front of the school's pool. One of the subjects is Sasha herself: \"When you're doing this kind of thing and putting people in an uncomfortable position, if you also do it yourself, you're included in the cause.\"\n\nThe series is just one of 40 pieces that are part of \"Green Light,\" Teen Art Gallery's latest show. TAG, as it's affectionately called by its members, was founded three years ago by 17-year-old high school senior Audrey Banks. It isn't a physical gallery, but rather a group of teens that mount semi-annual art shows featuring the work of their peers. A steering committee of 10 high schoolers\u2014currently led by director Charlotte Bravin Lee\u2014put out worldwide calls for submissions on Facebook (this year they received 800) and select and curate each show themselves.\n\nSasha calls Charlotte \"Queen TAG,\" and today she looks every bit the head-art-chick-in-charge in camo shorts and a T-shirt emblazoned with a Roy Lichtenstein print. \"TAG's this moment of artistic freedom before we're changed by adult instruction,\" Charlotte explains. \"Right now there are no boundaries. There's no one telling us what to do. In the future, we won't have the freedom to just make and show art\u2014it doesn't exist.\" Whether or not that ends up being the case, she'll find out soon enough; this is the last TAG show the 18-year-old will curate before heading to Kenyon in the fall, and the first one where she's displaying her own work.\n\nCliff Tang, a junior who's taking over director duties with Kristjan Tomasson next year, credits TAG with clearing up misconceptions. \"When you think of youth and art, you think of the pretentious person walking through a gallery being like, 'Oh, I want to buy this, I want to buy that,' or this grungy teen who hates everything and everybody,\" he says, joking that he half-expected Charlotte to be of the angsty artist variety. \"I was frustrated because I couldn't identify with either of these things. TAG gave me the opportunity to show young people that art can be anything you want it to be\u2014it's not these stereotypes.\"\n\nTAG also gives a voice to the otherwise silenced. Take 18-year-old Gracie Holtzclaw, who secured a spot in her South Carolina high school's art show only for her piece to be rejected a few days before the event. Titled \"Rape Culture,\" Gracie's linocut print depicts a nude, tattooed woman with a censor bar over her breasts.\n\n\"I read about Gracie in the news,\" says Charlotte. \"She was sexually assaulted and wanted to express what she felt during that time through her art, but her school thought it was inappropriate.\" Without hesitation, Charlotte reached out and invited Gracie to be a part of the TAG show. \"I thought having her story\u2014not just her art, but her story\u2014would show people that teens have reasons to make art. It's not just for a class, it has deep roots.\"\n\n\"Green Light\" features pieces from artists ages 16 to 19 (the submissions skewed a bit older this year, Charlotte explains), from Georgia to California, France to Canada. There's quite a bit of photography, as well as painting, installation, film, and even some writing that's part of the exhibit via the official catalog edited by TAG member Sebastian Niculescu. Their ambition doesn't stop there, though: TAG's also all about paying it forward, inspiring even younger artists to get involved by teaming up with the Children's Museum of the Arts in downtown Manhattan for a show this past February.\n\nNot that it's all as easy as it seems. When it comes to securing locations for their exhibits, Charlotte says that it's hard to compete with professional artists who are also seeking out venues. \"We're not favored as teens,\" she explains. \"We have to really fight for it and make a case for ourselves.\" This go-around they had the help of original TAG-er Paris Starn, whose mom runs the non-profit arts organization Creative Time that lent the group its cool temporary spot. \"It's a really raw space, but that's what we are: raw talent,\" says Cliff. \"Our shows aren't about showing refined work, they're about getting our voice out.\" It also helps that the makeshift gallery is imminently Instagrammable. \"I want people to take thousands of profile pictures here.\"\n\nTeen Art Gallery's show \"Green Light\" is open June 6 to 17 at 59 E. 4th St. in New York City. Click through to see pieces from the show!\n\nImages courtesy of Teen Art Gallery"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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