Shake Your Chains by Otis College of Art and Design

Otis Fine Arts 2012 BFA Exhibition

Shake Your Chains 2012 Otis Fine Arts BFA Degree Exhibition May 6-13, 2012 CATALOGUE STAFF Editor: Holly Tempo Print Committee: Joan Slottow, Chair Alexis Anne Afaghi Eugenia Barbuc Natalie Jones Justine Lim Vivien Ma

Senior Studio Mentors: Carole Caroompas (Fall 2011) Dana Berman Duff Scott Grieger Soo Kim John Sonsini (Spring 2012)

Senior Studio Visiting Mentors:

Design: Rachel Fishman Typefaces: Century Gothic (Monotype), Century 725 (Heinrich Hoffmeister, Bitsream.)

Steven Bankhead Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer Stanya Kahn Aram Moshayedi Kori Newkirk

AUDIO TOUR

FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT:

Script: Joan Slottow

Chair: Meg Cranston Assistant Chair: Alex Slade Department Coordinator: Kate Harding Office Manager: Michelle Chong

Narrator–: Beverly Walker-Bostick Special thanks to Robert Walters and Matthew Ballard of Otis Information Systems, and Mark Farina and Robyn Dunbar (RAD) of the Video Lab for helping to make the audio tour possible.

SENIOR STUDIO

Senior Exhibition Coordinators: Alex Slade, Holly Tempo

Paper Stock: 95# Topkote gloss cover, 100# Topkote dull text Printer: iGEN3 digital press by Xerox

Exhibition Design Committee Coordinator: Alex Slade

Printed in the United States by BurdgeCooper New World Printing

CONTENTS Dana Duff Mentor Group

Alexis Anne Afaghi Juan Dez Hanna Kovenock J. Lee Gabi. Vru. Meghan Weinstein Taylor Zepeda Contact Page

14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28

Scott Grieger Mentor Group Diana Bonilla Michael Cho CollectiveCollective (Svetlana Romanova and Mark DeSiderio) Marcela Gottardo Taryn Mรถller Nicoll Joan Slottow Rebecca Marie Yeretzian Contact Page

31 34 36 38

40 42 44 46 48

Soo Kim Mentor Group Walker Baron Natalie Jones Vivien Ma Manda Olson Philippe Anthony Quinal Sean Patrick Watkins Won Jessica York Contact Page

51 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70

John Sonsini Mentor Group

Hasmik Aga-Sarkisian Eugenia Barbuc Jeannie Lou F. Estonactoc Svetlana Kuzminykh Rebecca Kwon Justine Lim Sang Park AndrĂŠs Stickar Contact Page

76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92

“Rise like Lions after slumber In unvanquishable number. Shake your chains to earth like dew Which in sleep had fallen on youYe are many — they are few.” — Percy Bysshe Shelley

Dana Duff Mentor Group Alexis Anne Afaghi Juan Dez Hanna Kovenock J. Lee Gabi. Vru. Meghan Weinstein Taylor Zepeda

Dana Duff would love to send this group of Otis Fine Arts seniors off into the world with the now immortal words of Louise Bourgeois from 1988, when she was 77-years old. “Art comes from life. Art comes from the problem you have in seducing birds, men, snakes— anything you want. It is like a Corneille tragedy, where everybody is pursuing somebody else. You like A, A likes D, and D likes.... Being a daughter of Voltaire and having an education in the eighteenth-century rationalists, I believe that if you work enough, the world is going to get better. If I work like a dog on all these... contraptions [her artworks], I am going to get the bird I want....” Donald Kuspit asked Bourgeois, “You were not really interested in success?” Bourgeois answered, “No, I was not. That’s why I have lasted so long. I have ridden out my success because it was not really the purpose of my work to be successful. My work will outlive its success, be more enduring and stronger than success. I was never disappointed when I never had success, which is why I never destroyed any of my work. Many artists destroy their work not because it is bad, but because it is not successful—because other people aren’t interested in it, because other people don’t attend to it. When the dealers finally began to look me up, finally came to me, all my work was there.” — Dana Duff

Alexis Anne Afaghi In my practice, I am drawn towards excess, consumption, obsession, and the regurgitation of all that consumes one living in the modern world. My body serves as both a tool and a vessel of material by which I engage through pleasure, pain and compulsion. I use my body as part of a performative gesture that mines the notions of worship, display, organization and compartmentalization. In the film Maneia, the repetitive nature of an excessively intense interest or desire translates into a sequence of movements that are reminiscent of a fluid choreography as opposed to an involuntary frenzy of ailment and distress.

Alexis Anne Afaghi Maneia 2011 Stills from video projection 120 min.

Juan Dez My work explores the differences between nature and the industrial world we live in: the surreal, artificial, spiritual and unexplainable instances of reality. My exploration is never intended as a critique of society, but rather a celebration of my time in a culture.

Juan Dez Pieceofart 2012 Mixed media installation (detail) Variable dimensions

Hanna Kovenock Characterized by whimsy, my work delves into the mysteries of human nature and the self-reflexive cycles of life and death. My delicate yet scientifically derived work proves that more than form and process constitute art. There is a touch of darkness in each piece that hints at a catharsis of humanityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s understanding of its unique condition. I am interested in how a work of art transforms during the process; for example, whether it be random scraps of recycled materials organized into a perfect rainbow of handmade paper, a wild community garden sited at an institution, or a bumpy blurry video with a heartfelt narrative and not so soothing compilations of sound. Of the utmost importance to me is that a project be either extremely easy, or nearly impossible, to physically, emotionally, and spiritually carry.

Hanna Kovenock Spectrum: (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue) (Detail) 2011 Handmade recycled paper 12 X 17â&#x20AC;?

J. Lee I make my work to feel productive and happy. I enjoy working with a variety of materials. I aim to explore my thoughts and express them through both representation and abstraction. In my painting practice, I often use text in many of my paintings because of its playfulness and directness in terms of providing the viewer with access to my work. When painting, I try to embrace all of my ideas and impulse to create by working quickly; a practice that results in pictures that are much more intuitive than my sculptures. I believe that all of the ideas for my works are valuable regardless of being good or bad. I have learned over the years that I must believe in what I am making and keep on doing what I do best.

J. Lee Untitled (Cat Tower) 2011 Sculptural Installation Variable dimensions

Gabi. Vru. I was born in Lithuania just after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. During the existence of the former Soviet Union, my grandparents were well-known theater actors. As a child, I would spend my time exploring the theaterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dressing rooms. While the Soviet Union slowly fell apart, I was growing up and playing with my friends in the remains of a post-war landscape. Years later after emigrating to America, I began to search for the time lost using my memories as inspiration. Through imagery, I build distorted cross-cultural environments with their own characters. For example, in the video Dean and Chlorine, the title characters battle to be the dominant identity in a representation of my psyche. In this struggle, there are no winners and the conflict continues without resolution.

Gabi. Vru. Dean & Chlorine 2012 Still from video 15 min.

Meghan Weinstein KISS Hello, Kitties Remix Generation Our cuteness is our greatest weapon. Reckless Driving Dead Friend Rise, from the depths of the internet. Everything is Relevant Eat Meat Happy MTV Obscurity Liquid Television The Infinite Swim Zeinanism Pure Path, Pure Future Homie Hoppers Videodrome There is no God. Black Hole Don’t Do Drugs, Drink Four Loko Keep It On The Hush Teens Scream For Canadian Tween If you’ve got the pink, they’ve got the green. J.B.’s A HE ♥RT THR ♥ B

Sweet Sixteen Show a little skin. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Thank You For Being My Friend All My Facebook Friends Hate Me Be Bold Do It Yourself Bricoleur Live a life of luxury Precious What’s Mine is Mine 101010 Wish You Were Here, The View Is Great Call Me, Maybe XOXO Gossip www.meghanweinstein.com Every day can be this beautiful.

Meghan Weinstein www.meghanweinstein.com 2012 Still from video installation Variable dimensions

Taylor Zepeda

Taylor Zepeda Poseidon O’Gilroy (Detail) 2012 Glue and Garlic over cardboard on steel stand 66 X 16 X 16”

Contact Alexis Anne Afaghi 310-621-2095 alexisjoon@gmail.com

Gabi. Vru. 215-882-4017 info@gabivru.com www.gabivru.com

Juan Dez 310-977-1702 jmillusions@gmail.com www.cargocollective.com/ JDEZILLUSIONS

Meghan Weinstein 415-710-9196 rhythmnationmw@yahoo.com www.meghanweinstein.com

Hanna Kovenock 310-525-4334 hakoveno@gmail.com

Taylor Zepeda 562-508-6051 taylorzepeda@gmail.com

J. Lee 201-214-2517 sale0207@hotmail.com

Scott Grieger Mentor Group Diana Bonilla Michael Cho CollectiveCollective (Svetlana Romanova and Mark DeSiderio) Marcela Gottardo Taryn Mรถller Nicoll Joan Slottow Rebecca Marie Yeretzian

Scott’s Favorite Advice - Top Ten List 1. Don’t worry, be happy. 2. No one is promised tomorrow. 3. Accept the things you cannot change. 4. Don’t be afraid of being a “holy fool”. 5. Don’t take your heart to the marketplace. 6. Speak low, speak slow and don’t say much. 7. Everything you do comes back on you. 8. Leave the sinking ship behind. 9. If it looks good small, it will look even better big. 10. If it’s messy, eat it over the sink. “We have heard you are enlightened, is that true?” asked the students. “It is true.” the master Kyogen answered. “Tell us, how do you feel?” the students asked. “As miserable as ever.” replied the enlightened Kyogen. — Scott Grieger

Diana Bonilla For the past year my photographic work has been focused on documenting my walks through different parts of Los Angeles. I focus on the different dynamics that exist in Downtown LA, from the busy and energetic Santee Alley to the dark and desolate back alleys of Maple Street. My interest lies in documenting the cultural and social interactions that occur in this area, and exploring how they reflect larger social issues that we face in the city. My photos try to document invisible cultural boundaries that exist, but hardly anyone speaks about. I investigate the difference between people who are on the inside and those on the outskirts of the mainstream. Who is in power and who is not? These are issues that as a first generation LatinoAmerican concern me. I record the daily struggle and creative methods that the Latino immigrant community finds to survive in this fast-paced demanding city.

Diana Bonilla Daily Walks, March 3-10, 2012 Ink Jet print 17.5 X 23â&#x20AC;&#x153;

Michael Cho The Immortal Circus Is that it? Two knocks upon death’s dock; the ship shall leave of late. This course henceforth shall win the discourse yet kill your rosy cheek. He doesn’t get it! In a cage, the little monkey plays with truth and delusion. How pathetic! Did you forget? Aha! You remember the burden fate put upon you. ...An interesting switch. It has become kitsch to scratch that great itch you cannot scratch. Pondering time while sitting on the horizon line, your two eyes contain the sunrise.

This is the price you pay. Even your love we will touch. Is this me? Is this you? What is the difference? In the end, you shoot a naughty arrow. So dig! Dig! Dig! But please, hide the evidence. What we cannot stand is your art. Is this you? Is this me? Very nice! very nice! A saw, you see? Shall cut your head off -- look! It tumbles quite happily!

Michael Cho Dynamo 2011 Acrylic on cardboard construction 72 X 72”

CollectiveCollective (Svetlana Romanova and Mark DeSiderio) I. State of Emergence: emergence as practice, time, speed and motion as medium, landscape as assistant, body as site. To emerge is to become, come to be, and metamorphose. The act of emergence is an act of changing, the process of abruption from one to indefinite. In relation to the collective, emergence as a form of act produces nothing other than itself. Emergence as a process becomes the reason of existence. The collective produces nothing more than a collective, and seeks for no other purposes rather than the experiences of members as collective. With no distinct progress or regress, our emergingcollective is a multiplying activity that does not imitate or represent anything but its own processes. Our art practice is emergence. Works created through processes of emergence are opposing static. Even static objects as sculptural elements are thought of as passive processes that sublimate particular paths or locations. Sublimation of objects and images are ritualistically functioning visual structures that are referring to the origins of art. The dormant and passive presence of an object is a process of ritual as a timeless existence.

CollectiveCollecive (Svetlana Romanova and Mark DeSiderio) Rat 2011 Stills from video performance Dimensions variable

Marcela Gottardo I am searching for a thread that connects us all through visual experience, an unspoken language. Can I as an artist investigate, with a variety of materials and means, what happens when we peel back layers of language, politics, art commerce, cultural habits and find, through some root visual experience, a common humanity? I am more interested in the question than in proposing answers. My work involves perceptual sensory experience, and exploring the formal and symbolic communication that can be generated by different materials and the interactions between them. I have explored these ideas through a methodical investigation of form, simple gestures, deliberate process, materiality, and systemic order juxtaposed with uncontrolled actions, signs, and the open field produced by artworks that evolve in real space as viewers interact with them. I am interested in internal and external spatial relationships, and in the experience of time. I undertake this because, for me, art explores the possibility of transformation.

Marcela Gottardo Untitled # 1 (Support, Space, and Materials Series) 2012 Plaster and cement pigment 16 X 16â&#x20AC;?

Taryn MĂśller Nicoll My work is created in awareness of its potential to suture this fractured postmodern world with a new, inspired approach to reveal the good and the beautiful. As a figurative artist, I see the body as the ultimate symbol for regeneration, healing and positive progression. My works feature lyrical syntheses of figurative references that function as a visual allegory for a personally manifested reconstruction of life as we know it. Gestural figure drawings and strokes of color reside on the same plane as, and sometimes overlap with, carefully rendered anatomical diagrams in an effort to study the finite ways in which we attempt to know our bodies. Within my depictions of abstracted physiological references, I balance the uncontrollable, unfamiliar qualities of our human bodies with the beauty of luscious rendering and harmonious reconfiguration. In this way, I have acknowledged fear and answered it with visual metaphors for active regeneration and transformation.

Taryn MĂśller Nicoll Knockout Genes 2012 Watercolor and ink on paper 16 x 22â&#x20AC;? framed

Joan Slottow In Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Wassily Kandinsky wrote that it is the spiritual role of the artist to bring light into the world and expel some of the darkness that exists here. Like Kandinsky, I am interested in making work that communicates joy. By bringing more joy into the world, I am increasing its stock of goodness as joy and laughter serve as vehicles of healing. Like the Expressionist painters, I process experience through imagination and reveal my inner nature in my work. I use animal imagery and curvy lines to emphasize whimsy, playfulness and a sense of innocence. Our instinctive positive response to curviness, especially upward-directed curves, is innately tied up with our reaction to the smile. When my work makes me laugh it bringme happiness, and I hope that others will also take delight in it and have their spirits uplifted.

Joan Slottow Dachshund Courtier October 2011 Paper machĂŠ and acrylic over wire armature 27 X 7 X 22â&#x20AC;?

Rebecca Marie Yeretzian There are no words, There are words, yes. I have been misplaced amid a facet of truth and being. Omitted from the routine of drones servicing a queen. My fervor has become liminal, yes. My apathy has become righteous. //

However.

Ritualizing the nothingness. Anticipating the unknown. Craving the constant.

Did it make you ache so leaving me? Or were you never mine?

Rebecca Marie Yeretzian [Embrace the grit of the terrestrial, Enable your fatal flaw] rooster, 2012 Digital study 7 X 7â&#x20AC;?

Contact Diana Bonilla dbonilla@student.otis.edu maramagifts@hotmail.com

Taryn Mรถller Nicoll 530-305-8730 tmollernicoll@gmail.com www.tarynmoller.com

Michael Cho 818-447-3670 art.michaelcho@gmail.com

Joan Slottow 310-556-3372 joan_slottow_art@att.net www.joanslottowart.com

CollectiveCollective (Svetlana Romanova and Mark DeSiderio) 917-292-9389 818-632-0646 intentionalspontaneity@gmail.com madesign623@gmail.com www.theyeartheyuccabloomed.tumblr.com

Rebecca Marie Yeretzian 818-653-1404 beba.dearest@gmail.com

Marcela Gottardo 323-304-0428 marcelagottardo@ymail.com

Soo Kim Mentor Group Walker Baron Natalie Jones Vivien Ma Manda Olson Philippe Anthony Quinal Sean Patrick Watkins Won Jessica York

The Map of Uncharted Territory Sei Shonagon, a lady in waiting to Princess Sadako at the beginning of 11th century Japan had a passion for lists: the list of elegant things, things that have lost their power, things that give a hot feeling, even of things not worth doing. One day she drew up a list of things that make the heart beat faster. This small group of ladies-in-waiting in the Empress Court contemplated the tiniest details in their world, but recorded and marked the culture in deeper ways than the thundering of the politicians of the Court. We live in a time of flux: ideologies are collapsing; technology is developing exponentially; the very notion of what it means to be human today is undefined; the tension between the public and private self has become acute. The artists in this exhibition share a healthy distrust of both the purely personal and the securely social.

Their works ask the audience to share their selections from the infinite raw material existing in the world, with the artist acting as both filter and selector, bringing the inert to the attentions of the audience. Recognition and reinvestment of significance is exposed in areas where it might otherwise be overlooked or taken for granted. Many of the works in Shake Your Chains rely on strategies that could be described as startling, bewildering, disturbing, and spellbinding. The work of my mentees—Walker Baron, Natalie Jones, Vivien Ma, Philippe Anthony Quinal, Manda Olson, Sean Patrick Watkins, Jihyun Won, and Jessica York—simultaneously challenge notions of transcendence and practicality. These works define the future while constructing their past, consider ideas of both preservation and annihilation, and exploit entropy and order, ultimately they change the way we look at and

understand the world around us. This is artwork charged with the paradox of discovering territory that is familiar yet uncharted. I’ve asked these artists to make a list of some of their favorite things, to try to anticipate future categories, themes and motifs with which they will contemplate their world. When my dog Chico plays with other dogs at the dog park, crooked grinds, cardboard, Toddy G’s pizza, freedom, lukewarm coffee, Dancehall riddims, seeing dolphins while I’m surfing, deep space, outdoors adventures. Ice water, coffee and cigarettes, apricot, books, number 5, giraffe, nittaku yellow ping pong balls, eating, making art. Reading, coffee, mountains, driving, electric blankets, cloudy days, Kaleidescope, socks, donuts, Gold Room. Cream puffs, the velvet of a horse’s nose, tabby cats, Saint

Bernards, raspberries, fresh Canadian air, hot tubs, Maldive islands, cheesecake, summer days by the lake. Sugar, cats, jam, pie, sunshine, coffee, order, squirrels, flowers, paper. Family , friends , traveling , Hawaii , good food , good music , good sex , peace of mind , free things , accomplishment . Juxtaposed nature of film sets, archives of photographs, cinema, semiotics, T-Max 100 (120mm), Classic film set stills, self-distortion of personal memories ( lies becoming believed as memory by the person), trying to figure out family past from family archives of photos, Film Production design, physical evolution of a landscape. And on my list at the moment: Jessica, Won, Sean, Manda, Phil, Vivien, Natalie, Walker, you and me. April 2012 — Soo Kim

Walker Baron My creative practice is driven by a deep faith in art as a way of experiencing and bringing new meaning to everyday life. While my art utilizes a wide variety of methods, mediums, and materials, it is united by an essential energy of investigation and resistance. Each project may begin with a simple observation or idea, but inevitably confronts questions about the structures and ideologies behind aspects of culture, society and, of course, art. I am simultaneously invested in formal concerns in the mediums I work with, as well as theoretical questions about their function. My artistic process often relies on the principles of collage. Whether I am combining physically disparate materials, reversing the values we normally place on objects, or tangling mediums and art historical ideas, I am always interested when conflicting ideas are forced into engagement and arrive at a place where paradoxes and loopholes abound.

Walker Baron Pyramid Purse 2012 Tiles, caulk, concrete, shelf bracket, wire, found purse, wig, and photograph 38 X 12 X 6â&#x20AC;?

Natalie Jones The performative aspect of my work is defined by travel. It is used to investigate the correlation between the experiential and self-purpose. Texts and objects emerge like relics of these acts. They exist to facilitate actual conversations between the viewer and myself.

Natalie Jones Mirage Montage (Poster) 2012 Inkjet print 11 X 17â&#x20AC;?

Vivien Ma I am interested in an additive process that furthers me as a person, particularly in how we perceive reality on an everyday basis. The disconnection to our origins in our current state, from our relationship to the past, and our perception of that history are a large part of my practice. Our cultural, social and biological states structure what we see. Stored away in our minds are our memories. The way that memories function is mimicked by photography, allowing us to experience photography to a fuller extent. Memories and photographs are both fragments of a larger whole: potent visual markers of experience. Any photo is questionable in regards to truthfulness; the memory too is not what it seems. We think that memories represent the absolute truth, but our minds unconsciously create information to fill in the blanks. Using food as a bridge of commonality, I attempt to create connections between time and space to create a bubble of alternative reality.

Vivien Ma Three Generations #3 Spring 2011 Inkjet print, edition of 3 4 X 6â&#x20AC;?

Manda Olson I’d like to present the outcome of: Puncture Thread Pull Repeat

Manda Olson FauxGeometric 10 2012 Ink and nylon thread on paper 7 X 7”

Philippe Anthony Quinal My current work investigates personal identity and the relationship I have with art through the act of mark making. When painting, I engage in a dialog with the piece that manifests as reaction-based decision making. Each mark is made because the one next to it exists. As the vocabulary of marks appears, a sense of rhythm, spirituality, and culture are conveyed. These characteristics are important because they give me reason to have hope for the future. As a result of my process, there is also a certain amount of physicality and performance in these works. As this personal visual language and process continues to expand and evolve, my hope is to explore the self in relationship to art and the world that we live in. As I continue to experience and discover new ideas and techniques in my practice, it motivates me to go on further to find out more.

Philippe Anthony Quinal Untitled (black too) 2011 Acrylic, gesso and ink on canvas 78 X 78 X 1.5â&#x20AC;?

Sean Patrick Watkins My work is rooted in the language of photography and cinema. I am driven by peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attempts to grasp at and preserve memory or trace. This act of preservation taints and distorts the information we retain for future reflection of the true experience. Memory is continually recording events, only to have them torn apart by time and disease. They recede into faintly pulsing glimpses of the clear image we once held, which soon will fade away. These traces offer fleeting evidence of the inevitable decay of the human mind. The human mind is an amazing thing. Like a biological film negative, it holds the essential information that forms us as individuals. Simple electrical pulses pass between two points of the mind, providing the data necessary for the human imagination to form an internal, cinematic, trace experience. My work carries semiotic traces of my past; each piece acting as a pragmatic pictorial sign to myself.

Sean Patrick Watkins Preservation of Chapters Digital concept model

Won My art represents a desire to reconnect with past experience through the senses. I cannot regain or recreate the sight, smell or touch of what existed in the past. However as an artist, I can reconstruct a linear narrative of my life by capturing non-linear traces of what remains as memory. My goal is to share my memory with the viewer. I refer to memory as trace because it is not the event itself. The work functions as a trace of a trace, in the sense that it is a record of memory. I attempt to connect the viewer with the emotional reality of my history.

Won Black Goats 2011 Inkjet print, edition of 5 42 X 51â&#x20AC;?

Jessica York A significant aspect of my life has been my relationship with horses and the subculture of Dressage. I have explored this relationship in a series of black and white and color photographs that evoke the communion between horse and rider and the concentration and commitment that the rider must experience to succeed in this complex and demanding sport. Dressage highlights aspects of the power and grandeur of the horse, and elicits themes of precision and control over the animal and surrounding environments. The display of dressage is a remnant of my personal history; and the notions of power, control, and tradition within it are what is compelling in the viewing of images that reflect this culture.

Jessica York and now, with footing slow, let them retrace their course back to the temples 2012 Inkjet print, edition of 3 35 X 35â&#x20AC;?

Contact Walker Baron 310-488-8706 wbaron89@gmail.com

Philippe Anthony Quinal 808-354-3546 phil@philquinal.com www.philquinal.com

Natalie Jones 310-746-7034 natkatjones@gmail.com

Sean Patrick Watkins seanwatkinsphoto@hotmail.com www.seanpatrickwatkins.com

Vivien Ma 424-223-8508 lma@student.otis.edu www.vvnma.com

Won 646-519-0076 wonouu@gmail.com www.wonouu.com

Manda Olson 714-930-6325 msheao@yahoo.com

Jessica York 310-713-4551 jessicayorkphotography@gmail.com www.jessicayorkphotography.com

John Sonsini Mentor Group Hasmik Aga-Sarkisian Eugenia Barbuc Jeannie Lou F. Estonactoc Svetlana Kuzminykh Rebecca Kwon Justine Lim Sang Park AndrĂŠs Stickar

You came to art long before you came to college. And, in the words of my dear friend Alice: “This is not the last stop.” Congratulations!! — John Sonsini

Hasmik Aga-Sarkisian In my work, I struggle with complex matters dealing with my identity as an Armenian and as an American. In the cultural space I inhabit, values constantly collide with one another and create conflicts that I explore in my art. I use unorthodox materials with an emphasis on process to represent tension in the paintings. In many of my works, I have used materials such as ash, carpet, cigarette buds, sand, nails, burlap, burned wood, dirt, pages from The Bible-- things that reference certain experiences and childhood memories. Additionally, destructive acts like burning, tearing or puncturing the canvas, are a very significant part of my practice. Such acts challenge the traditional structure of a painting as a containing square or rectangle. In my paintings, the chaotic experience is represented by these planned defacements.

Hasmik Aga-Sarkisian Named After Her 2011 Artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blood on canvas, buried for 23 days 60 X 60â&#x20AC;?

Eugenia Barbuc As an interdisciplinary artist, I utilize the language of drawing, film, sculpture and painting to explore personal and public narratives. My work delineates postcolonial and feminist thought. My paintings deal with mark making and traces of actions that relate to memory as well as gender. The recent work explores the reality of historical accounts of the personal and the national, blurring the lines between the two. Tibor, a Roma man played by female and male actors, becomes the focal point in this exploration as he navigates through a transient existence both on and off our planetary plane. He is an imaginary character in dialogue with the lore of the astronaut, as well as the mythic qualities of the territorially and terrestrially unbound. He explores lunar landscapes and the terrain of identity. My interest in non-linear storytelling creates a constellation of personal, historical and fictional references, creating a space where reality and fiction cannot be distinguished.

Eugenia Barbuc Astrolog 1 2012 Video installation (color, sound) 7 min loop

Jeannie Lou F. Estonactoc In my paintings, I challenge negative societal perceptions of the round, feminine body. I render the figures as monumental curvy forms, using rich colors, layered textures and dense patterns to communicate an image of desire. By shifting the focus onto sensual depictions of the body via the materiality of paint, earthy palette, and exaggerated poses that fill the canvas, I provide the viewer with the freedom to succumb to visual pleasure and, thus, sidestep preconceived notions of the beautiful. This work is inspired by the idea that an individual, who is subject to social and cultural mores, has a very distinct inclination towards specific body types. However the eyes, as unconditioned independents, are devoid of these inclinations and are instead focused on purely optical aesthetics. My paintings propose a redirected standard of physical beauty that brings us closer to the voluptuous.

Jeanie Lou F. Estonactoc Give a girl an education and introduce her properly into the world, and ten to one she has the means of settling well, without further expense to anybody March 2012 Oil on canvas 36 X 48 â&#x20AC;?

Svetlana Kuzminykh Determined to be taken seriously, twenty-somethings have embraced a new trend labeled “seapunk”. Seapunk, established two weeks ago in New York City, is youth’s creative response to the culture of today. Featuring fake turquoise-blue hair, multicultural designs on clothing, and a mash-up of many moments in time, seapunk communicates a subculture that is influenced by “everything”. The visual style of seapunk combines artificial, ready-made and DIY qualities. This is what my work and seapunk now share. Loosely defined, it forms potential to create new meanings and a new aesthetic, provoking the viewer’s imagination and encouraging them to discover new meanings. It’s our moment.

Svetlana Kuzminykh Artificial Homestyle 2012 Inkjet print 22 X 24”

Rebecca Kwon My current work manifests as a complex grid system composed of photographic test prints and contact sheets from 35 mm film negatives. The photographic contents of the film revolve around linear perspective, patterns, and repetition; for example, one image consists of a grocery store aisle with the stacked products on display. Within the grid, a sense of tension and vibrancy is created by the strips of film, which are densely layered. In previous works, I have utilized a similar systematic process of laying down pigment on canvas to convey a poetic sensibility and formalism via the language of painting. Even though these works are made without paint, I continue to read them as paintings due to the process. Each bit of film functions as material rather than art object; and is pieced together to create a visual language that refers to the gesture and movement of abstract painting.

Rebecca Kwon Untitled Painting III 2012 Collage with 35mm color contact prints on panel 84 X 72â&#x20AC;?

Justine Lim My work is an exploration of the things that have been forgotten by my generation in favor of a monoculture defined by the new and the trendy. Hipsterdom is the aspiration of many middle and upper class youth now. That which is perceived as cool has become the embodiment of the highest good to many of my peers. I make objects in protest of these ideals. I create fantastic representations of the idealized recollections of my childhood, as well as of the youth culture of previous generations of Americans. Within this examination of my memory, I also am forced to pull from my cultural heritage coming from Korea, but in accordance with my national identity as an American. Through this amalgamation of memory and whimsy, I create objects that simultaneously promote nostalgic reflections of the past and blinding flashes of a bleak and cool future.

Justine Lim In the Gutters of Gastronomical Delights 2012 Mixed media installation Variable dimensions

Sang Park We call something absurd when it is inconsistent with what common sense or experience tells us. My obsession with the visual and conceptual relationship between abstracted imagery of toilet seats and the human body may appear to be unreasonably logical. I am fascinated by the sensory bond implied by the design of the seat and its use. In order to explore this whimsical connection in my paintings, without experiencing any of the grosser associations, I create a system of shapes that represent the primary object. I reduce the seat and the negative spaces around it to its fundamental forms: ovals and curvilinear lines. These elegant visual references allow us to keep at bay reminders of bodily functions and other taboo subjects. This symbology, appearing within the context of abstract painting, encapsulates my conception of an existence where we battle against being conscious of the banal by reaching towards the sublime.

Sang Park Beyond Wildest Dreams 2012 Oil on canvas 44 X 32â&#x20AC;?

Andrés Stickar What is creation? How is it different when considered in terms of mythology, history and religion? In between faith and fantasy is where I can find my answers. My artwork manifests from this liminal space. Ever-expanding and endlessly perishing, the world spills forth from me and onto my paintings. Populated with men born of my doubts and beliefs, my subconscious landscapes are subject to the influence of my conscious mind. Ordering existence through their actions, these men make sense of the untamed world. Within this world, I can translate and connect the disparate parts of my mind. Every interaction is important, each thing in this world being essential to the whole and providing for my own journey. Roaming this expanse, I navigate and map the mythologies of my beliefs and the landscape of my existence.

Andrès Stickar North Hill (Detail) 2012 Acrylic, ink and pencil on paper 4 X 16”

Contact Hasmik Aga-Sarkisian 818-524-9829 hasmikaga@gmail.com

Rebecca Kwon 213-884-8544 reb.kwon@gmail.com

Eugenia Barbuc 909-251-5237 ebarbuc@student.otis.edu www.eugeniabarbuc.blogspot.com

Justine Lim 562-743-2535 justlimb@gmail.com www.justinelim.com

Jeannie Lou F. Estonactoc 714-209-5797 genielou@gmail.com www.jeannielou.blogspot.com

Sang Park 909-261-6316 sang208@hotmail.com

Svetlana Kuzminykh 310-699-2681 svetlanakzmnkh@gmail.com

AndrĂŠs Stickar a.e.stickar@gmail.com www.aestickart.com