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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

MSU MFA Studio Arts Show

"Horse Designed By Committee"
May 16-27, 2012
Opening: Saturday, May 19, 6-9 pm

Curated by Eleanor Heartney, the program's notable Visiting Critic in Residence this year, the exhibition will feature the following artists who will graduate with a MFA in Studio this May:

Kristen Brandoff
Alyssa Fanning
Samantha Fricano
Klimentina Jauleska
Christopher Luongo
Miranda Maher
David Oquendo
Michelle Orsi-Gordon
Caleb Prewitt
Ashli Sisk
Kristen Sweeney

Heartney said the title of the show, from the oft-heard maxim A camel is a horse designed by committee, is apropos. "An MFA show is, like a camel, an entity that is at once perfectly functional and inherently awkward," explains Heartney. "It reflects the individual trajectories of the artists whose work it represents. But it is also possible to read the ghost of a group dynamic in any MFA show as these are individuals who have been working, living and evolving in close proximity for two years as they have pursued their MFA degrees. These two readings are in potential conflict, which is best resolved by considering the show to be a whole made up of fully independent parts." Heartney said the students' thesis work addresses issues that range from the personal to the political to the philosophical, taking up everything from ecological threat and the shifting paradigms of science, to family dynamics and the search for existential meaning. She added the works reflect " the multiplicity of approaches and ideas evident in artists across the globe," which is only fitting since the MFA students "come from diverse backgrounds and bring to bear very different personal histories and intellectual concerns." She adds of interest to note with these students' work is hybridity. "Many of the works here exist between conventional categories," she says. Montclair State University's MFA in Studio Art is a 60-credit degree program designed to further the growth of students as practicing professional artists. Comprised of a diverse group of faculty and students who share a vision to explore, synthesize, innovate and create, the rigorous MFA is a full-time, two-year, in-residence program that fosters opportunities for critical discourse in an environment where individuals collaborate or work independently to make meaningful contributions to contemporary culture. Over the years, the program has invited an exceptional group of artists, curators and visiting critics, such as Heartney, to the program to engage with students in in-depth capacities. Other notables have included Vito Acconci, Roberta Smith, James Rosenquist, Philip Pearlstein, Shirin Neshat and Dana Schutz. (Further information about the MFA program may be obtained by contacting program assistant Louise Davies, or its director Dr. Andrew Atkinson, or by calling (973) 655-4074.

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