MICA Painting 2013 by Erin Murphy

louis abenne-meagley erica astrove taylor black laura brewer-yarnell julia bowden alex bucher jessica childress aaron chung alicia ciambrone mariam cooper mildred crow june culp terrance david jessica davidson

PAINTING 2013

kymberly day

danielle desando david eassa janet eo livia erwin peter ferguson emma fineman mia fiorentino viva fraser sara havekotte vemo hang shana hoehn h a n n a k i m j e s s i l a u r e n c e d av i d l e v e r j o n at h a n l e v y e r i n m e y e r n at h a n m i l l e r a d r i a n m o n toya a - b m o o r e b ao y e n n g u y e n katherine ordonez corynne ostermann aviva paley aubrey quasney jordan pemberton julia rappazzo e va n r a i m o n d a n n e r e y e s a n n e r o c h e l l e andrew

thorp

lisa

marie

wa r r e n

jacob weinberg diane yu gabriel zea

Painting Department 2013

Introduction by Barry Nemett

Vemo Hang

Introduction by Howie Lee Weiss

Shana Hoehn

Louis Abenne-Meagley

Hanna Kim

Erica Sylvie Astrove

Jessi Laurence

Taylor Black

David Lever

Laura Brewer-Yarnell

Jonathan Levy

Julia Bowden

Erin Meyer

Alex Bucher

Nathan Miller

Jessica Childress

Adrian Montoya

Aaron Chung

A-B Moore

Alicia Ciambrone

Bao Yen Nguyen

Mariam Cooper

Katherine Ordonez

Mildred Crow

Corynne Ostermann

June Culp

Aviva Paley

Terrance David

Aubrey Quasney

Jessica Davidson

Jordan Pemberton

Kymberly Day

Julia Rappazzo

Danielle Desando

Evan Raimond

David Eassa

Anne Reyes

Janet Eo

Anne Rochelle

Livia Erwin

Andrew Thorp

Peter Ferguson

Lisa Marie Warren

Emma Fineman

Jacob Weinberg

Mia Fiorentino

Diane Yu

100

Viva Fraser

Gabriel Zea

102

Sara Havekotte

The first group of Senior Painting majors to have studios in the newly renovated Graduate

Studio Center, our students made it a “home away from home.” They brought with them a wide and impressive array of distinguishing traits and skill sets, including a passion for making things, personal things, in a passionate and personal way; the patience and integrity to make them to the very best of their ability; the courage to take creative risks; and the drive to pose demanding problems for themselves and then to go about solving those problems in remarkably inventive ways--all the while blurring the edge between fact and fiction, work and play.

In all its yellow, green, and blue funky splendor, the Howard Street Bridge saw MICA

Painting majors toting their struggles, wonders, and dreams across its gray and graffitied sidewalks. They crossed the bridge to and from a community of fellow artists, to and from their Monday noontime lectures. Some day it may be their turn to stand upon Falvey Hall’s stage to speak about their artistic struggles and triumphs. Perhaps they will explain how their sacrifices of time and financial security were worth the fulfilling rewards they receive from doing what they love--need--to do in their unique ways, mixing resplendent yellows, greens, blues, and grays. Painting involves the magic of starting with nothing and making it into something-- something beautiful or compellingly raw or strange or frightening or full of peace . . . into something that matters. Deeply. And painting involves going from here to there, which is just what these young artists are set to do.

New bridges await these gifted, gutsy people, who are about to begin journeys that will lead

to the kind of frustrating detours, thrilling breakthroughs, and elegant pathways that teach us how to move forward. Who better to embrace what lies ahead than this year’s graduating MICA painters of 2013? Congratulations to them all!

Barry Nemett Chair, Painting Department

When we gathered in Falvey Hall on the first Monday of our weekly Senior Thesis meetings in late August of 2012, graduation seemed really far away. Subsequently, after being assigned a studio in the newly renovated Studio Center and meeting your core peer group, you ventured on a creative journey that led up to your fantastic commencement exhibition. “Visiting Artists at Noon”- our Monday Lecture Series included - David Brewster, Jonathan Brand, Dawn Clements, Sharon Core, Beatrice Coron, Mark Dion, Matt Evans, Julie Evans, Denise Green, Marc Leuthold, John O’Connor, Clifford Owens, Christopher Stackhouse, Eric Staller, and Victoria Wyeth. Dawn Clements was in residence for the year, serving as the Genevieve McMillan / Reba Stewart Endowed Chair in Painting. “Kalter Evenings at the Kramer” allowed you a chance to mingle informally and up close with our visitors.

Your final Thesis Defense and first semester Review Board provided intense, focused discussions

of your artwork by a three-person faculty jury. You created professional quality artist statements, resumes, narrative biographies and business cards, and you attended numerous professional workshops. Some of you applied to graduate schools, internships, residencies, grants, galleries and prepared for life beyond MICA. Many of you participated in exhibitions on campus and in the greater community. Mainly you spent many hours in your studio developing your art.

This year’s Senior Thesis Core Faculty included Njideka Akunyili, Ellen Burchenal, Gail Deery,

Marian Glebes, Margaret Murphy, Christine Neill, Barry Nemett, Phyllis Plattner, Robert Salazar, Christopher Stackhouse, Jonathan Thomas, and Howie Lee Weiss. Erika Diehl, a Hoffberger Graduate Student, was our Program Teaching Assistant. Various artists also visited your core groups at the invitation of your faculty, enabling you to meet and discuss your artwork with professionals in the field. What a year! I wish all seniors the best of luck for a rich and fulfilling artistic life. Howie Lee Weiss Head of Senior Thesis

GFA PTG DRW PRT

louis abenne - meagley -With Work to Be Done When I talk of my artworks in terms “he” or “she”, when I save the containers of tuna I eat, when I run with my eyes closed; my faith in my feet I feel right at heart. I have five different sketchbooks with five different names, I just can’t seem to get over video games, and I’m scared my obsessions will leave me insane doubt’s a tough part. My artwork is so tired of sitting so still, being stuck staying put leaves the body to chill, don’t you know bodies roam leaving home finding thrills let them go embark. So I’ll give them all life as a toy in a store, in a wide open sunroom-y view off the floor, with the sea at their feet as they sail all aboard, in my Rare Character they can live play galore.

erica sylvie astrove Connections of colors and patterns in nature flow through me and around me. I exhale them through paint onto paper and in installations that embody my internal visions and memory sensations. My intent is to capture and communicate the energy and harmony between the existence of all life forces and create imaginative portals of poetic space. Listening, feeling, observing, and understanding the trees, the wind, the water, and the earth brings me closer to a broader horizon, and closer to the roots of my own heart and soul.

rivers turn into oceans humming a silence that humbles the shining golden light vibrations of illuminated pathways and colorful landscapes where nature blossoms water breathes and harmony unfolds memories

- Erica Sylvie Astrove

For the Roses (left) oil paint and rose petals on canvas 6 x 7 ft Waterlily Stream (right) oil paint on canvas 6 x 6 ft, 2012

taylor black www.cargocollective.com/taylorblack

Loser #1 (above) wax and pigment 4x7x10 Head (right) Wax and pigment 4x6x8

julia bowden Concentrating on the intertwining and layering of the background versus foreground, my paintings attempt to confuse the distinction between each ground. I’m focusing on the “overallness” of plant growth, from the foliage outside to indoor houseplants. The paintings grow in their conversation with their environment just as I work to explore the conversational quality of the various stems, leaves, and buds. The environment in which the plant life is situated has its own inherent overall, twisting and changing quality. It reflects the leaf qualities, which sometimes lie on top of the environment, sometimes combined, and sometimes behind it. In this manner, the background and foreground are intrinsically involved. The flat overall nature of the painted plants repeat in the flat color schemes that serve as the background.

Leaves II, oil on canvas, 44” x 39” Audrey I, oil on canvas, 38”x29” 12

Audrey II (right), oil on canvas, 34” x 32”

laura brewer-yarnel My work deals with the idea of conflict- concentrating on how it acts as the antithesis of comfort. I focus on the varying levels of discomfort within people caused by the restrictions and rigid criteria that establishes an ideal that should be striven towards. These uniform ideals are constantly thrust upon us by society and generates pressure that affects how we perceive ourselves and others. Through my paintings, I portray the raw emotion felt my peers, powerful portraits that reflect the intimate and enlightening conversations I have had with the individuals. I depict women who identify as queer in some form or another and how they approach this conflict internally and within society. Each portrait is loosely paired with and exhibited alongside an abstract text painting utilizing similar colors. The painted poems are composed of a color scheme that reflects the strong emotions of the words and of the individuals. w w w. l a u r a â&#x20AC;&#x201C; b r e w e r. c o m

Warm and Cool (left) Oil on Canvas 26 x 46in, 36 x 36in, 24 x 54in The Many Faces of Leah (right) Oil on Canvas 40 x 54in

alex bucher Free time.

untitled

charcoal

graphite

untitled oil on canvas

jessica childress Environmental disasters increasingly happen in tropical parts of the world, yet the warmth and lush landscape of these areas is the utopian ideal. The tropics represent bounty, escape, and pleasure. I am fascinated by utopia and apocalypse and how the meeting of these two opposites serves as a graphic reminder of the ephemeral quality of life. Being from New Orleans, and having been heavily affected by Hurricane Katrina, I identify with this subject matter. New Orleans specifically has had long historical connotations as a place raft with bounty and affluence, while also characterized by poverty, corruption, and suffering. The subject of disaster, which is personal to me, provokes conflicting feelings within me. While the decimation of a community is tragic, destruction brings the potential for hope and rebirth, as well as newfound attention to impoverished communities which are often ignored by the rest of the world. Jessica Childress grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. In

Lost Paradise

New Orleans she attended New Orleans Center for Creative

Lithography and Chine Colle

Arts (NOCCA). Her experience in the city of New Orleans

14” x 9”

has had a profound impression on her work. The subject matter of natural disaster and the force of nature, as well as

Sinkhole

searching for home and displacement are ideas she common-

Oil and Fluorescent Acrylic

ly uses in her work, that are drawn from her experience liv-

58’’ x 54’’

ing in the city pre and post Hurricane Katrina. While living in Baltimore she realized that she had found a city in equal turmoil and neglect. The plight she witnessed in Baltimore became a secondary fuel for her work. www.jessicachildress.com 18

aaron chung My paintings and paper sculptures explore the nuances of meaning in Asian symbols reflected in my own consciousness and the modern world. I begin by creating symmetrical patterns inspired by Asian imagery and my Korean heritage. These patterns are made with carefully hand cut stencils and are then screen-printed or applied with acrylic paint onto canvas or paper. The patterns are then overlapped with layers of translucent paint and animal silhouettes or suspended pieces of cut paper and light to emphasize or hide certain areas. Although the animal and plant symbols I incorporate into my work traditionally represent the positive attributes of Asian philosophy such as longevity, wealth, and scholarly wisdom, I reinterpret these images into fragmented skeletal forms to question original concepts. By appropriating pre-existing symbols and converting them into new symmetrical icons, I seek to penetrate the images original identity and the permanency or transiency of its meaning. www.aaronchungart.com

alicia ciambrone Originating from discomfort towards certain cultural phenomena, my art focuses on how Western societies conceive of death in order to understand human mortality. I’m drawn to symbols that embody or confuse their paradoxical associations, especially those which reflect Judeo-Christian influence: Snakes, biblically linked to evil, widely feared for their deadliness, and occasionally evoked in reference to male genitalia; Infants, commonly considered innocent and pure, are baptized in order to cleanse them of not only original sin, but the sin of their parents; Evel Kinevel, defying death on his motorcycle over 133 times before idiosyncratic pulmonary fibrosis finally takes him. The found and fabricated materials I use become symbols themselves. Broken glass signifies fragility and the potential for reconstruction while evoking sensual characteristics of danger and

Cupid ’s Bath 36” x 23” x 20” Wood, metal sink, house paint,

violence. Darkness is a quality frequently linked

Marblex™ clay, pink LED Crosses

with “badness,” but to me the dark is sublime. I

2013

work to reconcile cultural and personal identifications with these symbols; there is no opposition, only coexistence.

Mirror (Echo) (right) 42” x 44” Oil paint on canvas 2012

mariam cooper My paintings are about separation in the face of connection. Today, the primacy of connectivity of twenty-four hour networking has become a central cultural value. Social media has evolved to address the needs of the individual. We need it to establish and cement our sense of place within our social world. We know who we are by the metrics governing our input into social networks. We are encouraged to see becoming an atomized node in a network as being the same as belonging to a community. So we are at once trying to find individual experience where remoteness is encouraged, while scraping for virtual connection with others around us. I use flat synthetic colors and environments of domesticity to stage an environment that feels unreal, while also lingering in a plausible and familiar place.

untitled 39’’ x 64’’, oil on canvas untitled (leftt), 42’’ x 64’’, 24’’x64’’, oil on canvas

mildred crow Pulling a paint-laden brush over canvas is a gesture of longing to participate in, retain, mythologize, and comprehend that which I observe; the acts of looking and rendering signal an interplay of stimuli, perception and sensibility. Representational painting’s sensory affirmation and dislocation, exceeding, while failing, to be ‘real,’ is a persistently revelatory paradox. A reiteration of my enchantment with the sensually-perceived world, technical realism grounds my process-driven approach, functioning as a container both for sustained attention and for subtle deviations from naturalism. My symbolic self-portraits are designed to invite the viewer into an experience of inquiry and desire that parallels my own as a maker.

“Witch’s Broom” (above), oil on panel, 16 in by 8 in “May Tree” (right), oil on linen, 12 in by 15 in

june culp My work addresses the challenges between people in romantic and sexual relationships. Despite having a rather defeatist attitude on the subject, my paintings tend to reveal a brighter and cheerier mood. When speaking about anything regarded as ‘serious’ I typically fumble over my own words, preferring to project a much more clownish version of social doubt. Paintings that begin initially in a sorrowful tone become humorous and playful as I reflect on their possible and various meaning. Unlike the intimidatingly rapid pace of verbal conversation, painting allows time for deliberate formal decision making and associative emotional conveyance.

inside my mouth

mark

acrylic on canvas

60” x 72”

suitcase acrylic on canvas 72” x 84”

terrance david The media’s portrayal of a commercialized African American life has had a profound affect on my approach to painting. Recently I have decided to temporarily deviate from my normal raison d’ê·tre for creating art (to draw and paint), taking license to incorporate attributes of academic painting into video art while investigating more abstract content that may or may not be indicators of African-American personage and countenance while foregrounding formal elements that are indicants of Black culture. Adapting compositional aspects of painting to video, combining the two, allows for the import of audio as an integral part of a visual experience. Syncing sound elements in auditory rhythm and beat by visually representing electronic instrumentation can facilitate synesthetic sensory relationships. This way of working inspires greater interest in the hybridized mode of interdisciplinary artistic practice in contemporary cultural production.

Video Still from “Homemade Music” 2013

Video Still from “Comfort” 2013

jessica a. davidson Largely based in abstraction, Jessica Davidson’s work has gone through many stages as she attempts to use the inherent nature of materials to create her images. Not limited to paint, Jessica enjoys process-based work in a variety of materials emphasizing color, form and texture. Jessica strives to exhibit and isolate the beauty of paint and other materials when they combine on a surface. Sometimes she uses her techniques to create recognizable imagery such as portraits of her family. The art is in the chemistry that occurs between the chosen materials. Although they appear fun and light-hearted at first glance, on deeper examination viewers find the nuances of color, texture and form of these experimental works.

Respect: A Portrait of My Father 24” x 24” Mixed media on canvas 2012

kymberly day Exploiting the relationship between irrational childhood fears and objects of comfort or familiarity is central to my conceptual interests. The potential perversion of stuffed animal toys as bastardizations of the creatures they are intended to resemble is a formal exercise. While functioning as objects of comfort, they can invoke danger when they more closely resemble the essential nature of real creatures. Yet, similar to imitation crabmeat or mechanical bull-rides, these are futile attempts to reproduce likeness of the original beasts that would be encountered in a less fabricated world (“the natural world”). Resulting in the production of inanimate (or dead) animals, they are objects of failure. To present a sugarcoated anxiety tinged tension between their friendly associations, and contrived potentially threatening attributes, psychically feeds off of imagined identity crises generated by over-appropriated and misinterpreted cultural objects resulting hyper-consumerism and globalization. www.kymberlyday.com Tokyo Bambi T-shirt (top), screenprint of painting on t-shirt, 31”x28” Deer (bottom), foam, fur, glass, metal, 70”x60”x25”

White Dog, foam, fur, wood,resin, metal, 40”x80”x18”

danielle desando My work aims to reinterpret how religious iconography is perceived from two different cultures. Including a variety of hybrid humans fused with animal skulls, my paintings ask the question of what is real and provides a surreal, alternative world contrary to our own. Inspired by classic religious paintings, I’ve created a series of small paintings twisting and combining my symbolism with traditional iconography. Natural elements in my work, such as the repetitive barn owls, have an etherial and heavenly quality, providing purpose as guardians or protectors. My paintings are attributed to dreams and are greatly inspired by the work and methodology of the masters of surrealism.

Vanita Oil on Canvas. 48” x 36” Crucifixion Oil on Canvas. 8” x 10” Untitled (right) Oil on Canvas 8” x 10”

david eassa Dirty, messy, and harsh, growing up to be a man isn’t easy. Learning the essentials of masculine culture while maintaining individuality comes with many trials and tribulations. An adolescent boys early years are the most formative, much of our social knowledge is accumulated through extended schoolyard warfare. Fitting in, physical prowess, or ‘getting the girl’ are some of the induced pressures in a testosterone driven competition. These stakes are raised, as boy becomes man. Men must learn to co-exist within established constructs of civil society, while maintaining individuality on their own terms. The expression of these anxieties, through making objects is a generative process. “You Win Some, Lose Some (Celebration)” 82” x 36” x 36” Pink Panther insulating foam, glue, wood, enamel, and oil paint. 2012. “Little Flame, Big Flame (Follow the Leader)” dimensions variable. Cement, mortar, rebar, chicken wire, pvc, spraypaint, enamel, found material, clay, plaster, and oil paint, 2012. “Fight or Flight(Moment of Pressure)” detail 48” x 18” x 18” each, Mortar, cement, rebar, canvas, and oil paint, 2012. www.daveeassa.com 38

janet eo If we live forever we will become insensible of pain. The obsession of death magnifies pain and makes one be despaired of oneself. Human being can never be emancipated from the brevity of life. A momentary life limits one with fear. Death is not the end of one life but the implication of another life coming. Darkness is often interpreted in a negative perspective. When the night comes and the world is immersed into the dark, familiar space becomes unknown. We lost our way. The dark transforms a noble man scared, a mean man strong. The dark fabricates the external appearance of object. Or is the true nature of object finally revealed in the dark? The world becomes strange beauty by such unpredictable metamorphosis. This strange beauty is like a fish immersed in a deep sea. It shimmers when the light reflects the surface of the sea. http://student.mica.edu/jeo/portfolio.html

The Myth of Tragedy Medium: mix medium on BFK paper Dimensions: 3â&#x20AC;&#x2122; x 15â&#x20AC;&#x2122; spring 2010

The Myth of Tragedy Detail 1

The Myth of Tragedy Detail 2

livia erwin Unhindered light And infinite darkness Consume spaces That despite being void of humans, Remain heavy with their presence And their decaying belongings. The beauty radiates From these abandoned interiors, Taking my breath away With the alluring ferocity of Inspiration So I paint In an attempt to capture that raw energy And reveal beauty once more.

peter ferguson

Untitled (above) / Charcoal on Paper / 83 x 124 Weird Winter (right) / Oil on Canvas / 68 x 64 x 1

emma fineman For my current body of work I have collaborated with performance artists to create a series of portraits that questions ideas gender boundaries and self-identification. With inspiration from these artists, I have created larger than life-sized paintings of these performers both in and out of character to call attention to both sides of their identity. With rich colors painted on skin and ritualistic performances, these artists use their faces and bodies as a canvas. While these artists typically represent themselves within the context of live performance art, my paintings permit the viewer to digest their outward appearance. The addition of time allows the viewer to consider the sitterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inner psychology, questioning their own opinions and relationships to these people that push gender and social boundaries. My monumental paintings frame these artists as icons in a mental state that exposes both their vulnerability, rarely made public during their performances as well as they characters they portray

Leigh (above) Medium: Oil on Canvas Size: 5.5FTx 4FT (Right): Image of the work installed

mia fiorentino Taking written down thoughts, conversation, music, media images and stories, and my surroundings in the city of Baltimore, I hope to encounter influences, internalize them and allow them to affect me. Sexuality, popular culture, painful memories, and death all become enmeshed as I then externalize these influences once again and they become a story of human experience. I am very much fascinated with subject matter that treads a border between poetically beautiful and realistically crude and painful. I communicate my own knowledge, but I leave room for change, both in what factors affect the subject matter of the painting and in how I am making the painting. I allow whatever images are most prevalent in my mind to come forward and form a sort of hierarchy of imagery and abstract space. As the work unfolds, it becomes a representation of my own and others’ humanity. miafiorentino.tumblr.com

Come for You (Still Life), (above) Acrylic on paper 30” x 22” I was under the piano and the dog bit me (right) Acrylic, India ink, and charcoal on paper 42” x 33”

viva fraser Having always been drawn to portraiture, I want to delve deeper into portrait as biography, investigating the meaningful events in peoples lives that have been transformative to them personally. These moments often come from a visually lucid part of memory, and the paintings illustrate the recall of meaningful historical events. After studying Mughal Miniature Illuminations, an ancient form of South Asian court painting, I became incredibly drawn to the spectacular biographical paintings that retell the patron’s life story and illustrate popular epics and fables. In keeping with many of the stylistic, material, iconographic and technical aspects of this method of history painting, I decided to extend the formal concerns of illumination paintings to contemporary themes and people living in Western culture. These paintings are illuminations of their personal histories.

Sabrina (left) 5.5” x 6.5” gouache and watercolor Master Copy Shah Jahan on Horseback, Shah Jahan Atelier (right) 7” x 4.5” gouache and watercolor

sara havekotte Sara Havekotte grew up outside of Pittsburgh, PA and is currently living in Baltimore MD. Her paintings use bright colors and simple lines in order to create images that balance between real and abstraction. Sara Havekotte often personifies inanimate objects in order to create metaphors about human interaction and pop-culture. The deliberate simplicity and leisurely scenes depicted in her work are evocative of the human experience. sarahavekotte.com

Beach Buddies, Oil on Canvas, 6”x4”

Life’s a Beach! Oil on Canvas 58”x50”

Teenage Past-times Oil on Canvas 56”x48”

vemo hang Commonality shared by man-made objects, like hats and graves, outline the ontological base of my paintings. Those objects are, first of all, internally hollow, so on the literal level the lack of essence makes them containers of uncertainty and change. Moreover, while a hat appears pretentious and a grave stone appears solemn, they both are made to attract extensive attention. Yet contrary to what they appear to be, a hat or grave stone is incapable of describing its possessor. They remind us our ability to look, to gaze without hastiness, to gaze attentively, generously, and getting lost. My works are sites where presence releases tension, pushes away scribed knowledge to give allowance to closeness and wonder. www.vemoh.com Cemetery (top) mixed medium / 48” x 20”x 5” Hat and landscape (bottom) Oil on canvas / 58” x 42” Hat of the paintings’ (right) content/mixed medium on board/ 18” x 20”

shana hoehn Using deconstructed, second-hand materials such as fabrics, hair, and furniture, I have been creating installations inside of my home that explore --and constrict-- communication between myself, other individuals, and constructed animate characters. Inspired by rituals associated with home altars, these installations literally obstruct my paths and dictate my daily chores, allowing for these characters to become roommates rather than mere props. Although homes filled with personal paraphernalia serve as a documentation of private histories, they also become a reflection of the public mores. Through small viewings in alternative spaces, my art aims to obscure the boundaries between public and private, inappropriate and socially acceptable.

hanna kim <Lost & Found> I create abstract assemblage paintings with materials I rescue. I am interested in creating an unexpected and playful relationship in my paintings and challenging the everyday objects by making the familiar unfamiliar. Gravitating towards the aesthetics of Provisional paintings, Foundobjects and the Avant-garde, I make paintings with tactile, minimal, and awkward tendencies. The unfamiliarity is most prevalent in the subversion of the original found material such as a stretchy shirt through the act of “unseaming” — as an article of clothing is completely taken apart, it reveals new shapes while still vaguely referencing the human body. With whimsical titles drawn from biblical references, the works are further pushed to the poetic realm of inarticulate and esoteric meaning. www.hanna-kim.com www.whereisyoursting.blogspot.com Eye on the Sparrow (top) Gifted sweater, acrylics, leather on drop cloth 64” x 58” 2013 His Presence Thickens (bottom) Found fabrics, acrylic, metal studs on canvas 72” x 60” 2012 Unambiguousness (right) Found fabrics, acrylic on drop cloth 50” x 50, 2012

jessi laurence My aspirations for my work are simple and derivative of technical elements within the world and within my paintings. I am interested in capturing the atmosphere of a space as well as the essence of a figure through the subtleties of light and layering of color. Figures are most often the focal point of my work, but recently they have become a more subtle element of unity within the space, specifically a space they have created for themselves. I also wish to address the clear contrast between artificial and natural light through careful attention to the application of paint, mimicking the experience of color movement. www.jessilaurence.com

Unititled (20â&#x20AC;?x30â&#x20AC;?)

Unititled (12”x18”)

Untitled (30”x40”)

david lever Each of these works represents my love of observation and of capturing a likeness of what it is I’m looking at. I paint my surroundings, whether it be someone or something important in my life, or those things that aren’t of great importance that I happen to be around and am merely enthralled with observing. In my drawing Scraps and Rags, I wanted to take these useless leftover objects from my studio and repurpose them to represent an environment. I think every painting or drawing I create teeters on the edge of reality and invention. In Gathering, I wanted the dialogue between the figures to act as a metaphor for the conversation between my observations and the act of painting. I am interested in that process of observing what it is in front of me and translating it into the language of the material I am working with. Self-Portrait, oil on paper, 15”x11.5” Gathering (right) oil on canvas, 48”x48”

jonathan levy Painting can communicate an amazing field of emotional and intellectual responses in such a way that language cannot equal. When truly involved in the viewing of a painting the object in front of you is all that exists, and its world is, for a moment, yours. It is for this reason that I find myself working in large formats. To paint something small is to remove your self from it. The painting becomes an object, an excerpt viewed through a filter. However a large painting immediately immerses you by virtue of its size, and allows a much more human relationship with the painting. I hope that a conversation, an immersion, some sort of emotional impact can be had in viewing my work. Using bold linear marks, at times deliberately ham-handed, I try to create a space capable of providing such an experience for the viewer. I want to evoke an emotional atmosphere within the painting that is both intimate and very human.

Untitled 1, 108” x 72”, Enamel and Charcoal on Canvas, 2013 Untitled 2, 48” x 48”, Enamel on Canvas, 2013 Untitled 3, 48” x 48”, Charcoal and Enamel on Canvas, 2013

erin meyer 11/26/2012; 5:58 pm “I am always rearranging things and I am always rearranging my studio, and my room. I just like don’t, I don’t really know why I just like don’t feel comfortable. I want to make something easier but then I realize it is not easier and then I try to do something else and then I don’t know, and I don’t know. Ha.” -Erin Meyer www.erinmeyer.com

Barfday (right) Oil on Canvas 52 x 58 Pain-ta-ing Oil, acrylic and vine charcoal on paper with childhood easel 30 x 23 x 44

nathan miller In my work I explore meaning though the playful application of symbols, icons, archetypes, and allegories. www.cargocollective.com/nathanmillerart

Color Opperation (left) Oil on Canvas 58 x 48 in. 2012 Adoration Of Steve (right) Acrylic on Canvas 12 x 12 in. 2012

adrian montoya The construct of a room, by nature, mediates between the protected interior and the exposed exterior. However, as sturdy the walls may seem, they remain flexible in our minds and open to intervention. In my work, I reference physically altered spaces, model rooms constructed in miniature, and digitally created virtual environments. Through the act of painting I attempt to merge these sources to synthesize new worlds that draw from life, but live only within the paintings themselves. adrianmontoya.com

Blocks (left) oil on canvas 54 in x 56 in

Under Boac (right) oil on canvas 34 in x 32 in

a - b moore Using found objects as a baseline, I build assemblages as if solving a puzzle, problem-solving until the construction reveals its final form. Combining fine craft with humble materials, this intuitive process of organizing and associating objects, materials, colors, and text generates a web of signs, symbols, and signifiers loosely choreographed to populate a garden of silent sentences. Made physical, this material language is clarified through the viewer’s examination of the new whole evoked by its combined parts. Because I use a stream of consciousness approach to art-making, these works uncloak the folktales, landscape memories, and religious and cultural artifacts of my youth in the American South. But it is the viewer’s own cultural language that gives a voice to these combines of cultural and material fragments, encouraging one to reexamine the articles, implements, and infrastructures of human experience through an alternate reality a dreamscape in which the inanimate ominously speaks. http://www.ab-moore.com

I Tried (Bay Sickle) / Found objects and materials,

Narcissus Trap (You Are Positioned At the Edge) / Wood, wire,

hand-crafted stoneware, acrylic, charcoal, sumi ink, paper

acrylic, polyurethane, mirror, found objects / 36 x 18 x 46”

72” x 60” x 4”

Sunrise in Paradise (right) / Found objects, acrylic / 27” x 34” x 21”

bao yen nguyen My present series of works deal with my socio-ethnic curiosity of the Vietnam War and how the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s past connects to my Americanized present. Being born after the War, I do not really understand its effect on me and my family. Lacking perspective and understanding of the war and its impact on Vietnamese contemporary life, I use photojournalism and art to stimulate dialogue between the two periods past and present. Experiencing the war through historical remove, my source materials have become second and third hand narratives, and appropriated imagery. By using editorial intervention combining cinematic and painterly manipulations of repurposed images to portray the cultural past reflected in my national Vietnamese background, I strive to pursue greater personal truth.

1. Balloons Dimension: 40in x 30in Medium: Archival ink on paper 2. Emerge Dimension: 48in x 33in Medium: Archival ink on paper 3. Manfalling Dimension: 48in x 33in Medium: Archival ink on Paper

katherine ordonez I explore the idea of constructing images by using my Color Synesthesia as a tool for my paintings. With this condition, I associate letters with color and various shapes with sound. When I read letters, books and listen to music, certain moments trigger my Color Synesthesia to react.As a response to the words and sounds, I recreate the variations of color and shapes with Acrylic paint and intuitively collage the multiples forms on paper to create landscapes and environments. The forms range from broad fragile strokes to bold expressive lines. The process of overlapping layers of shapes gives each image a sense of perspective and dimension, reflecting the interaction between the array of colors and proportions.

Untitled 1 (above left), 14”x17”Acrylic, Black India Ink and Duralar on Bristol Paper Untitled 2 (above right), 14”x17”Acrylic, Black India Ink and Duralar on Bristol Paper Untitled 3 (right), 14”x17”Acrylic, Black India Ink and Duralar on Bristol Paper

corynne ostermann My body of work maintains an interest in feminist consciousness. Working with banal feminine symbols, words, and objects juxtaposed with gestural abstraction, I create grids and word-play structures that create a screen through which the picture is perceived. These filters are intentionally defunct, employing layers of transparency and overlap to suggest destabilized meaning and subjective response. The intersection of symbols and abstract expressionism propose a notion of politicized abstraction, as well as root the symbols in a material and bodily plane. The pink in my palette mimics beliefs of what feminine behavior, aesthetics, and ideas are supposed to embody. I am interested in a notion of aggressive femininity, represented through my images as obstructions of grid or to the grid. As well, the work is “queered”, through the appropriation of traditionally masculine abstract expressionism as created by a feminist painter. I create the work to imply a decentered meaning that questions set assumptions about language, symbol, and gender group.

“Heart Attack” (top), 2012 Mixed Media on Canvas 40 x 50 in “Pearl Necklace” (bottom), 2012 Mixed Media on Canvas 40 x 50 in

“Mania” (right), Ink on Paper 2012 47x60 in

aviva paley This fall Aviva Paley collaborated with designer Jianna Lieberman to design and coordinate a national youth voting initiative called ‘Don’t You Want To.’ This project used design to build the political power of young people by engaging them in the electoral process and creating an ongoing conversation about issues that are important to youth constituents. Creating a vast array of design materials and coordinating voter registration events, Lieberman and Paley aimed to create an accessible and captivating entry point for students to become civically engaged and knowledgeable about their political choices. Through posters, candidate cheat-sheets, ballot guides, and school-wide installations, “Don’t You Want To’ aimed to make voting a topic on the mind of every student at MICA. While voting is only one small step to solving broader problems, it engenders a culture of youth that is engaged and knowledgeable about contemporary social and political issues.

Candidate Cheat Sheet, 11x17 in, Inkjet Print

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jordan pemberton Working in oil paint and a range of drawing materials, my imagery comes from memories of my childhood in Michigan. Location is essential to my artwork, as for me it is the most tangible element of memory. Lately I have felt especially estranged from my childhood and home state, and by recreating the places in which I grew up I can in a way return. I am inspired by the uncertainty of memory, the misplacement I often feel in my own life and past. In trying to rebuild instable things, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m insistent on a sense of order. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m terrified things will fall apart. I want my memory to be sturdy. For me, order is a way to find solace, as well as a method of better understanding. jordanpemberton.com

Gym/Pool (left) Graphite, watercolor on paper 22â&#x20AC;? x 16.5 Brick Pallet, Summer (right) Oil on canvas 24x24

aubrey quasney Aware of the racial boundaries in our society as my family and friends grow more ethnically diverse, I have increasingly experienced being a minority in communal situations. This newfound diversity is something I embrace as a white woman artist and has prompted research into the manufactured hierarchies of race. Confused about social place in American society and the nexuses of global ethnic cultures, I am inspired by anthropological case studies (e.g. Musée de l’Homme, Critical Race Theory, and The Location of Culture by Homi Bhabha) and my experience with multiracial convergences to use portraiture in the investigation of skin color and racial assignment. aquasney@mica.edu

“In Shadow” (top) oil on wood panel, 18 x 24 inches “Swallowed” (bottom) oil on wood panel 14 x 18 inches “Aware” (right) oil on wood panel 16 x 18 inches

julia rappazzo Using secondhand dolls as my artist “prop”, my work explores the idea of art objectifying the body. by using dolls in place of the figure in iconic master paintings, I begin by collecting school age dolls of similar scale, and age, wearing costumes of all kinds, and most importantly, not of my own childhood. These dolls are then re-appropriated to mimic a specific art historic painting and its composition. My work questions the figures in a painting, who are the figures? Did the artist know the model? Were they a friend, a lover? Or were they just a model for hire- a prop, staged at the artist’s command. In my translation of imagery I repurpose the object and personify them to life. www.juliarappazzo.com

American Dream oil on canvas 25”x30” Anatomy Lesson (right) oil on canvas 34”x42”

evan raimond I work with oil paint on canvas, and representation painting techniques from the Romantic, Baroque, Expsionist, and the Abstract expressionist era’s as a way of depicting and preserving the world around me. All of these periods had artists that valued someone or something to such a great extent they felt was worth prserving through painting. It is this idea that is the foundation for my own paintings. For once we die we no longer get another chance at this life……. My mother was a folk artist before she died two years ago, and growing up around her she was crucial towards my appreciation of the art world. By making this work I am able to reconnect with both my mother and all the people and places no longer present while also acting as a way of stopping time and preserving memories that are constantly fleeting. www.cargocollective.com/evanraimond Title: “Reveranse” Medium: Oil on Panel Dimensions:24” 36” ”A family Affair” (right) Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 68” X 72”

anne reyes My paintings are inspired by my diverse ethnicity. I was born in the Philippines of a Chinese father and Spanish-Filipina mother and I interweave various cultural objects taken from China, Spain and the Philippines into my works. The child figure that reoccurs in my paintings is taken from my childhood memories. I specifically select this stage of my life as a metaphor for innocence and the prevailing curiosity that I felt about my identity. I depict the narratives using a limited palette consisting red, white and black. The color black and white are suitable to present the atmosphere of dream and memory, while the hints of red symbolize my affiliation with China, Spain and the Philippines all of which heavily use red in their tradition and culture. My paintings unify my background as well as present their apparent differences.

Mestiza de Sangley y Peninsular Acrylic and Oil on Canvas 8â&#x20AC;?x10â&#x20AC;?

Golden Thread Acrylic and Oil on Canvas 27”x32”

anne rochelle The paintings of ‘Happy Birthday’ are comprised of figurative studies that explore optic movement both within the paintings and on behalf of the viewer. Inspired by the famous example anamorphosis by Northern Renaissance painter Hans Holbein, double images are meshed into a singular painting displaying the interaction between two moments. Borrowing further from Holbein and other old masters, I have investigated their themes of mortality illustrated by traditional vanitas symbology through my own interpretation of the memento mori. Through optical effects that take advantage of the eye’s persistence for continuous vision or viewer’s changing perspective, ‘Happy Birthday’ celebrates human transience through the inherently transient application of paint, construction and composition aerochelle.com Look/Look Away 36”x36” oil on panel Change Configuration of Figure and Shape (Happy Birthday!) (right) 42”x46” oil on canvas

andrew thorp I borrow imagery from movies and pop culture to create a new narrative which obscures/perverts/absurds the original context. This work is like an awkward joke among friends. My paintings often forget what they are going to say. My work is oddly familiar yet always a little distant. www.andrew–thorp.com

Scream Watercolor on Arches 44 1/2 “ x 60”

Dogs Watercolor on Arches 14 1/2 “ x 22”

lisa marie warren My paintings explore the persistence of experience combined with the language and aesthetic of maps. Maps speak of something real and paraphrased; intricate and precise. Passing years skim away details, leaving only the core of memory to linger. Layers and reflections grow in, around and about to create the compiled vision. This work plays with a simplification of form and color to express filtered thoughts. It reflects an internalization of place.

Composition Number Three (above), Acrylic on canvas, 18” x 36” Composition Number Four (left), Acrylic on canvas, 24” x 24”

jacob weinberg I consider painting, despite all of its themes, variations, and styles, to be chiefly concerned with pictorial illusion. As a process of image making, it involves applying paint or an equivalent material to a surface in order to build up some sort of image. Every composition on a two-dimensional plane takes the form of an image. In this way, when viewing a painting, we are always able to discern two central aspects: the material qualities of the surface, and the image that we perceive the surface to depict. I consider each of my works, along with their specific content, to be a meditation on this basic idea. Thematically, I confront issues of privacy, isolation, history, memory, and space.

Pool (left) , Acrylic and Graphite on Canvas, 35” x 30” Condensation (right), Oil and Acrylic on Paper, 32” x 27”

Forward, Charcoal and Oil on Canvas 20” x 26”

diane yu The divine archway is struck by a tidal w a v e

yourhands fingertips flicker against the nothingness

as the balance of the horizon line tilt step into the edge of the broadening border let your palms hit the sides of the falling water ascend every crease convert all misdeeds and let the crash ripple flow www.dianeyuartist.com

Horizons Cradle (top) mixed media on wood and paper 18” x 16”2. One Eye Rise (bottom) mixed media on wood and paper 10” x 16”

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Tilted Tide / mixed media on wood and paper / 18” x 24”

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gabriel zea Building on traditional oil painting techniques,Â and applying the directness of Asian ink paintings, in which reality is summarized and filtered, I explore my relationship with the subject and attempt to describe their character and humanity through alternately impressionistic and formal representation.Â The subjects are captured in a moment of contemplation in order to depict their vulnerability, to show how delicate our exterior appears during a moment of introspection, to suggest that the intricacies of our personality are always drawn on the contour and topography of our face and posture. By exposing the subjects in a natural moment, they can be understood as that which innately deserves empathy and respect. www.gabrielzeaart.com

Anna / oil/ 11X8.5 Left: Alicia / oil/ 16X16

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Founded in 1826, Maryland Institute College of Art [MICA] is the oldest continuously degree -granting college of art and design in the nation. The college enrolls more than 2,000 undergraduate, graduate, and continuing studies students from 46 states and 53 countries in fine arts, design, electronic media, art education, liberal arts, and professional studies degree and non-credit programs. Redefining art an design education, MICA is pioneering interdisciplinary approaches to innovation, and community and social engagement. Alumni and programming reach around the globe, even as MICA remains a cultural cornerstone in the Baltimore/Washington region, hosting hundreds of exhibitions and events annually by students, faculty, and other established artists. For more information on featured artists and programs of study please visit the painting homepage at www.mica.edu/painting

Painting Department

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