Visual Arts Briefs

The Metropolitan Museum of Art recently acquired Suzanne McClelland’s (MFA 1989 Fine Arts) 2006 monotype print on paper with collage, Lullaby #17, lullaby with martha and sunset. McClelland’s paintings, drawings, and works on paper push boundaries through a mix of lyrical gestures and abstracted forms, and as New York Times art critic Roberta Smith noted more than 20 years ago, McClelland is an artist who tries “to make paint do things it hasn’t done before.”

Other works by McClelland will also be included in the Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts at the Academy of Arts and Letters opening March 6, 2012, and she will be featured in a solo exhibition at the University of Virginia Museum of Art in 2013. For more information about McClelland, visit her website.

Suzanne McClelland, Lullaby #17, lullaby with martha and sunset, 2006, Monotype with collage, 22″ x 30″ (55.9 x 76.2 cm).

For his first New York solo exhibition, “Father’s Fathers,” Guðmundur Thoroddsen (MFA 2011 Fine Arts) presents wood sculpture and works on paper. Initially trained as a painter, Thoroddsen began working in wood as a way to explore masculinity and unquestioned reliance on patriarchs and all-powerful gods. Thoroddsen’s coarsely rendered bearded heads and contemplative ink drawings explore the idea of man as simultaneously omnipotent and enormously base. On view at Asya Geisberg Gallery, 537-B West 23 Street, through February 18.

Chris Martin (BFA 1992 Fine Arts) continues to push the boundaries of painting with his latest show in Chelsea. While he is perhaps most known for creating work that emphasizes the beauty to be found in randomness, Martin also surprises viewers by using unexpected materials such as foam installation or even bread as canvases and by experimenting with unusual processes like fumage, painting with candle smoke. For the current exhibition, Martin displays a new series of paintings that includes works painted on newspaper pages. On view at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, 534 West 26 Street, through March 3.

Marianne Vitale (BFA 1996 Film and Video) investigates a lesser known chapter of history in her solo exhibition “What I Need To Do Is Lighten The Fuck Up About A Lot of Shit.” The artist invokes the phenomenon of “Combustivism,” the mass hysteria that spread throughout the northeastern U.S. in the 19th century, resulting in rampant violence that led President James K. Polk to declare to Congress that he would “…use the big stick of the law and beat back” if the mayhem did not end. In this exhibition, Vitale presents her own charred and battered sculptural emblems and installations meant to represent these historic events, and commemorates a time when razing entire neighborhoods to stop the spread of mysteriously infectious dust, which was believed to be causing the strange behavior, was as common as going to church on Sunday. On view at Zach Feuer Gallery, 548 West 22 Street, through February 25.

Image: Guðmundur Thoroddsen, Primogenitor, 2011, Wood, 19″ x 8″ x 10″.

Filmmaker, alumnus and MFA Fine Arts Department faculty member Johan Grimonprez’s (MFA 1992 Fine Arts) most recent project, The Shadow World, has been selected for a development grant from the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program. Based on a book of the same name by Andrew Feinstein, a former African National Congress member of parliament in South Africa, the documentary focuses on corruption in the international arms trade, those who profit financially from it, and the costs in human lives.

In addition to the grant, Grimonprez will also receive support from the Sundance Institute that includes work-in-progress screenings, access to creative labs, and special events and activities at the Sundance Creative Producing Summit and Sundance Film Festival. For updates about The Shadow World, which is scheduled for release in 2014, visit Louverture Films.

In the video below, Feinstein discusses his book.

“Every Once Sometimes Now,” the first of two thesis exhibitions by students in the MFA Fine Arts Department, is on view until January 28 at the Visual Arts Gallery, 601 West 26 Street, 15th floor, New York City. Curated by Ron Segev, gallerist at Thierry Goldberg Gallery in New York, and assistant curator Richard Goldstein, the exhibition includes work in various media by Eleni Beristianou, Chie, Eun Jung Kim, Sharon Kirby, Jonas Lara, Amelia Midori Miller, Augustus Nazzaro, Jenny Santos, Heewon Seo, Kim Smith, Paul Hunter Speagle, Miryana Todorova, Aken Wahl and James Brendan Williams. The second exhibition, “Just The Tip,” will be on view February 24 – March 10 at the Visual Arts Gallery.

The exhibition documents the merging, mixing and cross-referencing of mediums and materials that drives some of today’s most ambitious artists. In addition to exploring pluralism, the works in “Every Once Sometimes Now” embrace and react “against a world that is saturated with visual clutter, where images are tagged, tweeted about and uploaded to Tumblr in an instant,” says Segev.

For more about the exhibition and a slideshow of images, visit SVA.edu.

Image: Heewon Seo, Untitled, 2011, oil on linen.

Thomas Woodruff, Chair of the BFA Illustration and Cartooning Department, presents a series of new paintings called “The Four Temperament Variations,” inspired by the ancient belief that the body and mind are controlled by four mysterious, colored fluids. In addition to exploring the humors, Woodruff’s work also investigates genre painting such as still-life, portrait, and landscape. On view at P.P.O.W., 535 West 22 Street, 3rd Fl, through February 4.

Sarah Sze (MFA 2007 Fine Arts) explores the potential and possibilities of drawing as a medium in her current exhibition “Infinite Line.” Through a series of lithographs, silkscreens, graphite, ink, and collaged drawings that focus on memory and personal experience, and new drawings that highlight the complexity, intricacy, and painstakingly detailed character of her sculptural practice, Sze creates rich compositions that blossom, morph, and bloom again and again through a single line. On view at Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue, through March 25.

Inspired by Classical European portraiture, the paintings in Stan Narten’s (MFA 2008 Fine Arts) “Three Pound Universe” are at once abstract and literal. The exhibition takes its name from a concept in philosophy and neuroscience that imagines the known universe existing as a sole construct of the brain and culminating in all feeling, perception, distortion and illusion. On view at Kravets Wehbly, 512 West 21 Street, through February 18.

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.

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 Mayerson at 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.

Even with some 260 participating galleries from around the world showing museum-quality work at this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach, not all the fair’s viewing action was on the floor of the Convention Center. For its 10th anniversary edition, the fair teamed up with the Bass Museum of Art to present Art Public, an installation of outdoor sculptures in the recently redesigned Collins Park. Among the 24 artists selected were two SVA alumni: Robert Melee (BFA 1990 Visual Arts) and Banks Violette (BFA 1998 Fine Arts), who is showing his first outdoor sculpture.

Occupying opposite ends of verdant Collins Park, Melee and Violette’s works are a study in contrasts. Melee’s 2008 bronze It Sitting is a pock-marked biomorphic mass doused in a rainbow of nautical paint. On the other side of the block, in more ways than one, Violette’s all-black 2011 aluminum structure Not yet titled looks like a roadside traffic barrier destroyed in a critical collision.

“The installation is intended to compliment, frustrate, soothe, challenge and distract from the cacophony and activity of South Beach during the show,” said Art Public Curator Christine Kim.

SVA also 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 SVA at Art Basel Miami Beach, or to post photos from your Miami art experience, visit SVA’s Facebook page.

Image: (top) Robert Melee, It Sitting, 2008. Photo by Onajide Shabaka/miamiartexchange.com. (bottom) Banks Violette, Not yet titled, 2011. Photo by Sam Modenstein. Both installed at Collins Park, Miami, for Art Public 2011.

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 alumnus Lorna 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.

MFA Fine Arts Department faculty member Marilyn Minter was recently featured in The New York Times Style Magazine for her new paintings, currently on display at Salon 94 Bowery (243 Bowery, New York City) through December 4. In the article, writer Linda Yablonsky notes that Minter’s works are perhaps most recognizable for their excessively close attention to the topography of flesh—beads of sweat, open pores, or freckles—and that the excessive closeness causes those imperfections to look more like glorious costume jewels. “Everything I do is wet and sweaty,” Yablonsky quoted Minter as saying during the show’s installation in October. “I don’t know why—maybe because I sweat so much? But my mother used to tell me that when I was a baby I’d turn on the water in the tub and watch it run for hours.”

Minter begins her process by staging photo shoots with film, using conventional darkroom processes and without cropping or digitally manipulating the resulting photographs. Her paintings, on the other hand, are made by using Photoshop to rearrange combinations of negatives to create new images. The reconstrued image is then turned into a painting. “It’s all illusion!” Minter told Yablonsky. “That’s why I love painting. The images in these may fall apart when you get close, but that’s why I’m not photo-realist. I hate it when people call me that. I’m a realist!”

To read the full article, visit The New York Times Style Magazine.