Visual Arts Briefs

Just when visitors to Art Basel Miami Beach and satellite fairs think they’ve seen it all, along come new artist-led initiatives to make each year memorable. Take COMPANY’s ArtV, a mobile art gallery that traveled New York’s Chelsea gallery district before making its way south for Art Basel. Through the week, the ArtV shuttled passengers between fairs as they enjoyed free DJ’d tunes and beverages. Among the artists with work on the ArtV was current BFA Visual & Critical Studies student Elektra KB, whose work was recently featured on COMPANY’s Web site.

And then there were the bricks-and-mortar operations that offered a fresh take on exhibiting art and building community. Co-directed by Brian Whiteley and Matthew Eck, current students in the MFA Fine Arts Department at SVA, Art Now is a young hotel fair that took place at the Catalina Hotel right alongside more established fairs. So why another fair? “I believe I can start changing the system from big money and big names and start showcasing young, hip, creative people,” said Whiteley. And what of the city’s appetite for yet another art fair? “Art has transformed Miami and Miami has welcomed it with open arms,” Whiteley told the Briefs. This year’s Art Now fair had 19 international exhibitors, with a mix of galleries, solo artists and collectives.

At NADA, a well-established fair organized by the New Art Dealers Alliance, one of the success stories belonged to alumnus Mike Egan (MFA 2007 Fine Arts), who directs New York’s Ramiken Crucible gallery. Ramiken moved into a new space on the Lower East Side earlier this year, joining several other artist-run spaces in the area. Showing just a handful of emerging artists in a compact booth at NADA, the staff at Ramiken reported doing brisk business from the fair’s opening.

SVA exhibited a selection of work by eight 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.

Image: Art Now 2011 at the Catalina Hotel, Miami; courtesy Art Now, photo Matthew Eck.

Just in time for the holidays, the 2011 Degenerate Craft Fair arrives to prove that quality, creative gifts don’t have to be expensive. Taking place on Saturday, December 10 from noon to 9pm and Sunday, December 11 from noon to 6pm at 159 Bleecker Street in New York City, the third annual event features works by over 75 artists and designers, including DCF founders Amy Wilson (faculty member BFA Visual and Critical Studies Department) and Shannon Broder (BFA 2011 Visual and Critical Studies), as well as several SVA students, faculty members, and alumni.

Most of the wares available at the Degenerate Craft Fair are priced under $50, and run the gamut from knitwear, handmade jewelry and ornaments to original paintings, sculptures, and artist books. The fair’s opening night reception from 6 – 9pm on Saturday features live music and free Brooklyn Brewery beer for those of age, and on Sunday, the first 50 visitors receive a tote bag full of goodies. For more information about the DCF and a full list of participating exhibitors and artists, visit the Degenerate Craft Fair Web site.

Image: Photo from the 2010 Degenerate Craft Fair.

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.

Photo by Adam L. Weintraub.

For Performa 11, artist and BFA Visual and Critical Studies Department faculty member Liz Magic Laser presents I Feel Your Pain, a new mixed-media performance that restages America’s recent political contests as a romantic drama. Drawing on a variety of agitprop theater tactics, particularly the Russian Constructivist idea of a “living newspaper,” the performance examines how emotion is used to establish authenticity on America’s political stage.

Performed by eight actors (Lynn Berg, Audrey Crabtree, Ray Field, Annie Fox, Kathryn Grody, Rafael Jordan, Liz Micek and Ryan Shams), I Feel Your Pain features live voice-overs, pantomime fight scenes, and mute commentaries by a clown, as well as a live-feed of projections, edited in real time by Laser herself.

Sunday, November 13, 8pm and Monday, November 14, 8pm, SVA Theatre, 333 West 23 Street, 212-592-2925. For tickets, visit Performa. To read “10 Picks for the Performa Biennial, From Simon Fujiwara to Liz Magic Laser,” visit Artinfo.

Image: A still from “I Feel Your Pain” by Liz Magic Laser.

SVA’s “Art in the First Person” lecture series continues on September 22 with two events that are sure to generate some lively discussion. At 6:30pm in the SVA Amphitheater, 209 East 23 Street, the MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Department in partnership with Professional Women Photographers present “The Role of Women in Photography: Are We There Yet?” Moderator Elisabeth Bondi, former visuals editor for The New Yorker, will be joined by curator and writer Lyle Rexer; photography critic Vince Aletti; and photographers Martine Fougeron, Sarah Silver, and Lisa Kereszi.

Across town at 7 pm at the SVA Theatre, 333 West 23 Street, the MFA Art Criticism & Writing Department hosts “Making It Visible,” a talk by Robert Storr, critic, curator, artist, and Dean of the Yale University School of Art. Storr will reflect on Gerhard Richter’s painting September, a work that powerfully evokes 9/11, and compare it to Robert Ryman’s paintings, which pose alternatives to “realism.”

On October 12 at 7pm at the SVA Theatre, the BFA Photography Department presents “Unseen in The Unseen Eye” in conjunction with the release of author, curator, collector and SVA faculty member Bill Hunt’s new book The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the Unconscious. Hunt will discuss the book, his life as a collector, and his passion for photography with fellow author, curator, and faculty member Susan Bright. On October 13 at 7pm at the SVA Theatre, the MFA Art Criticism & Writing Department welcomes artist Carolee Schneemann as she explores the “Mysteries of the Iconographies” during what promises to be a stunning visual lecture.

As part of Performa 11, the BFA Fine Arts Department and the BFA Visual & Critical Studies Department present “I Feel Your Pain,” a new multimedia performance by artist Liz Magic Laser based on the idea of a “living newspaper.” Laser’s politically charged work will be performed at 8pm on Sunday, November 13 and at 8pm on Monday, November 14 at the SVA Theatre.

Most “Art in the First Person” events are free and open to the public. For more information on the more than 20 events, visit sva.edu/artinthefirstperson.

Images: (top) Photo of Robert Storr by Lyle Ashton Harris. (bottom) A still from “I Feel Your Pain” by Liz Magic Laser.

SVA has teamed up with the Valetudo Association to present “Life’s Work,” an exhibition of paintings and drawings by 13 alumni of the MPS Art Therapy Department and by clients at the Maison de Santé Saint-Paul, today a women’s psychiatric clinic in Saint-Rémy de Provence, France, which was once home to Vincent Van Gogh. The exhibition is on view at the historic cloister at Saint-Paul through October 18, 2011.

The exhibition opened on September 16, the eve of the Journées de Patrimoine, an annual festival celebrating France’s cultural heritage, with a reception that drew hundreds of visitors to Saint-Paul. In a brief ceremony led by Dr. Jean-Marc Boulon, chief psychiatrist at Saint-Paul, SVA Executive Vice President Anthony Rhodes spoke, in French, of the importance of chance meetings and face-to-face interaction in building relationships.

Van Gogh spent perhaps his most productive year in Saint-Rémy de Provence from 1889-90. After voluntarily committing himself to Saint-Paul de Mausole, the artist was given special permission to set up his easel on the grounds of the hospital and produced over 150 paintings, including Irises and The Starry Night. Today, the Maison de Santé Saint-Paul operates adjacent to the legendary site of Saint-Paul de Mausole and is supported by the Valetudo Association.

“Life’s Work” features some 40 works by clients at Saint-Paul, as well as 26 works on paper by SVA alumni, which were created in the spring of 2011 in a workshop led by BFA Fine Arts and BFA Visual and Critical Studies Department faculty member Peter Hristoff. Participating alumni in the exhibition are Sarah Amiel, Jess Benston, Amelia Morgan Camion, Julie Combal, Naomi Cohen, Suzanne Dell’Orto, Yaara Kastiel, Lauren McCarthy, Rachel Mosler, Ryan Norton, Ayde Rayas-Gribben, Susan Walton, and Amanda Zucker.

For more information about the exhibition and a slideshow of the work, visit SVA.edu. To read about “Valetudo: Art and Healing in Provence,” an exhibit held in New York in 2010 at SVA’s Westside Gallery, which was the first phase of this exchange project between SVA and Valetudo, click here.

Photos by Francis Di Tommaso.

Pop star Britney Spears made a huge impression on Katie Armstrong (BFA 2010 Visual and Critical Studies) as an adolescent, so much so that Armstrong has dedicated her debut solo exhibition to “…Baby One More Time,” the chart-topping song that launched Spears to mega stardom and propelled a pop music explosion.

Opening September 8 at New York City’s BravinLee gallery, 526 West 26 Street, #211, “Once More, Once More” features two of Armstrong’s highly-detailed animations. The first, “Once More, Once More,” marks the completion of a series of works based upon her interpretations of pop songs that impacted her as a young woman, with Armstrong’s own rendition of the Spears’ hit serving as the soundtrack for the piece.

Asked why she chose that piece to cap off her series, Armstrong said, “First and foremost, it is my opinion that ‘…Baby One More Time’ is the quintessential pop song. It embodies everything that is irritating, alluring and strange about chart music. Britney Spears is an icon, the ultimate tragic heroine of contemporary music, and was very influential to me as a 12-year-old.”

“Things Tamed,” the other featured piece included in the show, is “an experiment in storytelling, a study of time and visual language from the perspective of someone raised on the Internet,” according to Armstrong. It was her way of exploring the question, “How descriptive do images need to be in order for them to be emotionally evocative on a narrative level?”

Both animations were drawn one frame at a time. Armstrong said she prefers this method because it allows for greater thoughtfulness, and compares the process to choreographing a ballet.

Vital to the project was a scholarship received from the BFA Visual and Critical Studies Department that allowed her to go to Leipzig, Germany, for a five-month residency in order to complete the works. Armstrong also credits her time at SVA for contributing to her development as an artist. “I’d say the most important skill I took away from my time at SVA was the ability to look at the world with a discerning eye,” she said.

“Once More, Once More” will be on display at BravinLee through November 24; the opening reception is Thursday, September 8, from 6 – 8pm.

Images: (top) Self-portrait; (bottom) stills from “Once More, Once More.” Images courtesy of the artist.

Tom Huhn (chair, BFA Visual and Critical Studies Department) provides a thoughtful review of Sarah Wilson’s new book The Visual World of French Theory: Figurations in the June/July issue of Art in America.  In the book, Wilson—an independent curator and professor of contemporary art at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London—investigates Narrative Figuration, a cultural movement in France during the 1960s and ‘70s that brought together visual artists, critical thinkers and theorists alike.

“Wilson’s study provides an opportunity to consider yet again the vexed relationship between word and image,” writes Huhn in Art in America, “this time within the heated and crackling context of French politics.” The Visual World of French Theory: Figurations seeks “to rescue Narrative Figuration from the obscurity into which it has fallen” and “Wilson succeeds in showing—without any criticism of theory—that the political disputes were often far more evident in the visual arts than in any discursive texts.”

To read the full review, visit Art in America.

One in a series of dispatches from SVA’s 2011 Arts Abroad programs.

The Art History in Southern France program is based in the lively cultural hub of Avignon, a town on the lush shores of the Rhone River famous for its medieval walls. Avignon is also the ideal jumping off point to explore Provence’s cultural landmarks, so on a day when much of Avignon observed a long weekend for the Christian holiday of Pentecost (a reminder to visitors of the succession of popes who took up residence here in the 14th century), the students struck out for Aix-en-Provence.

It was in Aix – so named for the waters of the many underground springs that supply numerous Roman fountains in the city’s historic center – that legendary painter Paul Cézanne was born, and his traces are everywhere. Led by guide Laurence Minard-Amalou and instructor Tom Huhn (chair, BFA Visual and Critical Studies Department), the group visited the elegant Musée Granet, which holds 9 of the artist’s paintings. It was at the museum that Cézanne got his start, copying paintings from the collection. Next stop: the site of the former hat shop owned by his father, and a fountain which served the town’s residents before indoor plumbing arrived in the 19th century, featuring a bronze portrait of Cézanne by fellow artist Jean Renoir. The group took in Aix’s cathedral, whose construction spanned a millennium following the 5th century, located not far from the university where Cézanne had once studied law.

The last stop of the day was the artist’s studio, which narrowly escaped the wrecking ball in the 1950s but today remains largely intact as Cézanne left it when he died in 1906. The light-filled work space on the top floor contains his pewter pots, local earthenware and other props seen in the still lifes – along with a special cutout in the wall for getting oversized canvases in and out. From there it’s a short (but steep) walk to the hillside where the artist often painted the Mont Sainte Victoire, the rocky plateau that juts out from the otherwise hilly landscape. Many of the students were struck by the fact that the artist had died on this same trail. Others just enjoyed the view of the mountain that he made so famous.

Images: (top) a street marker in Aix-en-Provence; (middle); Cézanne’s studio, now off limits to photography; (bottom) taking in the artist’s favorite views of Mont Sainte-Victoire.

Several members of the SVA community are taking part in a cross-cultural investigation of authority in art education that kicks off this month in a New York City exhibition. Curated by alumnus Joanna M. Wezyk (MFA 2008 Fine Arts), who is on the faculty at Kean University, “Opposite Pols” brings together works by students at two U.S. and two Polish institutions – SVA, Kean University, the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts and the University of Rzeszow – alongside works by their instructors.

Coordinated by faculty member Peter Hristoff (BFA 1981 Fine Arts), the participating SVA artists include BFA Fine Arts and BFA Visual & Critical Studies Department students Bill Donovan, Kayla Gibbons, Lindsey Jardine, Cassandra Levine, Matt Lifson, Jennifer List, Kristen Long, Carly Mark, Dominic Musa and Chris Retsina. “Opposite Pols” is on view at the Artes Gallery, 333 West 38th Street, from May 26 – June 1. There is an opening reception on Thursday, May 26, 7 – 9pm; admission is free and open to the public.

The exhibition is presented in conjunction with the International Art Academies Symposium: Who Needs a Master Anymore?, to be held from July 22 – 31 in Szymbark, Poland, where Hristoff and Wezyk will join other artists, educators and scholars in presenting papers. The exhibition will travel to the Contemporary Art Center Solvay, Krakow; City Hall Gallery, Rzeszow; and the Nancy Dryfoos Gallery, Kean University, Union, New Jersey. There will be a publication documenting the project made available the later this year.

Image: Peter Hristoff, untitled work on paper, 2011.