Second semester wrapped!
It’s been thrilling to live vicariously through this year’s graduating group at SVA. Watching them navigate thesis, present their accomplishments and discoveries, and then celebrating coming out the other side in one piece together has been a blast (maybe easier for me to see than they without the pressure that comes with all of the above). A final push towards the finish line culminated in some genuinely thought-provoking presentations that had me noting questions for the aftermath; the work itself spoke for itself at the graduate exhibition, Wondering Paths. I’m proud of the body of work my classmates put together, and it’s been great to see them reap the rewards and receive some positive attention for all their hard work – see this write-up at Hyperallergic for a more in-depth look! All in all, it has me thinking about my second year and the ideas coalescing for my own thesis work.
Detail of a slide from artist Lev Pinkus’s MFA thesis presentation at the School of Visual Arts.
I’ve been thinking a lot about long-marinating ideas noted in sketchbooks past that have been percolating for years and how they might emerge through the current forms of my practice. It seems like I’m just on the edge of breaking through to connect these ideas in a way that satisfies me in this moment; what elements, assets, skills, and approaches to take and which to leave, what stands alone and what can be combined to create new results. I have no answers yet (do we ever arrive at one conclusion?), but I have hope that a break this summer to reset will give some space to clarify and focus in on a direction – even if that direction is broad in scope. Final projects that took the form of works in their own right, such as the experimental geography I produced for Bill Powhida’s class, have helped me to start placing myself in the overlapping, shifting tectonic plates that compose the art world. And of course, there have been countless shows, readings, and records that have added to my thinking.
Painting by Andrew Patterson of an ‘experimental geography’ that maps relationships between various contemporary artists, journals, and galleries between deemed high and low art.
This experimental geography plots the subjective position and movement of roughly one hundred entities that have shaped my creative identity along an axis of ‘high’ and ‘low’ art, and art and craft. There’s countless more to add, and I left it pinned in the common hallway for others to contribute stickies to for their own thoughts, contributions, and corrections. One of the anchors of this map is Takashi Murakami – the father of Superflat theory, and someone I’ve come to admire for the ideas and concepts that underpin his practice. The more research i did, the more I found myself drawn to his perspectives on the flattening of culture and the relationships between traditional forms of art and the contemporary, and even where pop culture fits in the conversation. Following the geography’s creation I was lucky to see Murakami’s most recent exhibition at Gagosian. I was once again staggered by the scale and scope of the work on display while still having space to puzzle over the finer formal qualities – how did his team produce this or that detail? – and the occasional dose of much-needed humour nested in the work.
Suzanne McClelland, Since Oklahoma After Johns Before Tomorrow SPLC, 2015, 78 × 123 inches (198.12 × 312.42 cm) Chalkboard paint, pastel, spray paint on linen.
I also fell down a rabbit hole of Lucio Pozzi interviews after reading one in the Brooklyn Rail – Pozzi’s views on boundaries resonate with me, and I’ve endeavoured to play my own version of his Inventory Game to see what I can discover with my work. I revisited Christine Sun Kim’s show at the Whitney several times to bask in the brilliant way she presents her ideas. I was treated to Toyin Ojih Odutola’s jaw-dropping show at Jack Shainman, and was then whisked away to the opening of General Conditions at Shainman’s School after an action packed day starting at Art Omi with artist buds Joshua Evans, Amani Williams, and Sheila Carr. I maxed myself out during Tribeca Gallery Night, saw an awe-inspiring work by artist (and crit class prof!) Suzanne Mclelland at Canada NYC, and took a visiting friend to the Amy Sherald show before my decompression tour back to Toronto.
All of this assisted in distilling thinking I was doing about my own practice and these ideas I’ve struggled with in my own silo about the validity or qualities of the work I like and the work I produce. It’s been nice to be reminded that others been mulling over these ideas for generations, and also that even specific decisions I’ve made in “isolation” run parallel to what others think, do, or feel – from Superflat to how Sherald decided to render her figures. I’m looking forward to stirring all the ingredients together this summer to see what I cook up.
