Visual Arts Briefs

The Bronx Museum of the Arts is currently undertaking a year-long examination of one of the borough’s main geographical features, the Grand Concourse. For a series of exhibitions under the banner “Intersections: The Grand Concourse at 100,” the museum is presenting historical artifacts alongside new commissions, and has brought in SVA alumnus Jeff Liao (MFA 2005 Photography, Video and Related Media) to document the current vistas of the thoroughfare through his lens.

The artist created these new images using techniques similar to those from In the Shadow of the No. 7 Line, his award-winning series from 2005. “Intersections: The Grand Concourse Commissions” features a dozen of Liao’s large-format color photographs, including a pair of 128-foot-wide, detailed panoramas showing every building along the Concourse. Speaking to Artdaily.org about the photos, Liao said: “I wanted to show the lushness and the vibrancy of the borough. A lot of the photography of the Bronx is negative. So I was surprised when I began this project at how alive the streets are with activity.”

“The Grand Concourse Commissions” will be on view beginning Sunday, August 2, at the Bronx Museum, 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th Street, and will run through January 4, 2010.

Images: Jeff Liao, (top) Yankee Stadiums, 2008; (bottom) Bird’s-eye View from Tracy Tower, 2009.

We asked SVA students and faculty to send in work they were creating over the summer. Below is one in an occasional series of Summer Session posts.

Faculty member Richard Grayson (BFA FIlm, Video and Animation; Humanities and Sciences; and BFA Photography departments) has his essay “The Forgotten Movie Screens of Broward County” included in the new anthology Life As We Show It: Writing on Film (City Lights, 2009), which was edited by Brian Pera and Masha Tupitsyn.

Grayson’s piece is a personal tour of several defunct movie theaters in the Florida county, interspersing historical facts about the theaters with memories of the author’s past. The essay was excerpted for the online magazine The Rumpus and is available here. Grayson will also be participating in a Life As We Show It reading event on Monday, August 3, 7pm, at McNally Jackson Books, 52 Prince Street.

Image: Cover of Life As We Show It: Writing on Film, City Lights, 2009.

The HGTV network’s reality show HGTV Design Star recently added a well-known face to its panel of on-air judges. SVA alumnus Genevieve Gorder (BFA 1998 Graphic Design) joined the program this summer, and is one of three judges who evaluate the interior designs of the 11 contestants vying for the top prize: their own HGTV show.

Gorder is no stranger to TV audiences, having hosted the hit TV shows Trading Spaces, Town Haul and HGTV’s recent Dear Genevieve. Design Star airs Sunday nights at 9pm Eastern Time on HGTV, and many of Gorder’s critiques of on-air design projects are posted on the show’s Web site.

The final slate of Visual Arts Gallery shows for summer 2009 is currently running at the Chelsea exhibition space. The gallery’s front room is housing “A New Currency,” an exhibition organized by a group of recent graduates of the MFA Fine Arts Department as a response to the changing economic circumstances faced by the art community. This collection of work was curated by faculty member Dan Cameron and is the third part of a multi-stage project under the banner of “A New Currency.”

The project rooms are occupied by three juried student shows: “About Time,” curated by Richard Brooks, is an exhibition of video, drawing and photography by students and alumni featuring various approaches to the production and presentation of time-based works; “Body Work,” also curated by Brooks, brings together photography, sculpture and drawing works by students and alumni, examining the boundaries between representation and abstraction; and “Electric Kool-Aid,” curated by Matt White, presents painting, drawing and sculpture by current students who represent dream-like abstractions using vibrant colors and complex forms.

All four exhibitions are on view at the Visual Arts Gallery, 601 West 26th Street, 15th floor, through Saturday, August 15.

Images: (top) Habby Osk, still from Territory, 2009; (bottom) Bibi Flores, Still on my mind, 2009.

The MFA Design Criticism Department is starting its second year at SVA with an announcement of its first critic-in-residence: Peter Hall—a design critic and senior lecturer in design at the University of Texas at Austin—will spend the second week of December in the classroom, assisting the program’s first graduating class with their thesis projects. As part of Hall’s residency at SVA, he will also be giving a talk entitled Writing Design History: Problems and Provocations, on Tuesday, December 8, 6 – 8pm, at 136 West 21st Street, 2nd floor; admission is free.

In other D-Crit news, several students from the department’s inaugural class are already bringing their critical skills to print and online design publications. Over the summer, John Cantwell wrote about Trump Tower for Design Observer; Frederico Duarte contributed to Icon; Emily Leibin penned “Future Advancement” for Surface; Alan Rapp wrote for Dwell; and Angela Riechers’ work appeared in Voice: AIGA Journal of Design.

On Tuesday, July 21, renowned illustrator, designer and Masters Series Award laureate Heinz Edelmann passed away at the age of 75 in Stuttgart, Germany. Edelmann was perhaps best known for his design work on The Beatles’ animated film Yellow Submarine, but his 2005 Masters Series exhibition at SVA displayed a body of work that included over 100 posters, screen prints, magazine spreads, book designs, animations and comic books, spotlighting a prolific career.

Earlier this year, Edelmann made a generous gift of his work to the Milton Glaser Design Study Center and Archives, which will preserve his visual legacy at SVA and make his work available for future study. Click here to read Archivist Beth Kleber’s post about Edelmann’s passing, which appeared on the Container List blog.

Image: Heinz Edelmann, poster for WDR Kabaret Fest (Figure with burning bird), 1990.

Aperture Foundation, a leading New York-based arts institution dedicated to promoting photography in all its forms, has partnered with SVA to present “Identity Identities (i / i),” a group exhibition of works by BFA Photography Department alumni that explore issues of role playing and identity in the 21st century. Eleven artists—Kelly Clark (BFA 2008 Photography), Hugo Fernandes (BFA 2007 Photography), Victoria Hely-Hutchinson (BFA 2009 Photography), Nicola Kast (BFA 2007 Photography), Jennifer Lee (BFA 2008 Photography), Anula Maiberg (BFA 2007 Photography), Susanne Persson (BFA 2007 Photography), Jing Quek (BFA 2007 Photography), Joseph Sbarro (BFA 2008 Photography), Jess Shaffer (BFA 2007 Photography) and Allison Yeskel (BFA 2008 Photography)—have created new works that address themes including how identity manifests itself through group identification, the places we live, and the influence of mass media and advertising.

“Identity Identities” is curated by Department Chair Stephen Frailey. An initial selection of images first appeared in the spring at the Galleria San Ludovico in Parma, Italy, where it was presented as an exchange between photography students in Parma and at SVA; now, the show is opening in an expanded version at the Aperture Gallery, 547 West 27th Street, 4th floor, where it will be on view July 30 – August 26, with an opening reception on Thursday, July 30, 6 – 8pm.

Images: (top) Jess Shaffer, Bed, 2006; (bottom) Jing Quek, Singapore Idols, 2006.

Several members of the SVA community will be screening their work at this weekend’s Animation Block Party (ABP), taking place July 24 – 26 in Brooklyn. The annual festival presents independent, professional and student animation, and awards are given out for the best films. ABP was founded six years ago by festival director Casey Safron, who is also manager of the BFA Animation Department at SVA. Friday night’s screenings will take place at 50 Bedford Avenue and are co-presented by Rooftop Films, and Saturday and Sunday’s screenings will take place at BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Street. Ticket information is available at animationblock.com.

Alumni films in this year’s ABP include Jake Armstrong’s (BFA 2009 Animation) The Terrible Thing of Alpha-9; Jimmy Calhoun’s (BFA 2003 Animation) Bird in my House, Angel in my Heart; Greg Condon’s (BFA 2003 Animation) Here Come the Guns; Aaron Hughes (BFA 2003 Animation) and Lisa LaBracio’s (BFA 2006 Animation) Backwards; Bill Plympton’s (1969) Horn Dog; Rebecca Sugar’s (BFA 2009 Animation) Singles; and Alex Wager’s (BFA 2009 Animation) Juxtaposed. View a clip from Backwards below:

One in a series of occasional dispatches from SVA’s Summer Arts Abroad programs. This dispatch was sent by painter and Summer Arts Abroad student Jonathan Beer.

Hola from Barcelona! After another week in the studio, a connection between myself and the atmosphere of Barcelona has become stronger. Barcelona is in our eyes, our ears—we drink it in and process and pour the result onto canvas.

As I experience more of the city and its treasures I am inspired—each turn in the street and new vantage point provides an interesting backdrop for my thoughts. Visiting the exhibition of the Fauvist painter Maurice de Vlaminck at CaixaForum turned my world upside down. Also, being in an environment of almost 20 other artists who are equally inspired and generating new and exciting work is highly motivating when the inevitable frustration with your own work kicks in. All around, another amazing week!

Images: Jonathan Beer, 2009.

• Recent graduate Noa Charuvi (MFA 2009 Fine Arts) was named a winner in the MFA Now international painting competition. The award recognizes painters currently enrolled in graduate programs, and the winning work will be displayed in a group exhibition. The exhibition, “Identity, Self II,” runs through Saturday, July 25, at Praxis International Art, 25 East 73rd Street, 4th Floor.
• The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) announced its annual fellowship grant recipients, including several members of the SVA community. The 2009 NYFA Fellows include alumni Ei Arakawa (BFA 2004 Fine Arts) in interdisciplinary art; Moo Kwon Han (MFA 2006 Fine Arts) in digital/electronic arts; Charles McGill (MFA 1986 Illustration as Visual Essay) in crafts; Dane Patterson (MFA 2005 Fine Arts) in printmaking/drawing/bookmaking; Phoebe Washburn (MFA 2002 Fine Arts) in sculpture; and SVA staff member Eric Corriel in digital/electronic arts.
• The National Arts Club recently gave photographer and alumnus Andrea Tese (MFA 2007 Photography, Video and Related Media) its second annual Young Innovative Designer Award. The award recognizes emerging talent in the fashion industry, and Tese was recognized for her contributions to fashion photography.
• Alumnus Alejandra Laviada (MFA 2007 Photography, Video and Related Media) was awarded the Descubrimientos PHE Epson Award for her series Photo Sculptures. The award is given to an emerging photographer, and the winner’s work is featured in a solo exhibition at the PHotoEspaña festival.

Image: Noa Charuvi, untitled, 2008, oil on canvas.