Since the School of Visual Arts partnered with Behance last year to launch SVA Portfolios, thousands of people have been regularly visiting the site to check out the work of SVA alumni, faculty members, and degree-seeking students. Below are five projects that have attracted the most views so far this year. Click the links to see all of the images within each project, and to add your own work and connect with other artists, visit SVA Portfolios.
As if regularly contributing illustration work to The New York Times and designing books for Malcolm Gladwell weren’t enough, BFA Advertising and Graphic Design Department faculty member Paul Sahre can now add the following to his wide-ranging resumé: Monster Truck Hearse Creator/Constructor. Legendary quirk-rock band They Might Be Giants recently asked Sahre to design and build the hilariously disarming vehicle—out of cardboard, no less—for a music video for the single “When Will You Die” from the band’s new album Join Us. The Briefs tracked down Sahre at his O.O.P.S. (Office of Paul Sahre) headquarters to discuss the project via email.
How did this project come about?
I got an e-mail from band. They had seen some of my illustration work for The New York Times and asked if I would be interested in working with them on developing a cover image for their new release Join Us. The project mushroomed to all of the conventional collateral including the design of a CD, digital art for iTunes, digital booklets, posters, t-shirts, ads and over a dozen illustrations, as well as a downloadable PDF with instructions for building a tabletop paper version of the pink monster truck hearse featured on the cover.
The project culminated with the construction and documentation of a life-sized version of the monster truck hearse (made entirely of paper and cardboard) for the music video for “When Will You Die.”
What part of the project was the most challenging? The most fun?
The building of the life-size model and the video documentation. I’m not sure I would call it fun, though. The video is a bit deceiving as it takes four months of work and condenses into 2 1/2 minutes. The design of the table top model and the PDF instructions alone took forever. The bulk of those hours were logged by my intern at the time, Santiago Carrasquilla (current student, BFA Advertising and Graphic Design). I’m sure he still has nightmares about it.
Were there any other SVA people involved?
It wouldn’t be a stretch to call this an SVA project. Faculty member Adam Wahler not only printed it and contributed advice, but we also built it in his A to A Studio driveway in Stamford CT. Joe Hollier (current student, BFA Advertising and Graphic Design) co-directed and shot it (and helped build). Former O.O.P.S. intern and SVA legend Alex Stikeleather (current student, BFA Advertising and Graphic Design) along with Santiago, did everything from designing to building for the project and were there from start to finish. And last but not least David Cooke (current student, BFA Photography) was there at the end to film and shoot large format pictures.
What was it like to see your work destroyed at the end?
Are you kidding? It was great! That thing had to die. It was built, we test drove it and then it was in pieces, sitting in a storage space (it completely filled a 30′ x 10′ x 10′ unit that was running us $560 per month). There was always a plan to recycle it, but the idea to film the flattening of it didn’t come until the end. A designer one floor above my office on Sixth Avenue, Frank DeRose, hooked me up with a friend of his that operates a scrap yard. Next thing I know, we’re having a moment of silence for a pile of cardboard.
More than 500 photographs from the personal collection of curator and BFA Photography Department faculty member W.M. Hunt are on display through February 19 at the George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film, 900 East Avenue, Rochester, New York. As the name of the exhibition suggests, “The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the W.M. Hunt Collection” is focused on not looking—the eyes of the subjects in each image are never directly fixed upon the viewer, whether due to an averted gaze, positioning of the head or blurring.
“The collection and exhibition represent a very personal journey for me,” says Hunt. “It is my conscious made manifest. These are all photos of me. But they’re all of you, too. They are evocative, whimsical, representational, many things. I love the mystery of it. You have to react, to come to the image, to make up your own story.”
BFA Photography Department faculty member and principal of boutique creative services firm C.O.D. Inc., Jordan Schaps, and photographer Benjamin Martin (BFA 2010 Photography) recently completed a collaborative artwork for the Miami City Ballet (MCB) celebrating the opening of its new season. The photographs, which have been turned into 10-foot-by 38-foot banners, grace the front façade of the MCB’s facilities in Miami Beach. Schaps and Martin were invited to create the project by Ben Miller, MCB’s director of marketing and communications, who thought the visual motion present in Martin’s photographs would be a good fit for dance.
Schaps, former creative director for New York magazine and Martin first met in 2010 through SVA’s Mentors program, which helps introduce new talent to the New York City arts community by pairing students and industry leaders to create new work for an exhibition. Stephen Frailey, chair of the BFA Photography Department, co-chair of the MPS Fashion Photography Department and curator of the Mentors exhibitions said, “Mentoring is the heart of our program. Like our faculty, mentors come from every corner of the photography community, they help students do their best work, and get inspired to keep growing as professionals.”
While serving as creative director on the Mentors project, Schaps was continually impressed by Martin’s unique photographic style of painting people—photographing them, then digitally altering the images to create original artworks. For the Miami Beach project, the two created photographs of MCB School student Ella Titus, who posed in each of the first five ballet positions while Martin painted her legs, took photographs, and then altered them digitally to create the resultant images.
In a recent article for the Miami Beach SunPost Weekly, Schaps said, “This whole project has been a dream collaboration. In my long career, I’ve worked with very famous photographers—photographers with one name, to photographers with three names. Benjamin will join those famous artists, and in a short time. He’ll probably eclipse many of them!”
Images: (top) Benjamin Martin and Jordan Schaps, Five Positions, 2011. (bottom) Front of Miami City Ballet. Photos courtesy of MCB.
With numerous satellite fairs going strong in Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach this year, SVA alumni were much in evidence throughout the city. At NADA, held at the landmark Deauville Hotel on the beach, a small canvas by alumnus and BFA Illustration and Cartooning Department faculty member Keith Mayersonat Derek Eller’s booth stood out from geometric abstraction and gesturalism on view nearby. The Invisible Exports booth had heads turning with Lisa Kirk’s (BFA 1991 Fine Arts) twin floor “speakers” and Paul Gabrielli’s (BFA 2005 Fine Arts) hair-dryer-meets-hand-dryer.
The Wynwood design district was bustling again with enough pop-up galleries and special events to make New Yorkers and Los Angelenos envious. At Scope, Artists Wanted exhibited Yuhi Hasegawa (MFA 2009 Fine Arts) as the winner of Art Takes London 2011 Prize. Yuhi was first introduced to Miami art audiences in SVA’s booth at Aqua Art Miami in 2009. New York’s Like A Spice Gallery showed Matt Stone (MFA 2010 Fine Arts) and Jason Bard Yarmosky (BFA 2010 Illustration), both of whom had their Miami debut last year at SVA’s booth at Aqua Art Miami, along with alumni Jenny Morgan (MFA 2008 Fine Arts) and Reuben Negron (MFA 2004 Illustration as Visual Essay).
This year also saw the return of Seven, a standout satellite fair in Wynwood that is produced through a collaboration by 7 New York galleries. SVA was represented by George Boorujy(MFA 2002 Illustration as Visual Essay), BFA Visual and Critical Studies Department faculty member and alumnus Amy Wilson (BFA 1995 Fine Arts) and Michelle Matson(BFA 2005 Fine Arts)–fresh off her appearance on Bravo TV’s Work of Art.
At Pulse, which was held at Miami’s historic Ice Palace, Michael Combs (MFA 1996 Illustration) was exhibited at Jonathan Ferrari, Simen Johan (BFA 1996 Photography) at Yossi Milo, Joe Fig (MFA 2002 Fine Arts) was at Christin Tierney, Donna Sharrett (BFA 1984 Fine Arts) at Pavel Zabouk, Jason Bard Yarmosky (BFA 2010 Illustration) and Martin Witfooth (MFA 2008 Illustration as Visual Essay) at Lyons Wier; and Jaime Ferreyros (BFA 1985 Media Arts) showed iPhone photography at Miami’s Independent Thinkers, a satellite fair held at Awarehouse.
SVA also exhibited a selection of work by 8 recent alumni at Aqua Art Miami; click here for details. To read other Briefs reports from Miami, click here.
For more images from Art Basel Miami Beach and beyond, or to post photos of your Miami art experience, visit SVA’s Facebook page.
Images: Works by alumni Paul Gabrielli (left) and Lisa Kirk (right) at Invisible Exports’ booth at NADA, photo Michael Grant; alumnus Yuhi Hasegawa at SCOPE, photo courtesy Artists Wanted.
2011 was a milestone for Art Basel Miami Beach as the world’s most watched art fair celebrated its 10th anniversary, and SVA alumni and faculty were well represented there. In terms of sheer numbers and attention-grabbing work, this was a banner year for women artists. One of the most popular booths on the Convention Center floor was Miami’s David Castillo Gallery, where a new video by Kate Gilmore (MFA 2002 Fine Arts) attracted a crowd. Buster has Gilmore smashing 200 paint-filled ceramic vessels, which flood the set with purple drips, pools and spatters.
Over at Salon 94, the booth was aglow with gold floor-to-ceiling architectural prints by alumnusLorna Simpson(BFA 1982 Photography) and a shimmering new painting by Marilyn Minter (faculty member, MFA Fine Arts Department). Across the convention center floor at Galerie Lelong, another showstopper was MFA Fine Arts Department faculty member Petah Coyne’s untitled chandelier made from taxidermy birds and candles—one of those “you have to see it to believe it” works that rewards fairgoers of all stripes.
Striking a more somber note were twin portraits of George Harrison by Elizabeth Peyton(BFA 1987 Fine Arts) at Gavin Brown; a large black-and-white painting by Katherine Bernhardt (MFA 2000 Fine Arts) at CANADA; a pitch-black mirror painting by Liz Deschenes (faculty member, MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Department) at Miguel Abreu; and recent photography by Justine Kurland (BFA 1996 Photography) at Mitchell-Innes & Nash.
SVA also exhibited a selection of work by eight recent alumni at Aqua Art Miami; click here for details.
For more images from Art Basel Miami Beach, or to post photos from your art viewing in Miami, visit SVA’s Facebook page.
Images: (top) Kate Gilmore, Buster, 2011 video still, HD video; (bottom) works by Marilyn Minter (left) and Lorna Simpson (background) at Art Basel Miami Beach.
For the sixth consecutive year, the College has a team in Miami, Florida for the 2011 edition of the season’s highly anticipated art fairs. Through Sunday, December 4, SVA will be participating in the Aqua Art Fair at the Aqua Hotel (Room #108), 1530 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach.
The SVA room features work by members of the class of 2011: Elektra KB (BFA Visual and Critical Studies), Christopher Patrick Ernst (BFA Photography), Carly Gaebe (MFA Photography, Video and Related Media), Miyeon Lee (MFA Fine Arts), Michael Severance (BFA Fine Arts), Rebecca Starr (BFA Photography), Joey Varas (MFA Fine Arts) and Emily Weiner (MFA Fine Arts).
For those who are going to be in Miami for the fairs, the Briefs has VIP passes (each ticket admits two) to give away to the first 10 people to email their mailing address to news@sva.edu. Please include “Aqua Art Fair” in the subject line.
For future giveaways, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Simen Johan (BFA 1996 Photography) presents new sculptures and photos from his ongoing project “Until the Kingdom Comes.” Johan’s work creates tension by blurring the boundaries between opposites, such as the natural and artificial, the tranquil and lively. On view at Yossi Milo Gallery, 525 West 25 Street, through December 23.
“The Passions” by Martin Wittfooth (MFA 2008 Illustration as Visual Essay) explores the destructive nature of blind faith by focusing on the idolization of violence, self-sacrifice, and suffering that are central to faith-based notions of martyrdom and sainthood. In these new paintings, Wittfooth draws upon references and imagery in classical art to create modern day parables of his own. On view at Lyons Wier Gallery, 524 West 24Street, through November 12.
Over the past five years, the work of Yamini Nayar (MFA 2005 Photography, Video and Related Media) has been shifting the space of memory and imagination from the literal to the abstract. “Head Space” features photographs of table-top environments that were assembled from re-purposed and recycled materials. Grounded in her interest in the poetics of the built environment, Nayer’s first solo exhibition also shifts the nature of meaning. On view at Thomas Erben Gallery, 526 West 26 Street, through December 3.
The latest edition of SVA’s bi-annual Visual Arts Journal is now available online, and among the many highlights are:
>>An exclusive interview with Joe Quesada (BFA 1984 Media Arts), chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment, who talks about how he first fell in love with comics, the challenges of translating popular characters from one medium to another, why he never gets tired of drawing Spider-Man, and much more.
SVA’s BFA Photography course Photo Editing/Curatorial Projects I & II was the focus of a recent article in Photo District News. The course, which is currently co-taught by noted collector, photography strategist, and BFA Photography faculty member W. M. (Bill) Hunt and industry expert and Inc. managing editor Alexandra Brez was initiated in 2001 by Brez and Stephen Frailey, chair of the BFA Photography department. “The class has a dual purpose,” Frailey explained to Ellen Wallenstein (also a BFA Photography faculty member) in PDN. “It’s about the business of editing and curating, but also about how the subject matter of an image is flexible depending on its use….” In addition to valuable visits to galleries, museums and magazine publishers, the article explained how students also write about the work of other photographers in order to develop their ability to offer pertinent critiques.
Wallenstein also noted that Brez and Hunt have high standards for their students, making class an exciting challenge. Students complete weekly writing assignments that are also verbally presented in order to persuade classmates that the images being discussed are worth viewing. From these experiences, students gain “an elegance of presentation and some confidence about their work,” said Hunt. While Brez emphasized, “It’s still important to be a student. To make art—to make it wrong—take chances, have fun. After all, it is art school.”
