Class of 2023 first year MFA exhibition

The Columbia University School of the Arts Visual Arts Program presents the Class of 2023 First Year MFA Exhibition in collaboration with the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery at the Lenfest Center for the Arts. This exhibition encompasses work by the 27 artists who will complete their first year of the Visual Arts MFA Program May 2022. Curator Amy Sadao notes, “Developing new challenges, directions, and processes is part of an artist’s training. The Columbia MFA Class of 2023 stands out for the sheer number of risk-taking artists showing their best.”

“Columbia’s class of 2023 could be expanding what we think of when we think of photography, of painting, of sculpture, and of film/video. With a breathtaking attention to craft and detail, they are grounded in conceptual and research-driven work.”

Gallery hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 12–6pm
Registration required.

All guests entering the building must show proof of vaccination. Visitors 18 and older are also required to show an accompanying ID. Green passes and CUIDs are accepted if you are a Columbia University affiliate.

Participating Artists

Sound Art
Gladstone Butler, Char Jeré, Merry Sun.

Visual Arts
Garrett Ball, Ray Barsante, Cecilia Caldiera, Kevin Cobb, Conor Dowdle, Nick Farhi, Elisheva Gavra, Calvin Kim, Sangmin Lee, Meaghan Elyse Lueck, Anna Ting Möller, Amadeo Morelos Favela, Levi Nelson, Alison Nguyen, Paul Rho, Robbie Rogers, Albert Samreth, Cal Siegel, Jairo Sosa, Motohiro Takeda, Christopher Torres, Vivian Vivas, Li Wang, Ming Wang. 

About the Curator
Amy Sadao is a curator and a strategist. Her firm, Sadao Ghosh, was founded to help museums and arts organizations operationalize racial justice. She is part of the curatorial team for FotoFest 2022, Houston and is organizing an exhibition on the Feminist Art Program for REDCAT. She is the curator of Columbia University’s MFA exhibitions 2020, 2021 and 2022. Previously she was the Daniel W. Dietrich, II Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. Sadao fulfilled a plan focused on ICA’s audience, local and global partnerships, staffing, and programming reflected the racial demographics of Philadelphia and secured the largest gift in the museum’s history: a 10 million USD endowment extending curatorial research. Sadao also served for ten years as Executive Director of Visual AIDS in New York City, leading the organization through its first strategic planning process and reestablishing its exhibition, publication, and artist-edition programs while diversifying its income stream with unique, branded events.

Sadao is Board Chair of Asian Arts Initiative, Board Secretary of the Leeway Foundation, and is a Director Emeritus of Visual AIDS. She earned an MA in comparative ethnic studies from the University of California, Berkeley, a BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art, and began her career as an intern at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Philip Morris branch.