Visual Arts Briefs

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.

BFA Photography Department faculty member Abby Robinson sent in images from Home/Body Imaging, a project she participated in over the summer for HomeBase, a multi-disciplinary public art project. Robinson describes Home/Body Imaging as, “a mash-up of a doctor’s office and photo studio,” wherein she set up in a vacant medical clinic on Manhattan’s Lower East side and “examined” participants by photographing body parts at close range. She then printed out the digital image and gave each participant a wearable “badge” of their own photo. Below are samples of images from the project:

Images: Abby Robinson, from Home/Body Imaging, 2009.

SVA’s fall 2009 semester officially begins after Labor Day, but the College’s slate of professional exhibitions will begin rolling out a week ahead. On Monday, August 31, the Visual Arts Gallery, 601 West 26th Street, 15th floor, is opening the doors on “Milton Glaser’s SVA: A Legacy of Graphic Design,” a 50-year retrospective of nearly 100 works created by the legendary designer for the College, where he has been on the faculty since 1960 and currently serves as acting chairman. The exhibition is curated by Steven Heller, design historian and co-chair of the MFA Design Department, and Mirko Ilic, designer and faculty member in the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Department. Beth Kleber, SVA’s archivist, researched and compiled the works in the exhibition, which is designed by Francis Di Tommaso, director of the Visual Arts Gallery. There will be an opening reception for “Milton Glaser’s SVA” on Tuesday, September 15, 6 – 8pm, and the exhibition will be on view through Saturday, September 26.

The day following the start of Glaser’s show will see the unveiling of “Date with the Angels/Cita con Angeles,” a collection of works created through a collaboration between SVA and Taller Experimental de Grafica, Cuba’s foremost printmaking facility. The exhibition features lithographs created by 41 Cuban artists, who used photographs by Richard Falco as the basis for new works expressing their reactions to the 9/11 disaster at the World Trade Center. This exhibition was originally presented in Cuba at the José Martí Memorial in Havana in July 2004, and is now making its U.S. debut at the College. “Date with the Angels” is at the Westside Gallery, 133/141 West 21st Street, September 1 – 19, with an opening reception on Friday, September 11, 5 – 7pm.

Images: (top) Milton Glaser, SVA 40 Years, 1987, and The Design of Dissent, 2005; (bottom) Cesar Leal, 2004.

• Kindling and The Hallowed Seam: Process Recess, Vol. 3 by James Jean (BFA 2001 Illustration): Two new books of work from this award-winning illustrator spotlight Jean’s recent fine arts work. Kindling (Chronicle Books, 2009) is a large-size poster book that features a dozen new full-color paintings, each backed with preparatory sketches; The Hallowed Seam: Process Recess, Vol. 3 (AdHouse Books, 2009) collects the artist’s sketches, running from elegant figure drawings to experimental abstract studies.
• Immersive Ideals/Critical Distances by Joseph Nechvatal (faculty, MFA Computer Art): Subtitled A Study of the Affinity Between Artistic Ideologies Based in Virtual Reality and Previous Immersive Idioms, this new book is a scholarly exploration (which originated as Nechvatal’s PhD thesis) of technology-based virtual reality and its impact on philosophy and the visual arts (Lambert Academic Publishing, 2009).
• The Astonishing Tale of the Gump of Oz by Dennis Anfuso (BFA 1978 Media Arts): A new children’s book that picks up where L. Frank Baum’s original series of Oz books left off, Anfuso wrote and illustrated the tale of Matty Messina as he navigates the land of Oz. The story involves the search for the titular Gump character and includes the familiar characters the Tin Woodsman and Jack Pumpkinhead (available at dennisanfuso.com).

Image: James Jean, cover of Kindling (Chronicle Books, 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.

Summer is nearly over, but we’re still hearing from members of the SVA community about the art they’ve been working on between semesters. Olena Shmahalo, a third-year student in the BFA Advertising and Graphic Design Department, spent the summer doing both full-time work in the advertising world and freelance jobs as a designer and illustrator. In the meantime, she’s made a new self-portrait and a take on rock singer Morrissey:

In addition, she’s been tinkering with the idea of a “Time Immersion Cubicle,” a project that Shmahalo describes as, “a sci-fi costume/3D figure that reconsiders infinity and the values humans place on time, while assisting with meditation by immersing a wearer in a warped space-time continuum.” For an idea of what this means, click here for a Flickr page of Time Immersion Cubicle photos.

Images: Olena Shmahalo, (left) Self-Portrait and (right) Portrait of that Charming Man, 2009.

One in a series of occasional dispatches from SVA’s Summer Arts Abroad programs. This dispatch was sent by designer and Summer Arts Abroad student Irina Lee.

Venice is filled with exquisite sites and delicate details that are easy to miss. Our classes and site visits explored sites off the tourist route. We explored the streets of Venice, taking every opportunity to document and photograph beautiful details of doors, signs, lamp posts, etc.

For my project, the guidebook Secret Venice, I was inspired by aspects of this enchanted city that are often overlooked in the whirl of tourist attractions. I discovered that Venice is completely different if you look closer, and I created a pocket guide to take the reader on a treasure hunt. I wanted readers to leave their excess luggage at home, toss their map, turn left when the signs point right, and get lost in the back calli (streets) and uncrowded campi (squares) where tourists seldom tread and encounter the true, living, breathing, gloriously decaying side of this most serene city.

I created Secret Venice as a way to explore the lesser-known Venice locations and offer information on hidden spots around the city. The guide also serves as a companion to Venetian culture, phrases and obscure facts. I was really interested in the local culture, like Maripoza Blue, a tiny delightful shop that carries silk and velvet ballet flats that are custom-embellished by owner, Patritzia Picucci; or indigenous cuisine, like the cichetti (the Venetian version of tapas); and hidden gems of Venice, like Gianni Basso’s Venetian letterpress shop.

Images: Photos by Irina Lee, 2009.

By day, alumnus Justin Roth (BFA Animation 2003) creates animations for the Saatchi & Saatchi advertising firm, but his newest project unfolds page by page instead of frame by frame. Baltazar and the Flying Pirates (Immedium, 2009) is a new children’s book that features the swashbuckling take on traditional pirate stories, transporting classic characters like Captain Hook and Long John Silver into a contemporary story of a young boy looking for treasure buried beneath a pirate-themed amusement park. Roth illustrates the story, written by author Oliver Chin, in a lush style that echoes his animation work and keeps the action moving at a brisk pace.

Roth’s collaboration with Chin was so successful that the two have already wrapped up their next work. The Year of the Tiger: Tales from the Chinese Zodiac (Immedium, 2010) is a new book due in January 2010 that uses a fantastical storyline to introduce young children to Chinese history and heritage. The book is the latest in Chin’s ongoing series of Year of… books for the Immedium imprint, and the first to feature Roth’s colorful visuals.

Image: Justin Roth, covers for Baltazar and the Flying Pirates and The Year of the Tiger: Tales from the Chinese Zodiac (Immedium).

This week, several SVA alumni, students, faculty and staff members are in Istanbul to be part of “Octet: Selected Works from the School of Visual Arts,” an exhibition that is being presented by SVA at the Pera Museum in Turkey (to be followed by a domestic show opening in the Visual Arts Gallery on Tuesday, November 24). Curated by BFA Fine Arts Department Chair Suzanne Anker and alumnus and faculty member Peter Hristoff (BFA 1981 Fine Arts), “Octet” includes approximately 100 works by over 60 artists, offering a wide-ranging survey of current trends and issues in contemporary art.

One of the recent alumni showing work in “Octet” is Joshua Allen Harris (BFA 2009 Fine Arts), who sent the following dispatch via e-mail from Istanbul:

“The Pera museum sits atop a hill in the Bryoglo section of Istanbul. From its front door you can look down and across the deep blue waters of the Golden Horn. The weather was beautiful the morning of the museum’s opening of ‘Octet.’ On the facade of the building was an announcement of the show; the swirled ‘Octet logo’ was next to the surprisingly similar logos of SVA and the Pera Museum.

Paintings from [faculty member] Judith Linhares share space with the broken-glass sculptures of Andrés Basurto Portillo (BFA 2003 Fine Arts). Video projects from Lynn Herring (BFA 2009 Fine Arts) were so different from Erik Guzman’s (MFA 2003 Fine Arts; BFA 1996 Fine Arts) moving interactive sculpture and Joseph Tekippe’s (MFA 2006 Computer Art) upside-down drone-music-producing cello. From photographs to drawings, so many different disciplines line the two floors of the exhibition. We gathered for the opening, where everyone was smartly dressed and the public was excited for the show. We walked through the show with friends and family alongside members of Istanbul’s art scene and young artists. The night was exciting and inspiring, and for me it was a special honor to show my work in such a beautiful city among talented artists and an intrigued public.”

Images: Photos by Adam Rogers and Kara Rooney.

The University and College Designers Association’s (UCDA) annual design competition has become a yearly reason for SVA to celebrate, and it’s time to break out the champagne again. The Visual Arts Press earned a quartet of Gold Awards: two top prizes for the 2009–10 Undergraduate Catalog, and one each for the fall 2008 and spring 2009 issues of the Visual Arts Journal. These four prizes represent nearly half of the nine Gold Awards given by the UCDA overall.

From among the 1,300 entries received by the UCDA, another dozen works from the Press got Excellence Awards: alumnus and faculty member Gail Anderson’s (BFA 1984 Graphic Design) fall 2008 SVA subway poster; The Annual 2008; two separate nods for the BFA Illustration and Cartooning Department’s Portfolio 29; the printed materials for the 2008 Alumni Society Auction; the BFA Fine Arts Department’s 20/20 portfolio; printed materials for SVA’s 2009 Commencement Exercises; the 2008 staff and faculty holiday party invitation; the BFA Interior Design Department’s Portfolio 9; the BFA Photography Department’s Portfolio, Class 2008; and Dear Dave, Issues #4 and #5. All of the winning publications will appear in the 2009 UCDA Design Show, which will be on view at the organization’s 39th Annual Design Conference, October 3 – 6 in Seattle.

And the Press is already getting a leg up on next year’s competition: Gail Anderson’s latest poster campaign, a series of five posters that will run until June 2010 throughout New York. The new posters combine Anderson’s signature blend of innovative typography and composition with a quote from President Barack Obama’s inaugural address: “In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned.”

Images: (top) Visual Arts Journal, spring 2009 issue; (bottom) Gail Anderson, SVA subway poster, 2009. ©Visual Arts Press, Ltd.

The recent announcement of SVA’s upcoming MPS Live Action Short Film Department (which will open its doors in the fall 2010 semester) is generating both educational and industry buzz. The Hollywood Reporter checked in with regarded director and Department Chair Bob Giraldi about the new one-year program. “Many established and successful directors, including George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, first began by making short films—it served as a way for them to hone their craft and gain entrance into the industry,” Giraldi says in the article. “The short film is a vehicle for experimentation with new technologies and offers a freedom of ideas that cannot easily be realized in a longer format.”

For more information on the MPS Live Action Short Film Department, visit its SVA Web page and department blog.

In recognition of alumnus Rebecca Sugar’s (BFA 2009 Animation) win for best experimental film at this year’s Animation Block Party, Cartoon Brew TV is hosting her winning film Singles on its Web site. Sugar created the animated short as her thesis project at SVA and conceived the film as part of a trilogy; fellow graduates Peyton Skyler Harrison’s (BFA 2009 Animation) film CAT and Mikhail Shraga’s (BFA 2009 Animation) Metromorphosis complete the trio. Read the full Cartoon Brew article here and view the short below: