Celebrating 11 years of deFINE ART

Savannah College of Art and Design celebrates the 11th edition of SCAD deFINE ART, an annual program of exhibitions, new commissions, lectures, and performances that brings together an international group of emerging and established artists and creative visionaries. The signature event, Feb. 18–20, will take place at SCAD Atlanta and Savannah locations, highlighting the university’s dedication to art programming, exhibitions, and community engagement.

Many of the university’s top-ranked degree programs, including fibers, film and television, painting, performing arts, and sculpture, are represented through the signature event’s exhibitions and programming. SCAD students and community members have the opportunity to interact with artists during the three-day event through gallery talks, master classes, installation collaborations, public art programming, and performances.

This year’s deFINE ART honoree is renowned artist Marilyn Minter. For over five decades, Minter has worked to radically redefine the nature of feminist art. From early black-and-white photographs of her glamour-obsessed, bedridden mother to her recent seductive, photorealist paintings, Minter rebels against the male-appointed dictates of female representation in consumer culture. For deFINE ART, Minter will open an exhibition titled Nasty Woman at the SCAD Museum of Art. Nasty Woman is a selective survey, highlighting the prescience of Minter’s early practice while simultaneously immersing viewers in an array of the artist’s most acclaimed work.        

SCAD deFINE ART 2020 includes an extraordinary roster of internationally acclaimed artists from nine countries across multiple continents, presenting solo exhibitions throughout the award-winning SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah and gallery spaces in Atlanta. Featured exhibitions include a large-scale survey of Igshaan Adams, a commissioned project engaging the SCAD Museum of Art permanent collection by Charlie Billingham, the first large institutional exhibition of Kenturah Davis, a specially commissioned group of works by Rodrigo Hernández, a survey spanning five decades by Anna Maria Maiolino, a site-specific presentation by Raúl de Nieves, a video installation by Wong Ping, the first U.S. museum exhibition of SCAD alumnus Xavier Robles de Medina (SCAD B.F.A., animation, 2012; SCAD B.F.A., painting, 2012), and an immersive installation by Shoplifter. Atlanta presentations will include an exhibition by Derrick Adams, new artwork created with SCAD sculpture students led by artist Cynthia Gutiérrez, and an M.F.A. thesis exhibition by Rhett Scott (SCAD M.F.A. painting; SCAD B.F.A., painting, 2013).

“SCAD deFINE ART hosts creative leaders revolutionizing contemporary art and culture, giving SCAD students and the public intimate access to diverse practices. Exhibiting artists infuse the museum with unconventional perspectives and help cultivate the next generation of cultural innovators here at SCAD,” states Kari Herrin, executive director, SCAD museums and exhibitions. 

SCAD deFINE ART 2020 programming highlights in Savannah include an opening night reception and block party at the SCAD Museum of Art featuring performances by Thorgy Thor and exhibiting artist Kenturah Davis, and an illustration battle by SCAD students and faculty. On Wednesday, Feb. 19, exhibiting artist and 2020 honoree Marilyn Minter will give the SCAD deFINE ART keynote lecture at 6 p.m. at SCAD’s historic Trustees Theater.

In Atlanta, Janet Biggs will give the SCAD deFINE ART featured lecture on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 6 p.m., at SCADshow. Biggs, a 2018 John Simon Guggenheim Foundation fellow, is a visual artist known for her immersive work in video and performance. Other Atlanta programming includes a lecture by renowned theater director and visual artist Robert Wilson at SCADshow and a new work by Cynthia Gutiérrez that will be created in collaboration with SCAD students and culminates in a bronze pour presentation at the ACA Sculpture Studio of SCAD. On Thursday, February 20, acclaimed artist Derrick Adams will be in conversation with author and critic Antwaun Sargent to discuss Adams’ exhibition Patrick Kelly, The Journey, currently on display at the award winning SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film, followed by a reception in the museum that evening.

For more information on SCAD deFINE ART programming and exhibitions visit scad.edu.