The Hybrid of Being
April 20–28, 2018
Parsons School of Design at The New School is pleased to announce the Parsons Fine Arts 2018 MFA thesis exhibition Hybrid of Being curated by Kalia Brooks Nelson, showcasing work by Manar Abdelmaaboud, Layo Bright, Shuyi Cao, Joshua Coates, Gal Cohen, Freddie Dessau, Amy Dos Santos, Sareh Imani, Paloma Jimenez, Paulina Kim Joo, Andrés Martínez Ruiz, Lisa McCleary, Seungkyung Oh, Rebecca Ou, Anna Parisi, Al Prexta, Tianyu Qiu, Kevin Quiles Bonilla, Andrew Sapala, Zac Spears, Scynge Xing, Shunran Xue, and Steven Yang.
The artists in this show use the hybrid form to subvert concepts of singularity. Each artist takes a unique approach to representing the mixed parts that portray human reality more accurately. In so doing, their work helps the viewer understand how the exchange of materials and ideas become a currency by which new associations of subjective experience are formed. A myriad of themes are at play: the politics of nationality, race, labor, gender, and sexuality, that directly inform the way the human body appears in the world—as well as the relations of power that are inflicted upon it. The show also features artwork that evokes the faculties of the mind—memory, language, consciousness, and judgment—as they are informed through psychological events, social interaction, mundane objects, technology, education, and the built environment. The artists in this exhibition undermine the myth of essential unity to create space for new radical affiliations to develop in artistic practice, and cultural consciousness. This exhibition rests on the notion that difference creates a productive opportunity for disparate resources, techniques, and origins to discursively express the plurality of the human experience.
Kalia Brooks Nelson is a New York based curator and educator. She holds a PhD in Aesthetics and Art Theory at the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, Portland, ME and is an ex-officio trustee on the Board of the Museum of the City of New York.
Parsons Fine Arts MFA is a dynamic two-year, cross-disciplinary program committed to expanding the formal, intellectual and conceptual dimensions of emerging artists’ work. Studio-based research and scholarship extends the boundaries of contemporary cultural expression, developed through a global understanding of the arts. Parsons Fine Arts is committed to diversity among students and faculty that provides a potent learning community. Housed within both Parsons School of Design and The New School University, the Fine Arts program is uniquely positioned within a progressive educational environment. Our international student body has access to a wide spectrum of activities, ranging from rigorous formal and aesthetic investigations to cross-disciplinary collaborations with design, performing arts and humanities students, to public forums that address pressing social and political concerns. Our Visiting Artist Lecture Series and our Critic and Curator Series features renowned, multidisciplinary artists, curators and critics. In 2018 visitors include: Jamian Juliano Villani, Wu Tsang, Ajay Kurian, Adriane Colburn, Carlos Motta, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Heather Hart, Derrick Adams, Mernet Larsen and Mika Rottenberg.
About Parsons School of Design
Founded in 1896, Parsons has served as a pioneer in the field of Art and Design for more than a century. Based in New York and internationally active, the school offers undergraduate and graduate programs in the full spectrum of design disciplines. Critical thinking, research and collaboration are at the heart of a Parsons education. An integral part of The New School, Parsons builds on the university’s legacy of progressive ideals, scholarship and pedagogy. Parsons graduates are leaders in their respective fields, with a shared commitment to creatively and critically addressing the complexities of life in the 21st century.
In 2018, QS World University Rankings, a London-based higher education organization, named Parsons the number one College for Art and Design in the United States, and number two internationally.
For more information please visit finearts.parsons.edu or contact MFA Program Director, Associate Professor Simone Douglas at douglass [at] newschool.edu
