College of Visual and Performing Arts MFA thesis exhibition
March 8–10, 2018
Participating artists: Chelsey Albert, Adriana Bianchi, Eric Charlton, Antone Dolezal, Joan Helen Farrenkopf, Yeuying Feng, Caitlin Finley, Mirra Goldfrad, Aysha Hamouda, Michael Hicks, Jack Honeysett, Kwan Jeong, Marilyn Koch, Jo Yu Lee, Sunyoung Lee, Selma Selman, Katie Levesque, Amanda Struver, Fei Taishi, Kieu-Anh Truong, Joe Turek, Preston Van Allen, D’Angleo Williams, Teona Yamanidze, Luxin Zhang, Tong Zhang
Curated by Shehab Awad
Hiding In Plain Sight features the work of 26 MFA candidates from the School of Art, School of Design, and Department of Transmedia in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. This diverse array of painting, photography, sculpture, video and installation represents the culmination of a three-year period of critical investigation and introspection, marked by a significant, self-led shift toward multidisciplinary experimentation. The result is a collection of works which, through their staging and materiality, radicalize traditional modes of art-making and subvert our perception of space and reality.
In an age where judgement is shaped by “alternative facts,” this exhibition does not attempt to offer any absolute truths or alternative solutions because the truth is unimaginable. Together, the artworks in Hiding In Plain Sight suggest a new mode of inconspicuous opposition: one that mirrors the absurdity of its surrounding environment to question the personal, the political, and the real.
Hiding In Plain Sight is curated by Shehab Awad, curator of exhibitions and programs at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Art, New York, NY. A few of Awad’s recent curatorial productions include Points 8: Both Sides of the Curtain at La Loge, Brussels & Beirut Art Center; The Future is Self-organized, an online platform created in collaboration with de Appel program participants at Casco, NL; and The Margins, a series of public events about marginality and gentrification produced in various locations in New York City.
For more information about the exhibition, contact Professor Joanna Spitzner, jspitzne [at] syr.edu or Laura Heyman lheyman [at] syr.edu. The exhibition was organized with SHIM, info.shhhim [at] gmail.com
The College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University offers MFA programs in design, studio arts, and transmedia as well as an MS program in art education and an MA program in museum studies. Graduate students in the MFA programs enjoy the benefits of an intimate and rigorous interdisciplinary graduate program along with access to the resources of a major university, award-winning and diverse faculty and national and international semester residency programs with mentoring from prominent artists and curators. Recent graduates have received numerous exhibitions, awards and residencies including Skowhegan School For Painting And Sculpture, screenings at the Cannes film festival and a MacArthur “genius” grant. Learn more at vpa.syr.edu.
