Visual Arts Briefs

Last weekend New York City hosted more than a dozen art fairs, and SVA was well represented at several venues. At The Armory Show, faculty member Nancy Chunn’s Chicken Little and the Culture of Fear, a work that includes nearly 300 paintings, took over the Ronald Feldman Gallery booth. Off site, through a new partnership with SVA, Armory Show VIPs were able to enjoy private studio tours of alumni Alexis Rockman (BFA 1985 Fine Arts) and Billy Sullivan (1968 Fine Arts) who opened up their studios to guests for several hours on Saturday and Sunday. “It’s a chance for people who have long admired the work of these artists to meet them in an intimate setting and for the most part, to see work that hasn’t been shown anywhere else yet,” explains SVA staff member and alumnus Dan Halm (MFA 2001 Illustration as Visual Essay; BFA 1994 Illustration), who organized the program. Visitors were able to see some of the new pieces that Rockman is preparing in advance of his mid-career retrospective at the Smithsonian American Art Museum later this year. Also present at the Armory Show was Dear Dave, magazine.

Several SVA alumni participated in the PULSE fair, including: George Boorujy (MFA 2002 Illustration as Visual Essay) at the P.P.O.W. Gallery booth; Lili Almog (BFA 1992 Photography) at the Andrea Meislin Gallery booth; Robert Lazzarini (BFA 1990 Fine Arts) at the Winkleman booth; and Thordis Adalsteinsdottir (MFA 2003 Fine Arts) at the Stux Gallery booth.

Over at VOLTA, alumnus Soyeon Cho (MFA 2004 Fine Arts) showed at the SKL Gallery Palma de Mallorca booth and alumni Gregg Louis (MFA 2009 Fine Arts) and Noa Charuvi (MFA 2009 Fine Arts) participated in the group performance The Holistic Healing Center and Emerging Artist Massage Parlor, which was part of the VOLTA NY Happenings program. PooL Art Fair showed the work of Cat Del Buono (MFA 2008 Photography, Video and Related Media) and the Verge Art Fair, new to New York this year, hosted a conversation with alumnus Katarina Jerinic (MFA 2002 Photography and Related Media), who discussed her multidisciplinary project The Work Office.

Image: Nancy Chunn, Chicken Little and the Culture of Fear Scene VI: The Road (detail), 2006-07, acrylic on canvas, 64 panels, 142 x 336 inches overall, courtesy Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York

• New York Times art critic Roberta Smith profiled various current gallery exhibitions from what she describes as “bad-boy week on the New York art scene.” Two of the seven artists profiled are SVA alumni: Banks Violette (BFA 1998 Fine Arts) and Keith Haring (1979 Fine Arts). Violette’s show, which includes a sculpture that Smith calls “one of his best works so far,” is at Gladstone Gallery, 530 West 21st Street, through Saturday, April 17. One of Haring’s pro bono murals will be on view at Deitch Projects, 18 Wooster Street, at various times in February. Click here to view a slide show of images from the Times article.
• An interview with photographer and alumnus Kareem Black (BFA 1999 Photography) was recently featured in 25 Magazine. Black talks about some of his recent photo shoots, like one for The Real Housewives of Atlanta, as well as advice his instructors gave him when he was at SVA.
• The California Chronicle wrote about alumnus Eric Wight (BFA 1998 Animation), who is publishing another book in his Frankie Pickle series for children, which combines the comic and chapter book formats. Frankie Pickle and the Pine Run 3000 is the second book in the series from the artist who has worked on various film and TV projects, including animation for the movie Beavis and Butt-Head Do America and comic book art for the TV show The O.C.

Image: Banks Violette, throne ( and over and over again), 2009 – 2010, fluorescent tubes, steel, chain, wire and road case; Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York, and Team Gallery, New York.

When the students at Acorn Preschool on East 26th Street returned to class this semester, they were greeted by a series of colorful murals, courtesy of more than 20 SVA student volunteers. Last November, Zach Brunner, a current student in the BFA Film, Video and Animation Department and a student assistant in the Office of Student Activities, along with Tina Crayton, associate director of student activities, made contact with the principal at Acorn to set up the community service project. Together they brainstormed ideas for the murals and came up with a series that represented the four seasons and various iconic images of New York City, including the American Museum of Natural History and the city skyline. The murals were completed over two weekends and cover the concrete walls surrounding the school’s playground.

Brunner said of the project, “It was great to see the preschoolers actually playing with the drawings and pretending they were real. I think we all had a lot of fun being creative and making things simple and enjoyable to 2 – 6 year olds.”

The participating students were Alex Thiel from the BFA Advertising and Graphic Design Department; Zach Brunner, Yanise Cabrera, Pat Hughes, Thomas Minerva and Melody Shaiken from the BFA Film, Video and Animation Department; Adam DePalma,  Jesse Keating, Maria Petrovskaya, Andrea Solow and Ximena Velazquez-Arenas from the BFA Fine Arts Department; Hyang  Mi An, Yura Kim, Melissa Matos and Louis Spano from the BFA Illustration and Cartooning Department; Suh Hwang, Shashank Mittal and Kristen Vincent from the BFA Interior Design Department;  Luke Nilsson and Samantha Yudin from the BFA Photography Department; and Yvonne Andrea Castellanos from the MFA Fine Arts Department.

Image: Photo by Melissa Matos.

• Alumnus Jonathan Torgovnik’s (BFA 1996 Photography) photographs of the post-earthquake recovery efforts in Haiti are featured on Anderson Cooper’s blog AC360°. Torgovnik and Cooper, along with with other members of CNN’s crew, were in Haiti reporting on the effects of the earthquake,when Cooper aided a young boy who had been attacked by looters. Click here to view Torgovnik’s photographs of the incident.
• The New York Times recently mentioned Humanities and Sciences Department faculty member Susan Mosakowski in a glowing review of the one-person show “Wild Man.” Mosakowski is one of the creative directors of the Creation Production Company, which is co-presenting the play, at The Wild Project, 195 East Third Street, through Tuesday, January 26.
• The Web site for the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph touted a class project by current MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Department student James Pomerantz. Pomerantz aggregated essays, images and video about conflict photography to create a Web site on the topic. Pomerantz also blogs about his studies at SVA.

From December 2 – 6, members of the SVA community headed to Miami, Florida, for Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB) and the numerous satellite art fairs that surround the annual art-world confab. In addition to the SVA-sponsored booth at the Aqua Wynwood fair and mobile billboard that roamed the streets of Miami, SVA alumni, faculty and staff members made their presence felt in nearly every corner of the vast fairgrounds.

Amy Elkins (BFA 2007 Photography), whose work had been featured in SVA’s 2007 Aqua booth, was now showing at the Pulse Contemporary Art Fair, alongside Vickie Pierre (BFA 1997 Fine Arts), Lordy Rodriguez (BFA 1999 Fine Arts) and BFA Illustration and Cartooning Department Chair Thomas Woodruff. Greg Miller (MFA 1990 Photography and Related Media) was around the corner from SVA’s booth at Aqua, and Martin Wittfooth’s (MFA 2008 Illustration at Visual Essay) work had prime placement at both the Aqua and Scope fairs. Vera Lutter (MFA 1995 Photography and Related Media) and Amy Sillman (BFA 1979 Fine Arts) each had solo exhibitions as part of ABMB’s Art Kabinett; Nikki Katsikas (BFA 2008 Fine Arts) was at NADA; Michelle Weinberg (BFA 1983 Fine Arts) curated an exhibition at the Miami International Airport; and many more SVA artists were showing work around the city.

“We were all over Miami,” said Sam Modenstein, the College’s executive director of external relations, who was part of the SVA delegation in the Sunshine State, “and I think the wide range of work from our alumni and faculty highlighted just how many corners of the art world SVA is a part of.” In addition to the booths and gallery exhibitions during the week of fairs, Laurence Gartel (BFA 1977 Graphic Design) took part in a book signing for his book Auto Motion at The National Hotel, and Michael DeFeo (BFA 1995 Graphic Design) made his mark on Miami through participation in the street art project Primary Flight and its companion exhibition, “Blue Print for Space.”

Images: (top) SVA’s mobile billboard in Miami; (middle) SVA’s booth at Aqua Art Miami, photo by Dan Halm; (bottom) Michael De Feo, Miami flower mural from Primary Flight, 2009, photo by Matt White.

Just in time for the holiday shopping season, several members of the SVA community are displaying their work at the Degenerate Craft Fair (DCF), a traveling pop-up shop featuring handmade works of art. Organized by Art History, BFA Fine Arts and BFA Visual and Critical Studies Department faculty member Amy Wilson (BFA 1995 Fine Arts) and current BFA Visual and Critical Studies Department student Shannon Broder, the DCF will have jewelry, stuffed animals, CDs, stickers, clothing and books, all generally priced under $50.

The DCF is making rounds in the city this month, setting up shop in three different locations over three weeks in December. Last weekend the fair opened at Silent Barn, and this week the fair will be at 303 Grand, 303 Grand Street, Brooklyn, on Sunday, December 13, from 12 noon – 10pm, with a reception from 8 – 10pm; and Monday, December 14, from 12 noon – 8pm. The final location will be BravinLee programs in Mahattan, 526 West 26th Street, Suite 211, on Friday, December 18, from 12 noon – 9pm; and Saturday, December 19, from 12 noon – 6pm.

The fair features the work of several SVA artists including: current BFA Fine Arts Department students Victoria Duffee, Florencia Escudero, George Heintz, Ji Youn Hong, Nina Lichtman, Abigail Lloyd, Chris Retsina and Thang Tran; BFA Illustration and Cartooning Department students Giancarlo Corbacho, Erin Dodge and Jonny Ruzzo; BFA Photography Department student Carly Planker; BFA Visual and Critical Studies Deparment student Marissa Havers; and alumni Renee Delosh (BFA 2009 Fine Arts), James Farias (BFA 2009 Fine Arts), Lauren Fatzinger (BFA 2009 Fine Arts), Shalimar Luis (BFA 2007 Graphic Design), Andi Magenheimer (BFA 2009 Fine Arts), Yura Osborn (BFA 2009 Fine Arts), Greg Roth (BFA 2009 Cartooning) and Rachel Wheeler (BFA 2007 Graphic Design). More images of the fair and work for sale are viewable on the DCF’s Flickr photostream.

Image: The Rapt Boutique table at the Degenerate Craft Fair at Silent Barn; photo by Shannon Broder.

On Monday, December 14, the BFA Photography Department, in conjunction with the International Center of Photography, Dear Dave, magazine and Chronicle Books, is hosting an event celebrating the new book Photowisdom: Master Photographers and their Art (Chronicle Books, 2009) by Lewis Blackwell. The author, editor and former creative head of Getty Images looks at some of the leading photographers of the day, talking about their work, the value of their insights, and how the viewer and critics take an image into another space.

The event takes place at 7pm at the SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd Street, with a lecture by Blackwell and a slide presentation featuring the work of photographers Steve Pyke and Philip Toledano—whom Blackwell spotlights in Photowisdom—followed by a Q&A with the audience and a book signing. The event is free and open to the public.

Image: Cover of Photowisdom: Master Photographers and their Art by Lewis Blackwell (Chronicle Books, 2009).

The Visual Arts Press, the in-house design studio for SVA, recently won several awards for various promotional materials created for the College. The kudos came via Graphis: The International Journal of Visual Communication, which publishes annual collections of outstanding design work from studios around the world.

With five Gold Awards in the Graphis Design Annual 2010, the Press earned a spot alongside Apple and the international design studio Pentagram in the Graphis Top 2010, a list of 10 studios whose work won the most awards. The five winning projects were: issue #3 of Dear Dave, magazine, a tri-annual publication by the BFA Photography Department; a subway poster designed by faculty member Mirko Ilic; the portfolio from the BFA Photography Department’s class of 2007; the 2009 – 2010 undergraduate catalog; and Thunderstruck, the cartooning portfolio from the BFA Illustration and Cartooning Department.

In separate Graphis competitions, the Press also won a Gold Award for a poster it created for Where the Truth Lies: A Symposium on Propaganda Today, and a Silver Award for SVA’s 2008 annual report.

Image: Thunderstruck, © Visual Arts Press.

BFA Photography Department Chair Stephen Frailey was recently a guest at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), held November 16 – 18 in Doha, Qatar. Frailey was among an international gathering of leading figures in government, business, education, multimedia and other international institutions who came to WISE to focus on the forum’s central theme, Global Education: Working Together for Sustainable Achievements. Each day featured lectures and plenary sessions attended by such notable figures as Professor Sheikha Abdulla Al-Misnad, the president of Qatar University; Irina Bokova, the director-general of UNESCO; and Gerhard Schröder, the former chancellor of Germany.

“It was an honor to represent SVA at this global summit as the sole participant from any art school, and I was recognized for my involvement in Afghanistan and the founding of the PhotoGlobal program,” says Frailey. “It was inspiring and informative, and granted me insight into an educational discourse outside of art and the art world, looking at public policy and governance, and education as a form of social justice.” For a complete run-down of the WISE conference events and speakers, and to view video from many of the presenters, visit wise-qatar.org.

Image: Irina Bokova at the WISE opening plenary session.

For the fourth year in a row, the College will be heading to Miami, Florida for the season’s major art fairs. From December 2 – 6, SVA will be hosting booth #48 at Aqua Wynwood, 42 NE 25 Street at North Miami Avenue, featuring work by Yiftach Belsky (MFA 2009 Photography, Video and Related Media), Aaron Boldt (BFA Photography Department student), Brandon Davey (MFA 2009 Fine Arts), Darlin Frometa (BFA 2009 Illustration), Darya Golubina (BFA Fine Arts Department student), Yuhi Hasegawa (MFA 2009 Fine Arts), Gregg Louis (MFA 2009 Fine Arts), LaNola Stone (MPS 2009 Digital Photography) and Ivar Theorin (BFA 2009 Fine Arts). For an updated list of Aqua participants and events, visit aquaartmiami.com.

In addition to the booth at Aqua, SVA is deploying a mobile billboard that will cruise the Wynwood and Miami Beach fair areas on Friday, December 4. If you catch a glimpse, take a photo and send it to dhalm@sva.edu—we’ll include the shots we receive in our digital scrapbook of the 2009 fair.

Image: Yuhi Hasegawa, A Hundred Years in a Moment, 2009.