MFA Painting Graduates Exhibit Work at Morgan Lehman Gallery in NYC
Artwork: Sakshi Doshi, Traces on the Commonwealth Ave, 2023, Monotype on cotton muslin (72h x 37w in)
MFA Painting Graduates Exhibit Work at Morgan Lehman Gallery in NYC
Into the Thicket exhibition in New York City features the work of the cohort of recent Boston University graduates who completed the Master of Fine Arts in Painting program
Professional partnerships with galleries and art institutions are core to the mission of Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Visual Arts (SVA). Under the leadership of professor of art Josephine Halvorson, chair of graduate studies in painting, collaborative exhibitions and other opportunities for professional practice have become signature elements of the program, connecting current students, alumni, and professionals in the field.
Seven years of recent alumni exhibitions in New York City have fostered important partnerships with well-regarded galleries and alternative art spaces there, including On Stellar Rays, 1969 Gallery, Anna Zorina Gallery, Ortega Y Gasset, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, and, for the past two years, Morgan Lehman Gallery in Chelsea. SVA is proud to have kept this yearly exhibition going, even during the height of the pandemic, with a mission of helping alumni launch their careers.
The 2023 cohort of MFA painters who wrapped their program in May are showing their work at Morgan Lehman in July. The collaborative exhibition, Into the Thicket, highlights the distinct ways these artists navigate the discipline.
Stephen Proski
Weeping Icon: Song for the Visually Impaired, 2023
Acrylic, sand, and high-density foam on canvas
96h x 36w x 6d in
Madelaine Kobe
The ceilings were blue like the sky. And they grew tall and they kept on growin’. The stars hid behind their shadows, 2023
Soda tabs, alpaca yarn, found fabric
72h x 60w in
Vincent Samudovsky
Arc, 2023
Oil, acrylic, wax, powdered pigments, graphite powder, copper, light, door viewer, on wood panel
84h x 48w in
Pictured (left to right): Stephen Proski‘s Weeping Icon: Song for the Visually Impaired; Madelaine Kobe‘s The ceilings were blue like the sky. And they grew tall and they kept on growin’. The stars hid behind their shadows; Vincent Samudovsky‘s Arc
“Into the Thicket is a phrase that describes the daunting yet exhilarating feeling of entering life beyond their graduate education,” says Josephine Halvorson. “The public field of contemporary art is dense and prickly but also a realm of exploration and wonder…Beyond the studio is a chaotic world where mitigating circumstances and limitations exist at every corner. Society doesn’t always train us to exercise our will, let alone want something so badly we make it ourselves. But that’s what these artists have chosen to do. Through art, they’ve sought a place to untangle the ever-tightening knots of life, loosen the rigidity of ideology through critical thinking, and trust their own artistic decisions towards an independence of spirit. They’re not intimidated by complexity; they seek it out.”
Halvorson reflects with admiration on this cohort of artists’ journey as individuals, who are “unafraid of getting aesthetically lost or intellectually snagged. They’re already in the thick of it.” The group started their journey as grad students in a tumultuous 2021, when they arrived at their studios in Boston, discerning their intentions, how to cultivate their interests, and learning through the failures and successes of making.
She continues: “Hannah Steele, Andrew Lyman, and Bill Mattern work at the edge of perceptibility. Through observational painting, pictorial collage, and digital rendering, each of them tests the limits of visual coherence. River Kim, Madelaine Kobe, and Shayan Nazarian use abstraction and the power of materials to summon faraway presences, such as ancestors, talismans, or guardians of knowledge. Sakshi Doshi, Young Kim, and Vincent Samudovsky study the visual effects of their immediate surroundings, such as etched shadows on buildings, the nebulous truth of painterly marks, and the physiological effects of chroma. Megan Arné, Jason Correia, Luke Morrison, and Stephen Proski reconsider expectations and societal norms, whether in domestic duties and intimate relationships, public behavior, or the act of encountering art itself.”
The public field of contemporary art is dense and prickly but also a realm of exploration and wonder… Through art, [these alums have] sought a place to untangle the ever-tightening knots of life, loosen the rigidity of ideology through critical thinking, and trust their own artistic decisions towards an independence of spirit. They’re not intimidated by complexity; they seek it out.
The collaborative elements of the program manifest along the spectrum of current students and faculty through an active alumni community of artists. The exhibitions are “a fitting way to launch from SVA into a larger artist-alumni network with a locus in New York City,” says SVA Director Dana Clancy (CFA’99). “This real-world exhibition experience is pedagogically important to the degree and a point of distinction for MFA Painting,” a national leader among graduate arts programs, recently ranked #6 by US News & World Report.
Into the Thicket: Boston University MFA Painting Class of 2023
July 13 – 28, 2023 • Morgan Lehman Gallery
Participating artists: Megan Arné, Jason Correia, Sakshi Doshi, River Kim, Young Kim, Madelaine Kobe, Andrew Lyman, Bill Mattern, Luke Morrison, Shayan Nazarian, Stephen Proski, Vince Samudovsky, Hannah Steele
Into the Thicket: Boston University MFA Painting Class of 2023 is on view July 13 – 28, 2023 at Morgan Lehman Gallery, 526 W 26th St 4th Floor, New York, NY. An opening reception will be held Thursday, July 13 from 6–8pm. Morgan Lehman Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11am–6pm. Learn more about Into the Thicket here.
The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program in Painting at Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Visual Arts (SVA) promotes the discipline in its varied manifestations as a fundamental form of artistic expression. At its core, the program is studio-driven, with rigorous expectations about each student’s focused commitment to their individual artistic practice. SVA is an established leader in the professional arts with five MFA degrees. The MFA in Painting is ranked #6 nationally (US News & World Report).