The School of Visual Arts presents SVA x Skowhegan, an interdisciplinary exhibition that explores the effects an increasingly global society has on contemporary artistic practice. The show, curated by Lauren Haynes, curator, contemporary art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, brings together Negar Ahkami, Sharona Eliassaf, Alejandro Guzman, Ulrike Heydenreich, Saskia Jordá, Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, Gregg Louis, Dave McKenzie, Miryana Todorova, Marvin Touré and Fred Wilson, 11 artists who have never been shown together and whose work touches on identity and the mapping of various geographies and landscapes, both real and imagined.

The artists in SVA x Skowhegan work in a wide variety of media—including video, painting, drawing, performance and multimedia installation—to present different perspectives on the relationship between place, experience and artistic process. Saskia Jordá uses craft materials to weave symbolic paths between constructed borders, while Negar Ahkami and Ulrike Heydenreich create real and fictional landscapes via painting and drawing. In his site-specific installation, bruh where ya mind at (2016), Marvin Touré maps the psychological effects of the American condition on the minds of young black men, while Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt employs aluminum, garland and glitter to illustrate how a blended neighborhood and traditional Catholic church affected the movements of an adolescent gay kid in 1950's New Jersey. Waving visitors into the gallery are four works from Fred Wilson's series of painted flags from African diasporan nations that, stripped of all color, celebrate and ponder their symbolism and glory. Along with Sharona Eliassaf, Alejandro Guzman, Gregg Louis, Dave McKenzie and Miryana Todorova, these artists create works that evidence their past, present, future, actual, devised and fabricated migratory movements, offering up poignant representations of global citizenship.

SVA X Skowhegan was organized by Lauren Haynes, curator, Contemporary Art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

On view at SVA Chelsea Gallery from November 28, 2016, through February 4, 2017, the exhibition's title reflects the dual relationship the featured artists have with each institution. All are either SVA MFA Fine Arts alumni or faculty who have equally benefitted from the prestigious summer residency program at the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in Madison, Maine.

SVA x Skowhegan will also include a fully illustrated publication, with entries on each artist and an essay by the curator, to be released on January 17, 2017. Visit sva.edu/sva-x-skowhegan for more information.

The SVA Chelsea Gallery, located at 601 West 26th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues, is open Monday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm. Admission is free. The gallery is accessible by wheelchair.

Participating Artists

Curator’s Statement

Lauren Haynes
Curator, Contemporary Art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

When asked to organize an exhibition featuring the work of alumni of both the School of Visual Arts MFA Fine Arts program and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, I was excited by the possibilities and slightly overwhelmed by the list that I received. The list was filed with names both familiar and new and provided me with the opportunity to look at work by a truly interesting group of artist. Some alumni were no longer making work, having chosen to pursue other careers, but the majority of them had websites filled with images and artists statements that provided insights into what they were working on. The 11 artist whose artworks make up SVA x Skowhegan fall into two groups: alumni of the programs who graduated between 2000 and 2016, and faculty who have crossed paths with both institutions as well as many of the alumni in the exhibition. This mix allows for a look at the work of a range established to mid-career to emerging artists who have spent time with these programs.

In order to give this exhibition more of a framework than SVA and Skowhegan, I chose to include artists who are all grappling with questions related to the ways geography shapes identity. Those questions include, how might the ease or difficulty of access to a particular locale affect the way it is perceived? How can unfettered access to digital images from around the globe affect our sense of culture, location and social stratification? how might migratory patterns of living and the attendant cultural cross-pollination that they breed affect the ways artists present their experiences of home and community?

This exhibition presents these artists’ varied perspectives on the relationship between locale, experience and art-making. The work is significantly impacted by the multiple locations in which each has lives and practiced, including their time spent both at the School of Visual Arts and the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture. Saskia Jordá uses crafts materials to weave symbolic paths between constructed borders, while Negar Ahkami, Ulrike Heydenreich and Sharona Eliassaf paint, draw and conflate real and imagined landscapes. Marivn Touré uses paper, pencil, and string to map the psychological effects of the American condition on the minds of young black men, while Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt employs aluminum, garland and glitter to tell a story about the way a racially blended neighborhood and its traditional Catholic Church affected the worldly movements of a gay adolescent in 1950’s New Jersey. Along with Alejandro Guzman, Gregg Louis, Dave McKenzie, Miryana Todorova and Fred Wilson, these artists of diverse ages and backgrounds create works that evidence their past, present, and future, devised, fabricated and forced relocations, offering up poignant presentations of the experience of the global citizen. SVA x Skowhegan came together with the hard work of many people. My sincerest thanks to the exhibiting artists and their galleries; Sarah Workneh, co-director, and Paige Laino, alumni coordinator, at Skowhegan. Jamie Keesling operations manager, Tyson Skross, exhibitions manager and Francis Di Tommaso, director, at the SVA Galleries; and Alison Kuo program coordinator, SVA MFA Fine Arts. A special thanks goes to Kendra Jayne Patrick who assisted me with this exhibition and authored the artist entries in this publication that allow for a deeper look at the work of this fantastic group of artists.

About SVA's MFA Fine Arts

SVA's MFA Fine Arts program reflects the diversity of New York's many art worlds. Together, the faculty and students form a community of established and emerging artists from many backgrounds who work across disciplines and modes of practice. The program's main goals are to provide a stimulating and supportive environment in which students can thrive and develop as artists, to foster rigorous critical engagement with contemporary art and other cultural forms, and to produce an ongoing conversation, through work as much as through words, about what we make, how we make it and why.SVA's MFA Fine Arts program attracts ambitious emerging artists from many countries and backgrounds. In their commitment to art, and to one another, they provide a foundation for artistic growth that extends beyond graduation and forms an ongoing platform of professional support. Prospective applicants are encouraged to visit the MFA Fine Arts website at mfafinearts.sva.edu and to call or visit the department prior to applying. To arrange a visit, please email mfafinearts@sva.edu or call T +1 212 592 2501.

Watch the Catalogue Release Talk!

Featuring Lauren Haynes, Miryana Todorova (A '12), and Marvin Touré (A ‘16)