EDGE EFFECT SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE Graduate Programs 2015 Š 2015 San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco, CA 94133 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978-0-930495-38-1 Charles Desmarais, President Rachel Schreiber, Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs Hesse McGraw, Vice President for Exhibitions and Public Programs Janette Andrawes, Director of Marketing Maureen Keefe, Director of Development Elizabeth O’Brien, Vice President for Enrollment Espi Sanjana, Chief Operating Officer Claire Daigle, Chair, Master of Arts Department Tony Labat, Chair, Master of Fine Arts Department Aziz + Cucher, Guest Faculty and Artists in Residence, Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts, 2014 Zeina Barakeh, Director of Graduate Administration Rachel Rutter, Manager of Graduate Administration Greg Kersten, Facilities Manager, Graduate Studios Milton Freitas Gouveia, Graduate Studio Operations Manager Kedar Lawrence, Graduate Studio Evening Coordinator
SFAI Admissions 415.749.4500 admissions@sfai.edu
TABLE OF CONTENTS 4
Message from Charles Desmarais, President
5
Message from Rachel Schreiber, Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs
6
SFAI Timeline
8
Graduate Programs
10
MASTER OF FINE ARTS / ARTIST PAGES
11
“Ready to Embark” Tony Labat, Chair, Master of Fine Arts Department
12
Graduating MFA Artists
108
MASTER OF ARTS / THESIS PROJECTS
109
“Chasing Honey” Claire Daigle, Chair, Master of Arts Department
110
Graduating MA Scholars
116
MA Collaborative Projects
118
SELECTED PROJECTS
135
ON-CAMPUS EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS
136
Walter and McBean Galleries
138
Swell Gallery
139
Diego Rivera Gallery
141
Lecture Series
143
Special Events
145
Remembering Richard Berger, 1944–2015
146
Graduate Program Faculty
151
Board of Trustees
152
Acknowledgements
Message from the President San Francisco is a city on the edge.
But equally impressive is the ingenuity
Geographically, of course, with its
and rebellious, can-do spirit of SFAI’s
westward thrust and waterfronts;
artists, who often go on not to existing or
but in spirit, too, with a population
defined roles, but to newly imagined and
of instigators and influencers
self-made opportunities. For 144 years,
who consistently keep this place at
this institution has fostered artists brave
the vanguard.
enough to venture beyond boundaries to discover uncharted artistic terrain—
The artists of San Francisco Art Institute
and to report back from the front lines.
are central to this environment of
This last step is crucial, because to
innovation. And the 2015 emerging
be an artist is to make new things and
artist exhibition, Edge Effect, at Pier 2 at
conceive new ideas, but it is also to
Fort Mason Center, provides a distinct
share those insights with an audience,
vantage point from which to imagine the
to engage in community and society at
possibilities for contemporary art.
large: to have an impact upon others.
In biological terms, “edge effect” is
Not incidentally, Pier 2 at Fort Mason
the occurrence of greater diversity in a
Center is the planned future home of
transitional zone between two habitats
SFAI’s graduate program. Edge Effect
or communities than in either of the
thus marks another phase in a living,
adjacent ones. Held in a former military
thriving legacy, connecting SFAI’s
building inside the first urban National
artists to each other, the present to a
Park in the United States, Edge Effect
continuum, and this institution to a larger
marks the intersection of land and sea;
ecosystem.
of artist and audience; of the graduates’ time as SFAI students and their entry
So to our new graduates, as you
into the larger art world. As evidenced by
leave SFAI: Congratulations on your
the range and ambition of the works on
accomplishments, and send us a
view and in this catalogue, it has proved
postcard from the leading edge.
remarkably generative. Edge Effect takes place at a time of shifting economic effects, as well, at the edge of vast technological and social changes. In San Francisco today, artists are struggling in the face of many challenges. Having long provided sustenance to the Bay Area art community and the creative process, SFAI is committed to helping its artists launch professional careers, and this capstone exhibition regularly results in gallery representation, new collectors, or invitations to show nationwide.
4
Charles Desmarais
Message from the Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs This year, SFAI hosted visiting teams
the formidable ranks of SFAI alumni.
from our two accreditation agencies,
In the SFAI life cycle, Review Week
the Western Association of Schools
concludes with Open Studios, another
and Colleges (WASC) and the National
kind of pause, where students allow the
Association of Schools of Art and Design
public into the sanctified space of their
(NASAD). Accreditation is a crucially
studios to glimpse the works-in-process
important aspect of higher education—
that will form the largest MFA studio art
it provides access to federal funding
exhibition west of the Mississippi.
for students and certifies the degrees granted by the institution. But for
Throughout all this activity, the evidence
most people, the word “accreditation”
upon which these assessments are
conjures bureaucracy and induces
conducted is the art and scholarly work
somnolence. So why would I begin a
produced by our students. Graduate
letter that’s intended to inspire by talking
students present this work within the
about accreditation?
pages of this catalogue, along with the myriad end-of-year events at which we
We can, however, look beyond the
celebrate their achievements—the MFA
regulatory aspects of accreditation and
Exhibition, the MA Thesis Symposium,
find value in this activity. Accreditation,
the MFA film screening, and a host of
at its core, asks: Do we do what we
other showcases that happen this time
say we’re doing? Are we teaching
of year. Based on the work that has
what we say we’re teaching? Are
been presented this year, we clearly
students learning what we say they
see evidence of incredible successes.
are learning? Accreditation offers us a
Once again, the caliber of the work of
moment to pause and reflect. We are
this year’s graduates is extraordinary.
asked to articulate how we assess our
Many will go on to share this work with
achievements, and to provide evidence
wide audiences, through exhibitions,
of our successes.
publications, performances, screenings, and more.
In art school, we conduct assessment with great regularity—we call it critique.
How do I know that our students are
Critique is the lingua franca of graduate
learning what we say they are learning?
pedagogy at SFAI. We constantly
I see it in the fascinating, sophisticated,
critique, week by week and semester by
surprising, multifarious, enigmatic work
semester. And if that’s not enough, every
that they have produced. It has been
spring semester, the entire graduate
a pleasure this year to have the added
community stops what they’re doing
impetus of accreditation to allow us to
for one full week of reviews. Beginning
pause and reflect on their achievements.
students undergo Intermediate Review, and students nearing the completion of their degrees undergo Final Review, a benchmark that, in essence, says, yes, one is ready to present work at the year’s culminating events and join
5
Rachel Schreiber
A Brief History of
1915
SFAI Firsts & Foremosts
The Panama Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco’s first emergence on the world stage following the devastating 1906 earthquake, is a veritable showcase of SFAI art + ideas
1925 Alumnus Rea Irvin, the first art editor of The New Yorker, illustrates the magazine’s first cover and
1880
designs its now-iconic typeface
Eadweard Muybridge presents the first public showing of a motion picture at SFAI
1945 Ansel Adams founds the first fine art photography department in the country at SFAI
1949 Faculty Clyfford Still, Hassel Smith, David
1931
Park, Elmer Bischoff, Richard Diebenkorn, and
Diego Rivera paints his monumental The Making of a
Mark Rothko make SFAI
Fresco Showing the Building of
a hub for Abstract
a City at SFAI
Expressionism, the first American visual art to attain international influence
6
1968 Annie Leibovitz begins photographing for Rolling Stone while still an
1990
SFAI student
Alumna Karen Finley champions First Amendment rights in her renegade performance work and a lawsuit against the National Endowment for the Arts
1955 Allen Ginsberg gives the first public reading of HOWL during alumnus and faculty
1974
member Fred Martin’s
Alumnus Don Ed Hardy
exhibition Crate Sculptures
opens the first tattoo shop in the U.S. to focus on custom tattoo designs
2015 Alumnus Kehinde Wiley receives the U.S.
2010
Department of State’s
Alumna Kathryn Bigelow
honor of his contributions
Medal of Arts Award in
is the first woman to win an
to international cultural
Oscar for Best Director, for
exchange
The Hurt Locker
2015
2001
Alumna Laura Poitras wins
Faculty member George Kuchar’s Hold Me While I’m
an Oscar for Citizenfour,
Naked (1966) is named one
her documentary about government whistleblower
of the 100 best films of the
Edward Snowden
20th century by the Village Voice Critics’ Poll
7
GRADUATE PROGRAMS MFA IN STUDIO ART WITH OPTIONAL EMPHASIS Questions, curiosity, dialogue, and invention drive the philosophy of SFAI’s two-year MFA program, which provides a dynamic interdisciplinary context for emerging artists to advance their work, while exploring the theoretical, sociopolitical, and creative concerns of
OPTIONAL MFA EMPHASIS
MA
Art and Technology
SFAI’s Master of Arts (MA) programs
Film
provide a generative context for
New Genres
advanced scholarly inquiry into the
Painting
ideas, institutions, and discourses of
Photography
contemporary art, challenging students
Printmaking
to expand skills of analysis, questioning,
Sculpture
and creative problem solving to prepare
the contemporary moment.
LOW-RESIDENCY MFA IN STUDIO ART
Student-artists use their own questioning
SFAI’s Low-Residency Master of Fine
to guide their coursework and build the
Arts (MFA) in Studio Art program offers
skills necessary to sustain a lifelong
the rigor and artistic community of
practice in the arts. Concepts are
the full-time program in a flexible
emphasized over technical proficiency,
format ideal for individuals who wish to
and artists are encouraged to
advance their creative work while
experiment widely across media. SFAI’s
maintaining a professional career or
optional emphasis enables students to
personal commitment.
focus their interests (if helpful to their work) without being tied exclusively to
Completed over three years, student-
one medium.
artists work with SFAI faculty during intensive eight-week summer sessions
Throughout the program, students
in San Francisco, and independently
work independently in the studio and
through mentored, off-site, one-on-
in the field; meet with faculty one-on-
one study during the fall and spring
one in graduate tutorials; participate
semesters. During the summer, students
in small, faculty-led critique seminars;
in the program have studio space in
and take idea-driven critical theory
the Graduate Center and access to all
and art history courses. They also
of SFAI’s facilities. Summer sessions
create numerous projects on their own
combine critiques, art history and critical
through the relationships they forge
studies seminars, visiting artist lectures,
here—publications, off-site exhibitions,
and individualized tutorials to create a
international collaborations, and place-
comprehensive studio- and research-
making events have all emerged from the
based curriculum. Students participate
graduate cohort.
in Summer and Winter Reviews in San Francisco each year, and the program
The culmination of the MFA degree is
culminates with the MFA Exhibition.
the MFA Exhibition—a prestigious show, annually acclaimed for its raw, cutting-
A robust summer Graduate Lecture
edge creative output.
Series provides opportunities for direct dialogue with contemporary artists.
8
for a lifelong commitment to art and ideas. SFAI’s scholars are creative practitioners who work side by side with MFA candidates with one difference—their creative materials are ideas and words. MA candidates participate in art history and critical theory seminars, as well as research and writing colloquia; they also have opportunities for curating, internships, and travel. These crossdisciplinary offerings prepare students to cultivate an individualized course of study that will lead to the final research thesis—a book-length work of creative scholarship. The MA Collaborative Project provides a forum for students to take their work into the public sphere—and to collaborate professionally with their peers—with an exhibition, symposium, or siteresponsive project. The final MA Symposium introduces MA graduates to the Bay Area academic community in a highly celebrated public forum.
View of the rooftop amphitheater, photographed by Shane O’Neill
DUAL DEGREE MA/MFA SFAI’s Dual Degree MA/MFA program is designed for students whose practices cross the boundaries of art and scholarship. The Dual Degree equips students to engage theory, history, art, and culture at their points of intersection. It consists of: (1) An MA in History and Theory of Contemporary Art; and (2) An MFA in Studio Art with Optional Emphasis (Art and Technology, Film, New Genres, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture/Ceramics). The culmination of the program is participation in the MFA Exhibition after the second year, and completion of a written thesis, as well as participation in the MA Collaborative Project by the end of the third year.
9
Open Studios at the Graduate Center, photographed by Joshua Band
Ready to Embark This year, SFAI’s Master of Fine
At the Graduate Center, an
Arts Exhibition returns to Fort
industrial complex in the Dogpatch
Mason, once known as the San
neighborhood, I couldn’t ask for
Francisco Port of Embarkation.
a better environment to work in to challenge us culturally,
Fort Mason is mammoth; the
aesthetically, and otherwise. The
size of the space fits the size
size and diversity of the program
of the MFA Exhibition and
are a strength, and the community
program. Often, while engaged
who engage every day in the
in the process of designing
seminars, critiques, and studios are
this exhibition, with its wall
pushed to go beyond preconceived
configurations—Ts and Us and Ls,
notions of what art can do
sight lines, and angles—we felt we
(particularly in these heavy times of
could have used the help of Alexey
anti-tolerance, misunderstandings,
Pajitnov, the Russian computer
and ignorance). For the past two
engineer who invented the video
years, students have been honing
game Tetris in the eighties. Visitors
their theories and techniques,
will experience a fun house effect,
defining themselves through their
a maze where every turn creates
work, defining their work through
surprises. Featuring over 90
the program, and now that is all
graduating students and hundreds
behind. An exhibition in a former
of sculptures, videos, films,
port is a fitting metaphor; the
paintings, prints, photographs,
graduating class is now ready
ceramics, performances, and
to embark on the new venture
installations, in the end, what
at hand.
comes through is the work; the exhibition is the culmination of a
Tony Labat
pedagogical journey.
Chair, Master of Fine Arts Department
britt-acocelli.com
BRITTANY ACOCELLI Born
Foremost inspired by the humid
Winter Haven, Florida, 1988
subtropical climate and surreal events of Florida, the objects
Education
that I create and the situations in
BFA Drawing,
which they are found illustrate and
University of Florida, 2012
examine what can be considered
MFA Sculpture,
caused by sweating too much
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
a tropical surrealism—probably and a mystifying environment conducive to theme parks, pythons, alligators, flamingo lawn decorations, retirees, and spring breakers.
Optional Arrangement #01 2014 Wood, fabric, acrylic modeling paste, expanding foam, and aluminum Dimensions variable
Quick Dip 2014 Acrylic on wood and vinyl Dimensions variable
12
filza-ahmad-photography.squarespace.com
Shopping Mall, Saudi Arabia 2014 Digital inkjet print Dimensions variable
FILZA AHMAD Born
Photography in public is illegal
Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia
in Saudi Arabia. I am a Pakistani citizen. I was born and raised in
Education
Saudi Arabia and educated in an
BFA Sculpture, Indus Valley School
American school. I photograph my
of Art and Architecture, 2009 MFA Photography, San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
“home� to reconcile the divide in my cultural identity. My photographs of Saudi Arabia examine the conflict between modern ideologies and a strict imposition of religion. They evaluate the prevalence of conformity and uniformity and their effect on cultural/individual identity.
13
Safeway, Saudi Arabia 2014 Digital inkjet print Dimensions variable
Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia 2014 Digital inkjet print Dimensions variable
asaakerlund.se
Förtäckta Rum (Veiled Places) 2015 Installation, curtains, curtain rods, and fishing line 72 x 96 x 144 inches Förtäckta Rum (Veiled Places) 2015 Digital inkjet print 13 x 19 inches
ÅSA ÅKERLUND Born
Through installations and
Stockholm, Sweden, 1986
photographs, I raise a question about how we look at ourselves
Education
in our everyday lives. In Förtäckta
BFA, Konstfack, Sweden, 2013
Rum (Veiled Places), I use curtains
MFA Photography,
rooms. The curtains contain their
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
to create different paths and own history. Photographs outside the installation suggest the content inside and offer boundaries or openings depending on our experiences. Multiple layers come to interact with each other. A relationship evolves.
14
zoilaalbarinia.com
ZOILA ALBARINIA Born
My photos represent time with
Santo Domingo,
both a condensed and expanded
Dominican Republic, 1984
viewpoint, where the sequence of events sometimes reverses
Education
and then progresses in order to
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate,
show the course of the day in a
Photography, San Francisco Art Institute, 2013; BA Psychology, Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico,
domestic environment. The figures in my photographs merge with the room they occupy. Each captured gesture identifies a transition from
Recinto Metropolitano, 2007
one moment to the next, from one
MFA Photography,
of the mundane in our lives.
role to another, to show the beauty
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
Untitled I/Untitled II 2012 Archival inkjet print Dimensions variable
15
ryanaragon.com
RYAN ARAGON Born
My work as an artist is about
Denver, Colorado, 1987
making connections between people and the places, processes,
Tide Table 2014 Mixed media 29 x 29 x 29 inches Built on Sand 2014 Eroded brick, rusted iron, cement rubble, and compacted sand 16 x 14 x 14 inches
Education
and things that we are a part of.
BFA Sculpture/Video,
Through careful observations and
Cornish College of the Arts, 2011
conscientious interactions with
MFA Sculpture,
interpretations of places made from
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
my environment, I create sculpted the materials and the processes found there. When connections are made in this way, life becomes more significant and our way of life can become in itself a work of art.
Dust to Dust 2014 Rusted metal and compacted sand 8 x 14 x 5 inches
16
meganarmstrongscheffer.com
MEGAN ARMSTRONG Born
A line is a critical tool for
Madison, Wisconsin, 1988
communication. Whether compositionally visual or textual,
Education
a line connected to another line
BA Studio Art/Psychology,
creates a navigational thread to
Beloit College, 2010
follow. This thread can be woven
MFA Painting,
language. A line can develop
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
in and out as a form of coded into structures, systems, definitions, and associations. Through repetitive, compulsive exploration of lines, I investigate notions of normalcy by examining the narrative lines between fiction and reality.
Other Mental Disorders 2014 Pen on paper 5 x 5 inches
17
Tight, Almost Molecular 2014 Pen on paper 20 x 35 inches
rhysbambrick.com
RHYS BAMBRICK Born Ottawa, Canada, 1989 Education BA Studio Art, Vassar College, 2011 Fat Dickhead (Death Mask #1) 2014 Bondo速 autobody putty, helmet, plexiglass, and chrome hardware 13 x 11 x 11 inches
MFA Sculpture, San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
18
erikbeltranart.com
Corner Assemblage 2015 Reclaimed wood, metal, glass, plexiglass, acrylic, spray paint, nails, and screws Dimensions variable
On the DĂŠrive 2014 Reclaimed wood, metal, glass, nails, and screws 84 x 48 x 18 inches
ERIK BELTRAN Born
My current work juxtaposes
Fresno, California, 1988
painting, sculpture, and installation, offering a dynamic experience to
Education BA Painting, California State University, Fresno, 2012 MFA Painting, San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
the viewer. The whimsical quality of these structural assemblages dismantles and contorts the space in which they are presented. The urban materials used contain layers of historical physicality that attempt to bridge the gap between street aesthetics and elevated art objects.
19
skyevray.com acceleratedsensation.com
SKYE JOHN BENNETT Born
My work explores high-speed
Redlands, California, 1983
image capture, observing real time captured faster than the conscious
Education
mind can comprehend and playing
BS Business Administration/
these images back slower, enabling
Finance/Corporate Management, California State University, East Bay MFA Film, San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
the viewer to see through the lens of the subconscious mind and experience the malleability of time occurring within our subconscious. Another aspect of my work seeks to elicit cognitive feelings of accelerated sensation through the simulation of visual and auditory experiences during heightened moments of happiness, exhilaration, sensuality, or fear.
Accelerated Sensation 2015 Film installation project 35-minute loop
20
dannabialik.com
DANNA BIALIK Born
I am a multidisciplinary artist
Blackouts in Los Angeles 2015 Acrylic paint on canvas 65 x 39 inches
Mountain View, California, 1989
working predominantly in
Every Woman Different, Every Woman Beautiful, No Woman Enough 2015 Acrylic paint on canvas 65 x 39 inches
Education
experimental filmmaking and BFA Design Media Arts, University of California, Los Angeles, 2011 MFA Film, San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
painting. Themes addressed in my work incorporate the role of the female in contemporary society, specifically as a multiple. Gestural figurative paintings as well as autobiographical filmmaking discuss fetishization of the dancer’s body and exploration of trauma. Documentation of abstract work explores painting as a timebased medium. Personal identity is exposed through storytelling emphasizing motifs of psychosis and inebriation.
21
ceciliaborgenstamphoto.squarespace.com
As I Lay Me Down 2015 Archival inkjet print 36 x 24 inches What Happened When I Was Asleep 2015 Archival inkjet print 18 x 24 inches If I Could Swim I Could Become a Merman 2014 Archival inkjet print 12 x 16 inches
CECILIA CHRISTINA BORGENSTAM Born
I stage inverted realities outside our
Lund, Sweden
realm of immediate recognition but also located within our perception
Education
of the familiar. My children assist in
BA Literature/Cultural Studies,
reconstructing situations from my
Lund University, Sweden
past where my boundaries were
MFA Photography,
with my children as well as my
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
pushed. I expose my relationship role as a mother. Balancing the line between instruction and spontaneity, I explore the fluidity of memory and imagination, and explore how we can deconstruct personal experiences with the passage of time and reenactment.
22
elizabethbowler.com
ELIZABETH BOWLER Born
Through painting a type of skin
East Sussex, England, 1991
that psychologically charges spaces and sculpting in relation
Education BFA Fine Art, Nottingham Trent University, 2013; National Foundation Diploma, Art and Design, NCFE Fine Art/ Photography, City College Brighton and Hove, 2010 MFA Painting, San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
to the human form, I explore the conceptual possibilities of existence and its opposition, creating a sense of limbo—mar— between absence and presence. When digesting states of mind and manifesting the optical in ritual process, thought becomes visible; abstraction denies the viewer an immediate understanding of the work but lets them project their own psychology.
23
Dilation 2014 Oil on canvas, wood structure, and fluorescent tube light 78 x 66 x 6 inches
nathaliebrilliant.org
Dolores 2014 Site-specific performance 3:08 minutes
Modern Limen 2014 Site-specific performance 3:02 minutes
NATHALIE ELISABETH BRILLIANT Born
I create living spaces that illuminate
Brooklyn, New York, 1988
the present moment. My pieces utilize such various mediums
Education
as sound, video, performance,
BA Psychology,
and installation to enhance the
Wesleyan University, 2006
extrapolations explored within time
MFA New Genres,
as transient and as the future by
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
and space, positing the moment means of live documentation. These situations transpire a comedic, meta-theater, Brechtian kind of situation in which the gallery is the stage of truth and play, thus suggesting art as life.
24
ROB BRINSON IV Born Atlanta, Georgia, 1988
Education BFA Photography/Digital Imaging, Ringling College of Art and Design MFA Photography, San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
Division 2014 Photo/collage 48 x 34 inches
Collision 2014 Photo/collage 32 x 48 inches
25
Cuando Haya Nieve en Cuba/ When Snow Falls in Cuba 2015 Digital photograph preview of ongoing project: photography, video, and performance Dimensions variable La Milagrosa/The Miracle Worker 2015 Digital photograph preview of ongoing project: photography, video, and performance Dimensions variable
MADELINE BROWN Born
Three years ago, I inadvertently
Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1987
landed in Cuba. In the midst of finding realms of inspiration
Education
and instances of powerful self-
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate,
reflection through photography, I
Photography, San Francisco Art Institute, 2012; BA Art/Spanish, University of
met a curandera. She counseled my search to capture “knowing through being” in a ritual and
Minnesota, 2010
performance context that crosses
MFA Photography,
introduce snow to the Cuban
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
distinct cultural ravines. I would landscape and explore the contrast revealed. ¿Cuándo haya nieve en Cuba, qué se puede hacer?
26
EVAN BROWNSTEIN Born
I construct sculptural
New York City, New York, 1982
representations of fictionalized psychological dramas of the
Education
home. Attached unerringly to
Liberal Arts Degree,
my early childhood background
Sarah Lawrence College, 2005
as an autodidact photographer
MFA Photography,
my current practice assimilates
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
and black-and-white printmaker, photographs along with a muchingrained photographic sensibility to handle various materials, including wood, wire, found objects, resin, latex, and a long list of domestic building supplies.
Untitled 2015 Mixed media Dimensions variable
Untitled 2015 Mixed media Dimensions variable
Untitled (Detail) 2015 Mixed media Dimensions variable
27
RACHELLE BUSSIĂˆRES Born
In my work, I chart topographies
Quebec City, Canada, 1986
of the earth as an attempt to understand our relationship to
Education
the physical world. I first take
BA Anthropology,
black-and-white photographs of
Laval University, 2011
geological features in landscapes.
MFA Photography,
apply subsequent chemical
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
Then, in the darkroom, I manipulations and synthetic materials directly onto the paper while printing in the darkroom to mimic, interrupt, and refabricate natural topographies.
Body Mountain 2014 Unique silver gelatin prints Dimensions variable
Untitled 2014 Unique silver gelatin print 24 x 20 inches
28
ALEXIS CADENAS-PADRĂ“N
iniciatoda.com
Born
At this moment, my films are fixing
Barquisimeto, Venezuela
(saving) important periods of my life: the five months my 11-year-old
Education
daughter spent with me in 2014,
MFA Film, Ohio University, 2004;
and the time, back in the nineties,
Lic. Social Communication,
when my friends and I tried to
Universidad del Zulia, 1993
change the world through art by
MFA Film,
most important function of a
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
creating a band. Maybe that is the film: to register, to fix, to save something from oblivion, and that is my obsession.
Esta Es la Historia de Mi Banda (This Is The Story of My Band) 2015 Video 26 minutes
Prima (Prism) 2015 Video 52 minutes
29
Moderate Genius 2014 Archival inkjet print 24 x 66 inches Necessity of Ruins 2014 Archival inkjet print 24 x 66 inches Even If I Don’t Understand It 2014 Archival inkjet print 24 x 66 inches
MICHAEL J. CALLAGHAN Born
My work considers the
Montreal, Canada
intimate cycles of identity, selfpreservation, and mortality.
Education
Through possessions that are
MFA Photography,
both inanimate and personal, my
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
work presents an encounter with accumulation and the inevitability of loss. Addressing the passage of time, the ruins of a vernacular past create a dissemblance between a presence and absence simultaneously visible.
30
YILUN CHEN Born
My works are mostly narrative
Beijing, China, 1990
shorts or feature films. They are good reflections of my life during
Education
the period in which they were
BA Economics,
made. As I am a serious filmmaker
Michigan State University, 2013
and cinematographer, either the
MFA Film,
should speak their representational
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
resolution or lighting of my films purposes clearly. I often present a high contrast of color and lighting in my works, because I tend to use different colors and specific spotlighting techniques to express my thoughts.
Muzzle Flash 2014 HD video 13:50 minutes
The Box 2014 HD video 15:02 minutes
31
diochen.com
DIO CHEN Born
Inspired by the philosophies of
Shenzhen, China, 1990
Taoism and nihilism, I believe a figure should not be subjected
Education
to any will that is not its own.
BA Visual Design,
Questioning the media truth, I work
Shenzhen University, 2013
in experimental film and video-
MFA Film,
narration with documentary video,
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
based installation. Combining I compose characters in relation to the camera and screen to explore the unstable hierarchies between real figures, representation, and participants. 32
Depende 2015 Film 8:51 minutes We Never Land in Neverland 2015 Installation Dimensions variable
glencheriton.com
GLEN C. CHERITON Born
I am no scientist, but I think that as
Palo Alto, California
an artist I am in the same business of understanding the world. My
Education
curiosity is focused on space, time,
BFA Photography, Sierra Nevada
and the cosmos; I am interested in
College, 2012; AA Photographic
how we experience them, perceive
Arts, De Anza College, 2010
them, and understand them on
MFA Photography,
a scientist, I neither seek nor
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
Unmelting 2 2014 HD video 3:14 minutes Trees 1 2014 Archival inkjet print 12 x 200 inches Demolition 2014 Archival inkjet print 11.3 x 200 inches
33
a personal level. However, unlike offer any answers, only thoughts, meditations, and ruminations.
Infinity, Indelible 2014 Oil on canvas 30 x 36 inches
CHRISTINE (HYUNG-JIN) CHO
Inedible Cotton Candies 2014 Oil on canvas 30 x 36 inches
Born
My paintings are mindscapes.
Seoul, South Korea, 1983
Due to their dreamlike quality, the series of invented pictures cannot
Education
be deciphered, and my thoughts
BFA Painting, Emily Carr University
remain somehow hidden, like an
of Art and Design, 2013; BA
enigmatic rebus. I contemplate
Theology, Yonsei University, 2005
our uncertain and indecipherable
MFA Painting,
the seemingly rigid structure. I
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
reality, searching for openings in invite viewers to linger in my open, garden-like maze, presenting/ suggesting things may not be what they seem to be. I am interested in modifying and shifting perceptions of our minds.
34
alicecombs86.wix.com/works
ALICE COMBS Born
I am a stubborn and slow artist.
Los Angeles, California, 1986
As stubborn as a barnacle and as slow as growing hair. It is a good
Education
pace for exploring the intricate,
BS Biology,
repetitive process of shedding and
Cornell University, 2008
accumulating. Do we shed history
MFA Painting,
strength do we as objects possess
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
like we shed hair? What kinds of simply by existing? I suggest that one’s personal history is more an ecology of competing or symbiotic parts than a simple series of events.
M 2014 Enamel on synthetic paper 23 x 26 inches Victorian Childhood Diseases 2014 Glass, wire, string, hair, foil, wood, and glue 8 x 13.5 x 10 inches
35
annmariecunningham.com
Where Do I Begin and You End 2014 Intaglio 30 x 22 inches
Eschatology 2014 Lithography and chine collĂŠ 11 x 15 inches
Contacts 2014 Intaglio and monotype 30 x 22 inches
ANN-MARIE CUNNINGHAM Born
Printmaking is the aphorism
Cleveland, Ohio
from which I document acquired knowledge and contemplate my
Education
relationship with the process. My
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate,
works illustrate points of departure
San Francisco Art Institute, 2013;
through science and technology:
BFA, Akron University, 1979
the need to find patterns of
MFA Printmaking,
ideas through sets of objects or
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
connection in events, to express landscapes, and to communicate experiences representing fundamental changes in interpretation. I make this essential movement subtle, to open space in which others with experiences apart from my own can engage and find discourse.
36
bgdphotography.com
The Pathway 2014 Archival inkjet print 20 x 24 inches Released 2014 Archival inkjet print 20 x 24 inches Highway Hedge 2014 Archival inkjet print 20 x 24 inches
BRIAN GLENN DEAN Born
When I make a photograph, I look
Newton, New Jersey, 1985
for juxtapositions of objects and form that reveal something. There’s
Education
often beauty that goes unseen in
BFA Photography,
everyday life, but when we slow
Bard College, 2007
down and allow ourselves to look
MFA Photography,
large-format film and walking have
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
around, it reveals itself. My use of a pace that lends itself to looking and truly seeing what surrounds me, just as photographs have a way of revealing something that may otherwise go unseen. 37
alfredodomador.com
ALFREDO DOMADOR Born
My work engages with
San Crist贸bal, Venezuela, 1990
digital technologies and their omnipresence in our day-to-day
Hitchcock 2014 Video 3-minute loop i.N::te../庐nA(L) 2014 Mixed media Dimensions variable
Education
lives. How do we, as consumers
BFA Film Production, University of
of culture, function in the world of
Central Florida, 2013
the computer, and how does the
MFA Film,
experience the world? Through
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
computer itself engineer how we various interface interventions and revelatory creative strategies, I seek to expose hidden processes, poetic moments, and the oftentimes oblique relationships that exist between users and their machines.
38
restrainedproductions.com
Dead Letter 2014 16-millimeter film 4:30 minutes Good Evening, Officer Bracelitz 2015 Film/video hybrid 30 minutes
JOSEPH DWYER Born
Whether abstract celluloid or
Newport, Rhode Island, 1982
narrative video, all of my movies are ultimately about cinema itself.
Education BA Film Theory and Production, Hampshire College, 2004 Dual Degree MA/MFA, History and Theory of Contemporary Art/Film, San Francisco Art Institute, 2016
39
jeaston.com
JOANNE EASTON Born
wrapped covered marked is a
Oakland, California, 1980
series of displaced and fallen branches wrapped in orange
Education
marking tape. Orange is a
MAAE, School of the Art Institute
politically and ecologically charged
of Chicago, 2011; BFA Graphic
color, fraught with dual references
Design, Miami University, 2003
of caution and protection. Used to
MFA Painting,
something or someone, orange is
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
identify and heighten awareness of the color of a poisonous frog, or a bird seeking a mate. In hunting it is anti-camouflage. In prison camps it’s used as a uniform to identify, caution, and set apart.
wrapped covered marked (armature) 2014 Marking tape, branch, pine, and hardware Dimensions variable wrapped covered marked (reminder) 2014 Marking tape, branch, and hardware Dimensions variable
40
cargocollective.com/roxyshmoxy
ROXY ERICKSON Born
My current work is an exploration
Pryor, Oklahoma, 1991
of identity and coming of age, specifically from the perspective of
Education
a teen girl. The work is navigating
BFA Painting, The Savannah
the innocent struggle and beautiful
College of Art and Design, 2012
darkness that come from growing
MFA Painting,
girls, encircled with glittery flowers
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
up. My bright-colored paintings of and framed by metallic foil fringe, are a memorial to this idea.
41
Detail of Lydia 2014/2015 Watercolor, gauche, acrylic, fake flowers, and glitter on paper 48 x 96 inches
Detail of Elizabeth 2014/2015 Acrylic, oil, fake flowers, and glitter on canvas 48 x 96 inches
barifleischerart.com
BARI FLEISCHER Born
The gruesome and grotesque
Chicago, Illinois, 1984
workings of the inner body and how humans deal with pain,
Education
sickness, and discomfort intrigue
BA Fine Art, Northeastern Illinois
me. Through research and
University, 2008
personal exploration of the body,
MFA Painting,
of the digestive tract. Using
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
I recreate the internal landscape watercolor, acrylic, and collage, I create large-scale paintings; then, through drapery and folding, reconstruct the digestive tract, thus creating a sculpture that expands from two dimensions into three and releases an internal struggle to the outside.
30’ 2013 Watercolor, acrylic, and paper on YUPO 60 x 360 inches
42
michaelgarfoot.com
MICHAEL WAYNE GARFOOT Born
By confronting the complexities
Monticello, Wisconsin, 1983
that surround communicating in a technology-driven culture, with
Education
using the figure as the subject,
Dual Degree BFA, Painting and
this work investigates life in
Graphic Design, University of
modern society and deals with
Wisconsin Oshkosh, 2007
the evolution of privacy, intimacy,
MFA Painting,
private and social interaction in
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
Portrait of a Figure II 2014 Oil 47 x 84 inches
43
and deception associated with contemporary America.
Portrait of a Figure III 2014 Oil 84 x 47 inches
annagarski.com
ANNA GARSKI Born
I am an unapologetic queer
Fridley, Minnesota
feminist whose paintings and performances aim to be in direct
Education
dialogue with the portrayal of
BA Studio Art/Women’s Studies,
the gendered body throughout
St. Catherine University, 2012
art history and popular culture.
Dual Degree MA/MFA,
critical discourse, I do not restrict
History and Theory of Contemporary Art/Painting, San Francisco Art Institute, 2016
Although I am often inspired by myself to narrow articulations of established theoretical modalities. Instead, the objective of my work is to expose, humiliate, and transcend my singular self as I create visualizations of my fears and desires.
Both Ends Burning 2014 Watercolor on paper 55 x 72 inches Spit, Swallow, Choke 2014 Performance Approximately 45 minutes
44
mathyougoldberg.com
Dog 2014 Ceramic 28 x 22 x 22 inches Head 2014 Ceramic 36 x 20 x 18 inches Plant 2014 Ceramic 26 x 22 x 12 inches
MATTHEW GOLDBERG Born Charleston, West Virginia, 1990 Education BA Studio Art/Art History and BS Advertising, University of Colorado, 2012 MFA Sculpture, San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
45
ada-guo.squarespace.com
BUER GUO Born
I like to find the natural beauty
Zhenzhou, China
of various materials and their textures, such as waves of water
Education
or folds of paper. I translate texture
BA Painting, South China
to inform my process. If I focus on
University of Technology
my uncertainty during the process
MFA Painting,
elements will be added to my
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
of creating art, more interesting work as a whole. An emphasis on process can help broaden our borders and bounds. The result I finally get is both accidental and inevitable.
Untitled 2014 Charcoal pencil on paper Dimensions variable
Monster 2014 Charcoal pencil on paper 44 x 30 inches
46
katieharwood.com
Yellow Chair 2014 Archival inkjet print 24 x 30 inches White Dresser 2014 Archival inkjet print 24 x 30 inches
KATIE HARWOOD Born
My work revolves around the
Winnetka, Illinois
duality of collecting and discarding. Having grown up in a home
Education
where little was discarded, I am
BA Film/Video, Columbia College
interested in the choices made that
Chicago, 2005
determine value.
MFA Photography,
My entire practice depends upon
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
elements of the dÊrive—the art of wandering on foot and discovering the unexpected. The desires to both collect and discard constantly compete and coexist within me to inspire my practice.
47
alejoandez.com
Before the Presence of Greatness and Perseverance 2014 Photogravure chine collĂŠ 14 x 14 inches
Untitled #1 2014 Digital inkjet print 20 x 20 inches
Incongruous with Desire 2014 Digital inkjet print 20 x 20 inches
ALEJANDRO HERNANDEZ Born
My work explores the progress
Los Angeles, California, 1987
of the blue-collar worker in an ever-so-changing society and
Education
gives homage to the working
BA Journalism, California State
class. Those deeply rooted in their
University, Long Beach, 2012
place of origin and their kinship to
MFA Photography,
frequently challenged. I focus on
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
the culture in which they live are how place is ephemerally designed and modified, giving the space a new purpose. The diligence of the working class prevails no matter the threat.
48
scottbrianhewson.com
Sumere 2014 Hard ground etching on paper 24 x 18 inches Amor Fati 2014 Hard ground etching on paper 36 x 24 inches
SCOTT BRIAN HEWSON Born
I create work that deals with the
Seattle, Washington, 1975
sublime, while attempting to affect the viewer, through the presentness
Education
of the many overwhelming and
BA Studio Art, Western
invading versions of nature, into
Washington University, 2006
a state of being that is consumed
MFA Painting,
painting and hard-ground etching,
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
by the sublime. Using both I animate this state of being consumed through technique to attain invading immediacy, in turn reflecting upon the nature of the sublime.
49
YUCHEN HU Born
As an industrial designer and artist,
Shanghai, China, 1991
I’m interested in materials and functional artwork; thus, I chose
Education
LED lights and found materials as
BS Industrial Design,
my medium. In general, the way
Tongji University, 2013
I create artwork is a discussion
MFA Design and Technology,
becomes a metaphor or a symbol
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
of the meaning of an object—it instead of a functional item after being touched by an artist’s finger. In my works, light can give the materials a new life.
Seize the Moment 2014 LED light, glass, and nail gloss 24 x 15 x 3 inches
A Dream 2014 Tissue paper and LED light 50 x 50 x 50 inches
Unlimited Limitation 2014 LED light, plastic, and found materials Dimensions variable
50
WENBIN HUANG Born
My work explores the possibility of
Zhejiang, China, 1990
no dialogue in film. No dialogue, no voiceover, the story told only by the
Education
actor’s movement, the editing, and
BA Digital Media Art,
the images that are present on the
Fuzhou University
screen. I try to chase what I think
MFA Film,
is what makes film distinctive from
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
is the essence of the film, and that literature and other art forms.
A Love Story in SF 2013 HD video 7:30 minutes
51
insignaresart.com
Seeds of Hypersexuality 2014 Mixed media Dimensions variable Seeds of Hypersexuality (Detail) 2014 Mixed media Dimensions variable
SANTIAGO INSIGNARES Born
My work explores different ways
Troy, New York, 1986
of revisiting and commenting on social and personal trauma, taking
Education
particular interest in the way that
BA Illustration and Animation,
memory reconstructs traumatic
Istituto Europeo di Design, 2007
events to make them key points
MFA Sculpture,
work reveals trauma as one of the
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
in the narrative of our lives. The main factors to shape human character, raising questions about the importance of traumatic events in the definition of a community’s identity.
52
SCOTT D. ISENBARGER
isenart.tumblr.com
Born
These paintings depict the
Plymouth, Indiana, 1981
confrontation, discovery, and recognition of various archetypal
Education
characters nesting in the
BFA Painting, Indiana University
dark regions of the psyche.
Bloomington, 2012; BA English, Indiana University
Exploring and understanding the misinterpretation of these roles,
Bloomington, 2006
how they form identity, as well
MFA Painting,
main motivations behind the work.
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
as the desires they manifest, are Figures and objects are distorted to exaggerate the humor of the spectacle and to reinforce the figure’s role in a narrative structure.
Onioneater 2014 Oil and acrylic on canvas 70 x 70 x 2 inches
The First Time I Lost My Virginity 2014 Oil and acrylic on canvas 48 x 48 x 2 inches
Phallus in Wonderland 2014 Oil on canvas 36 x 24 x 2 inches
53
nolanjankowski.com
NOLAN SHEEHAN JANKOWSKI Born
Through performance and
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1989
installation, my work forces an exploration of the notions of land
Education
use and ownership. Drawing
BA Philosophy/History, University
inspiration from a childhood in the
of Wisconsin–Madison, 2013
Midwestern rustbelt, I examine
MFA New Genres,
urbanization to call into question
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
traditions of environmentalism and our use of urban and rural land. I use humor to create immersive environments that muddy the complex social, political, and practical conversations concerning the land.
More Than One Way 2014 Performance still Dimensions variable The View 2014 Collage 30 x 40 inches
54
jingshiwen.com
Untitled 2014 Fabric, glass, and mixed media 35 x 98 x 40 inches
SHIWEN JING Born
My artwork mainly discusses
Yuyao, China, 1990
female themes, exploring women’s behaviors, personalities, positions,
Education
changes, and relationships with
BA Art Education,
politics, history, national cultures,
China Academy of Art, 2013
and gender. Being interested in
MFA Printmaking,
like Marcel Duchamp and Judy
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
feminism and influenced by artists Chicago, I explore similar forms, concepts, and mediums. I have been trying different mediums— video, photography, installation, painting, sculpture, ceramics, and printmaking—to search for more possibilities.
55
Desserts 2014 Plates, heels, fabric, paint, and table 40 x 53 x 53 inches
artgracekim.com
Multiplicity 2014 Archival inkjet print on metallic paper 21 x 100 inches Breathing Wall 2015 Video stills, colored tape, colored lights, and mylar 180 x 288 inches
GRACE KIM Born
My work reinterprets presentations
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1988
of photography and installation art through an emphasis on
Education
physicality and the use of artificial
BA Art History,
light. Through repetition of
Smith College, 2011
different structures and forms, my
MFA Photography,
equivocal sensory experience
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
56
work generates paths toward an that questions different types of visual information.
aaronkissman.com visualaids.org/artists/detail/aaron-kissman
Goodluck . . . Miss You, Too 2014 Xenon searchlight installation and performance 7-hour site-specific performance Goodluck . . . Miss You, Too 2014 Xenon searchlight installation and performance 7-hour site-specific performance Live Fast Die Fucking Gorgeous 2014 Rasterized memories, red tinsel foil, and maple plywood on concrete 96 x 684 inches
AARON DAVID KISSMAN Born
I often work through various
Phoenix, Arizona, 1988
mediums that include sitespecific installation, public works,
Education
photography, and video. Through
BFA Photography, The Savannah
these methods, I explore themes
College of Art and Design, 2011
of queer intimacy, isolation, and
MFA Photography,
stems from an HIV/AIDS diagnosis.
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
the act of being “marked”—which The result often tends to straddle art and activism, with intentions of coping through a public message of awareness coupled with a hint of facetiousness. Silence still equals death.
57
hadar-kleiman.com
HADAR P. KLEIMAN Born
My works address issues of
Jerusalem, Israel, 1986
modern life. With wealth and endless stimulation also comes a
Gambling Table (Detail) 2014 Wood, acrylic, resin, martini glass, glitter, and found object Dimensions variable
Education
feeling of emptiness. Intellectual
BFA, Bezalel Academy of Arts
decadence is associated in
and Design, 2013
my mind with “bad taste”—
MFA Sculpture,
colors, and style collisions. Is
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
extravagant objects, screaming it a way of disguising an evergrowing vacuum, or a generation’s nihilistic statement? I both criticize and celebrate these bizarre environments and tacky objects.
Feet Fan 2013 Paper, wood, and hinge 34 x 31 x 1 inches About That Dream 2014 Resin, ink, and acrylic on found object 14 x 9 x 5 inches
58
timothykopra.com
Illinois St. 2014 Found wood, one rubber tire, speakers, and sound 168 x 70 x 72 inches Sound on a 3-minute loop
Hive (Detail) 2013 Steel, speakers, and sound 60 x 20 x 18 inches Sound on a 5-minute loop
Metal Nest 2014 Steel 15 x 30 x 30 inches
TIM KOPRA Born
My work illustrates an altered
Portland, Oregon, 1989
perspective of the social and physical infrastructure in daily
Education
life. The language of architecture
BA Studio Art, University of
and the history held in urban
California, Santa Cruz, 2011
debris collide in my aesthetic.
MFA Sculpture,
often fabricate work beyond
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
I use sonic elements and human scale, seeking to entangle viewers within banal, ubiquitous material in an imaginative way, challenging accepted notions of everyday experience.
59
pattiannkoury.com
Distance 2014 HD video 4:25 minutes Stranded 2014 HD video 8:50 minutes
PATTIANN KOURY Born
Through the lens, moving image,
Sanford, North Carolina
sound, and montage, I search the terrain of the familiar and
Education
the everyday for moments of
BFA Photography,
transformation. I am interested in
California Institute of the Arts
how the perception of time impacts
MFA Film,
world leaves traces of our histories,
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
60
us, how our movement through the and how memory becomes the emotional residue of those actions.
owenlaurion.com
OWEN MARC LAURION Born
Start with the pronoun I.
New Hampshire, 1988 Education BA Philosophy/Anthropology, University of Rochester, 2011 MFA Sculpture, San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
Aprons and Landscapes 2014 Stoneware, red iron oxide, and steel wool, fired in reduction 38 x 26 x 5 inches each
61
jyoungl.com
JOSHUA LEE Born
Respite is a series of ink paintings
San Antonio, Texas, 1989
that attend to the subtle fickleness of life and the ephemerality of its
Education
passing through time. I contrast
BA Fine Art, University of
mundane, everyday moments with
California, Los Angeles, 2011
my grandmother’s fight with lung
MFA Painting,
the pace of life.
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
cancer, a parting that interrupted
Ultimately, Respite serves as a remembrance, a sequence of fragments that resist the natural and automatic process of forgetting.
Respite 2014 Sumi ink on paper 28 x 19.5 inches Respite (Detail) 2014 Sumi ink on paper
62
YI-CHUN LIN Born
My work shows that people
Taipei, Taiwan
are controlled by a huge and unknowable mechanism. We
Education
never know the exact details of
BS Agriculture,
the mechanism, but people still
National Taiwan University
attempt to understand what the
MFA Film,
what violence is, and how violence
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
mechanism is. I’m also interested in happens in our daily lives. My work is not only trying to understand the outside world, but also myself. Sometimes my work understands myself more than I do.
The Use of Force 2014 Video 6:40 minutes Girls Mix 2014 Video 3:53 minutes
63
MANQI LIU Born
My works are mostly narrative
Zhengzhou, China, 1990
short films, exploring the true experiences and feelings we suffer
Education
from in daily life. I believe a film
BA Digital Media, Zhejiang
director, playing a big role in the
University of Media and
production team, should take the
Communications, 2013
responsibility of passing a positive
MFA Film,
always goes the opposite way
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
attitude on to the audience. “Life from what we wish for.� In this way, I regard filmmaking as a great chance to give everyone a second chance to live a different life.
64
Seven Days 01 2015 HD video 40:23 minutes Seven Days 02 2015 HD video 40:23 minutes
patxliu.com
PATRICK X. LIU Born
I have been working with a hybrid
Beijing, China, 1985
practice of sculpture and film to investigate departed sentiments,
Education
lost mysteries, and different modes
MFA Film,
of existence. I experimented with
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
extending the formalistic mode of viewing of theatrical space to projected images on sculpture, evoking the same intensity of looking. I’m seeking the point of convergence of sculptural forms and moving images—to convey the form to the image, or to manifest the image to the form, or both.
Guest Lunch 2012 Film 4:03 minutes Theater of Twelve Moons 2014 Plaster, plywood base, and video projection Dimensions variable
65
xinruliu.com
XINRU LIU Born
My documentary film is about a
Tsingtao, China, 1988
Chinese immigrant family who have run the Taipei Restaurant in San
Education
Francisco for over 10 years. Their
BA Art Design, Beijing University
past and present lives inspired me
of Technology, 2011 MFA Design and Technology, San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
to record and interview them to learn about Chinese immigrants. My photography work explores my personal spiritual world. There were empty spaces and wild animals in my dreams, and I try to represent my dream world with the beautiful scenes of Yosemite.
Dreams in Yosemite 3 2014 Photography 27 x 18 inches
Taipei Restaurant 2013 Video 10:59 minutes
66
YIWEN MA Ambiguity Vision 2014 Digital inkjet print Dimensions variable Go with the Sand 2014 Video 25:30 minutes Untitled 2014 Video installation 1-minute loop
Born
As an artist and filmmaker, I’m
Beijing, China, 1992
experimenting with both photos and videos. I observe things
Education
carefully and am always exploring
BA Screenwriting,
the human relationship to the
Beijing Film Academy, 2013
landscape, especially the raw
MFA Film,
deserts, and sand dunes are
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
and desolate places. Ruins, my spirit resources. Through my investigation of the lines and curves created by nature combined with the traces left by humans, I try to look at them through a sculptural lens and find a poetic perspective.
67
diranmalatjalian.com
DIRAN J. MALATJALIAN Born
As a descendant of Armenian
Amman, Jordan, 1986
Genocide survivors, I have been living with this legacy, and my
Education
work is an attempt to call for
BA Visual Arts,
the recognition of the Armenian
The University of Jordan, 2009
Genocide. My work takes its
MFA Design and Technology,
of a people and what it’s like to be
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
audience through the destruction stripped of identity. In my work, I explore the concepts of self, a people, and genocide—concepts inseparable from my existence.
Echoes 2015 Mixed media (sound and sculpture) Dimensions variable
68
takakomatoba.com
Multiplicity 2013 Archival pigment print on kozo paper, beeswax, and monofilament line 40 x 115 x 1 inches Inaka (Countryside) 2014 Pigment transfer on kozo paper, birch tree, jute twine, transparency film, and magnets 70 x 80 x 25 inches
TAKAKO MATOBA Born
With my photographs, I record
Tokyo, Japan, 1963
fleeting moments of beauty. They act as metaphors for the
Education
transience of our lives—encounters
PhD Computer Science with Minor
with new people, moving away
in Social Psychology, Cornell University, 1998; MS Computer Science, Stanford University, 1988; BS Engineering and Applied Sciences, California Institute of
from a familiar place, the death of someone dear . . . My aesthetic is rooted in the traditional Japanese concept of wabisabi, which values simplicity and embraces
Technology, 1986
imperfection. My visual work is
MFA Photography,
complex emotions associated with
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
my attempt to communicate the such moments of transience.
69
CHRYSTAL McCONNELL Born
My work is experiential; interaction
Royal Oak, Michigan, 1980
plays heavily into its concept, construction, and completion.
Education
I am consumed with the notion
BFA Photography, University
of how we invent truth and the
of Arizona, 2005; Coursework in Biology and Anthropology, University of Oregon, 2000–2001; AA Studio Art, Western Oregon
interlude between fact and fiction. I not only reference the void between the two, but also do so through hazy memories and
University, 2000
forgotten recollections. My practice
MFA Photography,
objects found, and seeks to push
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
implicates impermanence with the boundary beyond the eye of the camera—forever insistent on being sought out, recognized, and decoded.
Untitled, from Baker Beach Series 2013 Archival inkjet print from a 35-millimeter negative 13 x 9 inches
Untitled, from Marin Headlands Series 2014 Archival inkjet print from a 35-millimeter negative 9 x 13 inches
70
vimeo.com/annamcdermott
ANNA McDERMOTT Born
I engage in conversations around
Des Moines, Iowa, 1989
the psychosis of cinema, the relationship between the viewer
Education
and filmmaker, and placing
BA Cinema of Comparative
celluloid in a framework concerned
Literature, University of Iowa, 2011
with the digital.
MFA Film,
I assert that the screen is ultimately
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
a projection of what we want and who we want to be. To be a filmmaker is to create and to realize what one can dream, constantly renegotiating conventions of picture by never starting at a clear beginning or arriving at a destination.
White Matter 2014 16-millimeter film, black-and-white high-contrast reversal Kodak 5 minutes
Untitled 2013 16-millimeter film 2:40 minutes
71
danielmelo.com
DANIEL MELO Born
My work is the result of asking
Louisville, Kentucky
myself, “How do we often understand the function and
Education
purpose of everyday objects,
BA English,
materials, and gestures?�
Kenyon College, 2001 MFA New Genres, Afternoon in the Studio, 1 2013 Archival inkjet print 36 x 24 inches
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
Answering this allows me to follow a series of associations that I then sabotage. I adopt this sabotaged network, embracing its potential to inform my worldview. This restructuring ultimately takes the
Afternoon in the Studio, 2 2013 Archival inkjet print 36 x 24 inches
form of the images and sculptural works the viewer experiences. Their resultant unsteady compositions reflect my desire to further understand social spaces through the interrogative act.
72
vjmiller84.wix.com/vanessam
Place 2014 Performance still 47 x 71 inches Glowing 2014 Performance still 11 x 16 inches Caught 2015 Performance still 71 x 47 inches
VANESSA J. MILLER Born
My current work engages
Louisiana, 1984
documentary as a convergence of subjective encounters.
Education
Acknowledging the disconnect
BFA, University of Louisiana at
between active documentation and
Lafayette, 2011; BA, University of
post-interpretational montage, a
New Orleans, 2004
focus on the gestural performatives
Dual Degree MA/MFA,
objectives that emerge from the
History and Theory of Contemporary Art/Studio Art, San Francisco Art Institute, 2016
is recalled to account for the index of photographic media. To counter assumptions that tend toward categorizing template narratives, images and sounds are extracted from the liner into non-sequential recalls to aggregate the projections of both viewers and participants.
73
vault13photography.com
AMANDA MOCZULSKA Born
My work engages with the
San Antonio, Texas, 1990
surrealism that ventures through what is already in existence and
Education
attainable to those who wish to
BA Studio Art,
reach it. I strive to show the two
Hollins University, 2012
sides of nature: it both brings
MFA Photography,
Analog techniques allow me to
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
peace and make us uncomfortable. relate to the age of the landscape, and I use these processes as a form of private meditation.
Untitled 2014 Silver gelatin print 40 x 50 inches
Untitled 2013 Photogravure with chine collĂŠ 30 x 22 inches
74
caitmolloy.com
Untitled, from Tempered Environment Series 2014 Archival pigment print 34 x 23 inches Untitled, from Tempered Environment Series 2014 Archival pigment print 20 x 13.3 inches Untitled, from Tempered Environment Series 2014 Archival pigment print 17 x 26 inches
CAIT MOLLOY Born
I concentrate my lens on the
White Plains, New York
landscape, highlighting tension within an environment. Through
Education
patterns in form, color, and point of
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate,
view, the work calls into question
Photography, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, 2013;
the constructed while underscoring the ominous.
BA Sociology/Studio Art, University of Vermont, 2008 MFA Photography, San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
75
ozlemayseozgur.com
ÖZLEM AYSE ÖZGÜR Born
When Children Die They Don’t
Istanbul, Turkey
Grow is a funeral ritual for the 538 children who died in Gaza in
Education
the summer of 2014. It is also a
MA Political Philosophy, Stanford
call to action to donate to rebuild
University, 2013; BA Philosophy, BFA Painting/Printmaking, University of Arizona, 2010; Art Center College of Design,
not die if we can start rebuilding together, disregarding any intent to discriminate. In the case of
2002–2005
Gaza, resistance is rebuilding with
MFA Film,
the first step of this act.
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
Death of Hope 2014 Drawing graphite and colored pencil on paper 24 x 18 inches
the bombed schools. Hope will
When Children Die They Don’t Grow 2015 538 ceramic shoes 240 x 240 inches
76
compassion. I believe art can be
Respect 2014 Alabaster stone 9 x 9 x 4 inches Infinity 2014 Alabaster stone 7 x 7 x 7 inches One 2014 Soapstone 12 x 5 x 5 inches
MARTEN A. PINNECOOSE Born
My work is an exploration of
Durango, Colorado
the concept of “the circle of life,� with the medium being stone
Education
material, alabaster, and soapstone.
BFA Sculpture, Western State
As with the seasons of the weather,
Colorado University, 2013; AA Welding/Machining, Oregon
life has an ending and a beginning, though constantly moving.
Institute of Technology, 1985
Plant life, animals, and mankind
MFA Sculpture,
as each species lives generation
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
all experience this cycle of life to generation. We are all from the earth, and my work is that connection.
77
flopizzarello.com
FLO PIZZARELLO Born
I like to make art about whatever I
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1986
feel like making at the time I make it. Sometimes I paint. Sometimes I
Education
draw. Sometimes I print.
BFA Visual Arts, University of North Texas, 2012 MFA Painting, San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
Squeezin Buns 2014 Acrylic on paper 9 x 7.5 inches
78
danielpostaer.com
DANIEL LEE POSTAER Born
I believe in the surreal potential
Chicago, Illinois, 1978
of the everyday. Within our urban world, candid encounters reveal
Education
a some-kind-of-truth that reads
BA International Relations/
both as fiction and reality. I blend
Political Science, University of
into the city: waiting and watching
Southern California, 2000
for that photographic instant when
MFA Photography,
for unlikely urban theater.
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
familiar backdrops frame a stage
These pictures represent our constantly evolving urban landscape and the people moving through the powerful undercurrent of these worlds.
Shanghai, Huangpu River 2014 Archival pigment print 60 x 40 inches San Francisco, Geary St. (No. 2) 2014 Archival pigment print 60 x 40 inches
79
carolinrechberg.com
Living Process 2014 Installation and mixed media Dimensions variable
Song of Myself 2014 Installation, performance, and mixed media Dimensions variable
CAROLIN RECHBERG Born
I create a fusion of senses and
Starnberg, Germany, 1988
thought to arrest moments, to reflect upon the complexity of
Education
existence. In using the artistic
Individualized BFA, California
process and interdisciplinary
College of the Arts, 2012
sensibility, I incorporate both
MFA Painting,
express the material and numinous
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
80
space, time, and objects to world as experienced through consciousness.
cargocollective.com/shannonmiya
Dinner and Dancing 2014 Silk and thread Dimensions variable Chasm 2014 Oil on canvas 46 x 46 inches
SHANNON MIYA RUSSELL Born
My work is raw and emotional
Fort Worth, Texas, 1980
and illustrates my interest in multiplicity and stratification. I’m
Education
driven by the tactile experience
BA Studio Art,
of deconstructing materials and
Pitzer College, 2002
mending them with a delicate
MFA Painting,
are evident, and the strings
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
touch. Control is lost, the seams hang and get caught in between sections. These interstices suggest a divide and a unification of interior and exterior spaces; the relationship between these spaces becomes the heart of each piece.
81
foolsgrin.wix.com/electricimpstudio
JAY SCANTLING Born
Drawing on a variety of influences,
Modesto, California, 1981
from collage and animation to superhero comics, my videos
Education
show you a dream world that
MA Art, Fresno State University,
is dark, yet silly and whimsical.
2011; BA Art, University of
A child’s toy castle becomes a
California, Santa Cruz, 2006
psychological labyrinth of rooms
MFA Painting,
the mind, overseen on surveillance
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
symbolic of the inner defenses of monitors by one of the characters, a playfully maniacal Grand Director with a quirky sense of humor, who narrates and controls the actions of the dreamworld’s inhabitants.
The Mind Fortress 2015 Video 8:09 minutes
This Island Life 2015 Video 8:14 minutes
This Is War 2015 Video 6:22 minutes
82
yuesart.com
YUE SHI Born
As an artist I attempt to deliver
Tianjin, China, 1989
entertainment from art. The primary function of my sculpture
Education
is to engage an audience through
BA Studio Art, Michigan State
sound/noise. I make my sculptures
University, 2013
with the idea that they are
MFA Sculpture,
be pieces of art.
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
Scarab 2014 Mixed media 48 x 40 x 13 inches
Anubis 2014 Mixed media 28 x 18 x 15 inches
83
functional speakers that can also
austinsiegert.com
The Shmoo 2015 Oil on canvas 36 x 48 inches The Witch Hat 2015 Oil on canvas 60 x 48 inches The Brown Box 2015 Oil on canvas 60 x 48 inches
AUSTIN SIEGERT Born Norwalk, Connecticut, 1988 Education BS Studio Art, Skidmore College, 2011
Looking through a book you’ve already read, you reach a dog-ear or an underlined sentence. Either you don’t get why the fuck you thought it was important, or you look back and understand exactly what you were thinking.
MFA Painting, San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
84
denisesilver.com
DENNY (DENISE) SILVER Born
I work as a performance artist
Caracas, Venezuela
and filmmaker. I am interested in bringing attention to the endless
Education
conflict between human beings
MBA Finance, Columbia University;
and their environment. My art
BA Painting, California College of the Arts, 2012
impact of individual/collective
MFA New Genres,
I use humor and imagination as
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
Bear Against the Wall, SF 2011 Performance still 15 x 10 inches
explores the destructive, alienating
Milkweed Pod in Space, Monterey 2014 Laser print 15 x 15 inches
85
activity against the natural world. guideposts.
besdzn.com
BENJAMIN ELLIS SMITH Born
My work is primarily about fear.
New Kensington,
Fear of failure, of rejection, of loss,
Pennsylvania, 1986
and of people and what they can— or might—do. Fear of the world
Education
and all of its cruel indifference and
BFA Graphic Design, Central
capricious whims. I work primarily
Michigan University, 2012
in jokes and video games, because
MFA Design and Technology,
me. I also work with butts, but
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
otherwise my practice would kill that’s because butts are just silly, and I can’t be so serious all the time.
Personal Problems 2014 Performance 7:58 minutes
National Competitive Fucking League Championship Bout 2014 Video 5 minutes
86
ysongblog.com
To Be with the Stars 2015 Video animation 1-minute loop Light in the Darkness 2013 Video animation 1:12 minutes
YANG SONG Born
I usually make visual effects that
Harbin, China, 1986
people cannot actually see in real life. Making digital videos is my
Education
primary method of producing art,
BE Digital Media Art,
especially media works with visual
Zhejiang University of Media and
effects that depict an abstract
Communications, 2009
virtual world, like dreams. Usually,
MFA Design and Technology,
or abstract elements by using
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
I make a variety of geometrics video technology in a series of movements and transformations to bring them alive, creating feelings of strong emotions and fantasies.
87
samspano.com
SAM SPANO Born
My practice includes painting,
Swampscott, Massachusetts, 1987
writing, music, video, and installation. Through these
Education
mediums, I explore themes of
BFA Painting, The New England
desire, anxiety, consumption, and
School of Art & Design at Suffolk University, 2009 MFA Painting, San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
indulgence. My work is in constant dialogue with art history, particularly Modernism, German Expressionism, post–World War II American abstraction, and the Bay Area Figurative Movement. Some other influences on my practice include the work of Carl Jung,
Kush Den 2014 Mixed media Dimensions variable
Federico Fellini, stand-up comedy,
Things to Do 2014 Oil on canvas 60 x 68 inches
gym culture, grocery stores, and my Italian and Jewish cultural heritage.
88
christophersquier.com
CHRISTOPHER SQUIER Born
An inventory of recent sculptures
Lawrence, Kansas, 1991
and projects: acetate stainedglass windows; annotated
Education
etymology maps; bilingual
BA Studio Art/Russian,
portmanteaux; eBay archives; flags
Grinnell College, 2013
of convenience, floating; illegible
MFA Sculpture,
uments, including memorial party
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
tongue twisters, gold-leafed; nonhorns, a collection of the spaces between words clipped from a New York Times article on ISIS, and a series of vehicular break-in sculptures; pre-sent postcards; and stuffed-animal egos.
Puns Are No Longer Allowed: A Collection of Names of Satirical Journals under Repressive Regimes 2014 Objects collected through eBay, including porcupine quills, a stag beetle, and nettle powder Dimensions variable Homosides for the Tongue: Tongue Twisters on the Theme of Stephen Simpson’s Death 2014 Gold leaf over traditional terra-cotta bowl on hand-cut paper, hung from gold jewelry chain 8 x 10 inches Number I from Four Acts of Aggression: Moment of Collapse 2014 Shattered, tempered automobile glass and gold leaf 10 x 10 x 30 inches
89
hannahstahulak.com
HANNAH MARIE STAHULAK Born
We are told that beauty goes
St. Charles, Illinois, 1990
beyond skin deep. The splayed anatomical figures in my drawings
Education
work to expose layers of beauty. A
BS Art Education,
certain gaze when viewing objects
Northern Illinois University, 2013
can become violative, and I work to
MFA Printmaking,
the viewer and the viewed. Why do
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
question the relationship between people treat aesthetically pleasing objects in obsessive, gluttonous, and lurid manners? It feels like contemporary society situates people to be consumed and readily exposed, and calls it beauty.
Chakras 2014 Pen on paper 12 x 9 inches
Neoskeleton 2014 Pen on paper 10 x 10 inches
90
ileanatejada.com
ILEANA TEJADA Born
My work explores different
Bellflower, California, 1987
personas: I present the viewer with a hybrid body rather than one of
Education
male vs. female. In today’s society,
BFA Painting/BS Kinesiology,
it is still very difficult for many
California State Polytechnic
women like me, those of us who
University, Pomona
oppose gender conformity, to exist.
MFA Painting,
constructed misconceptions
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
My work addresses the socially between masculinity/femininity and sexuality. As a woman of color, I present a powerful image of my identity.
Princesa 2015 Charcoal on paper 17 x 13 inches
Beauty and the Beast 2014 Oil on reclaimed wood 96 x 96 x 3 inches
91
davidtim.com
DAVID TIM Born
The relationship between my
Montreal, Canada, 1989
personal reflections to the larger ideals of reality drives me to try and
Education
ignite change through my art. My
BFA, Iowa State University, 2012
work highlights these ideas through
MFA Printmaking,
and time in order to push a new
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
The Neighborhood 2014 Relief print 96 x 120 inches
92
the infusion of beats, movement, conversation forward about how we see reality and its norms.
katherinevetne.com
KATHERINE VETNE Born
My work explores contemporary
Manchester, New Hampshire
female identity in comparison to mainstream gender expectations,
Education
oscillating between optical
BFA Painting,
seduction and cultural criticism.
Boston University, 2009
I use the subject of luxury crystal
MFA Painting,
exploring the interdependent
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
kitchenware as a means of relationship between mainstream glorifications of heteronormativity and consumerism. I employ hyper-realistic drawing techniques alongside nonsensical distortion. The result is a mash-up of aesthetics in opposition: the opulence of cut-glass laced with the liquescence of an acid trip.
93
The Comforting Weight and Clarity of Waterford’s Fine Crystal 2014 Goldpoint on chalk gesso panel 8 x 10 inches
jevijoevitug.com
To Be Titled (Las Vegas and Lake Mead); The Inhabitant’s View 2014 Acrylic polymer on canvas, soil, salt, and fertility dolls Dimensions variable Life Cycle 2014 492 worn shoes, shoelaces, metal frame support, and UV and LED light Dimensions variable To Be Titled (Spratly Islands, Brunei, China, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam) 2014 Acrylic polymer on canvas and metal table legs Dimensions variable
JEVIJOE BATAC VITUG Born
My work ranges from painting
Pampanga, Philippines, 1977
and performance to communitybased projects, often addressing
Education
reinvention through the confluence
BFA Painting, St. Scholastica’s
of contradictions. In response
College, Manila, Philippines, 1998
to constant change brought by
MFA Design and Technology,
shifts, I’m interested in creating
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
environmental and technological “multi-functional” projects that focus on the confluence between the spiritual and material, the virtual and physical, the natural and artificial, the local and global.
94
bl端voelker.com
M. M. VOELKER Born
When making this work, I was
Chicago, Illinois, 1989
focusing on experimenting with my materials while perfecting different
Education
methods of painting. I prefer
BA Business Management/
to split my art between making
BFA Painting, University of Iowa
work that is quick, spontaneous,
MFA Painting,
also creating work that is time
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
and sometimes minimal, yet consuming and conceptually demanding. Recurring themes throughout my work include illness, psychological concerns, and fractional memory.
Gold Condo 2014 Oil on canvas 30 x 24 x 2 inches Condo Condo 2015 Oil and graphite on wood 18 x 14 x 2 inches
95
xiaowang.co.uk
Untitled 2014 Oil on canvas 44 x 34 inches
XIAO WANG Born
I consider the materiality of paint as
Beijing, China, 1990
both an aesthetic and intellectual form. Sourced from photographs
Education
and painted in a realistic way, my
BFA Painting/Printmaking,
paintings investigate the aesthetic,
The Glasgow School of Art, 2012
psychological, and poetic qualities
MFA Painting,
advantage of oil paint’s great
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
of painted images. By taking capability of rendering alternative realities, I use a thin glaze and fuzzy brushwork to create figures and spaces that evoke uncanny experiences.
96
wang-zhiyuan.com
ZHIYUAN WANG Born
I indulge in exploring such
Zhangjiakou, Hebei, China, 1990
logical relations as perfection vs. imperfection, complexity vs.
Education
simplicity. In my process, I set up
BFA Art Education,
and break down, add and take
China Academy of Art, 2013
away; the apparent accidental
MFA Painting,
dimensional painting, and it is an
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
Untitled #13 2014 Acrylic and tape on wood 16.5 x 16.5 inches
Pixel Landscape #8 2014 Charcoal and pencil on paper 36 x 78 inches
97
Untitled #10 2014 Acrylic on wood 18 x 18 inches
coincidence precipitates the twoenjoyable experience for me.
jaredweissart.com
JARED WEISS Born
More often than not, morning light
1986
was filtered through a thick cloud cover. I woke to the mechanical
Beartrap 2015 Oil on canvas 10 x 10 inches The Ratio of People to Cake 2015 Oil on canvas 18 x 14 inches
Education
sound of forklifts, the smell of
BFA, Columbus College of Art
diesel, mud, and sawdust. I grew
and Design, 2009
up on a lumberyard, where my
MFA Painting,
mechanized violence of taking a
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
98
childhood was surrounded by the natural material and turning it into something else.
scott-welsh.com
SCOTT WELSH Born
The dichotomy between masculine
Apex, North Carolina, 1990
and feminine, comfortable and uncomfortable, innocence and
Education
erotic is the vortex around which
BFA Painting, The Savannah
my work rotates. Constantly
College of Art and Design, 2012
referencing art history through
MFA Painting,
contemporary notions of
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
a queer lens, I comment on beauty and how men have been represented then and now. My work becomes a celebration, a heroic portrayal of self-appreciation.
Tickle My France-y 2014 Cosmetics (foundation, eyeshadow, lipstick, and blush) on paper 84 x 60 inches
99
janeanwilliams.com
Adney Gap 2014 Video 3-minute loop The Tom Cruise Incident 2014 Film 10 minutes
JANEAN WILLIAMS Born
My work reveals repressed rage
Copper Hill, Virginia
and violence at being trapped and unhappy at home, in a
Education
culture, and in my body. I interrupt
BA International Studies,
social order, focusing on the
Hollins University, 2010
damaged, insane, and delusional.
MFA Photography,
accounts of a neighbor’s gruesome
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
Preoccupations are born out of sexual practices; country songs in which young girls jumped off bridges, drunk men felt sorry for themselves, and women bore children, poverty, and shiftless lovers; grandfather’s crime fetish magazines; and good ol’ Appalachian culture.
100
JESSICA WINSOR Born
My art practice seeks to draw
Alma, Michigan, 1987
attention to the digital world that we are creating though the “need”
Education
for easily accessible luxury digital
BA Journalism and Mass
experiences. I feel that this “need”
Communications, New Mexico
Ghosts 2014 Video and sound installation 20-minute loop
is pushing us into a new digital
State University, 2010
world where, in some instances,
MFA Photography,
interaction with the physical world
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
we are starting to miss out on and the people in it. How far will we and should we push the tradeoff of accessible luxuries for
The Alternate 01 2013 Archival inkjet prints 18 x 24 inches each
physical experience?
101
rickywu.com
Inside of Me 2014 Silver gelatin print 36 x 36 inches Inside of Me 2014 Silver gelatin print 36 x 36 inches
JIALUO WU Born
The exploration of the concept
Hangzhou, China, 1988
of “me” in my artwork expands from the biological self to the
Education
psychological process in a social
BA Cinematography,
relationship, regardless of time
Zhejiang University of Media
and distance, represented with
and Communications, 2011
installation and photography.
MFA Photography,
and connect to themselves in my
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
Viewers are encouraged to see work as a universal definition of “self,” remembering a past life and imagining the future.
102
kathryngraceyoung.com
KATHRYN GRACE YOUNG Born
My work is a physical manifestation
Houston, Texas, 1989
of my subconscious and an intuitive process of piecing
Outside 2015 Mixed-media collage on paper and mylar 40 x 30 inches
Education
together different shapes and
BFA Painting,
forms. These forms derive from
University of North Texas, 2012
an unconscious recognition of the
MFA Painting,
of drawn and painted shapes, I am
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
world around me. With an inventory able to assemble a composition
Accumulate 2014 Mixed-media collage on mylar 36 x 24 inches
and explore how these different
Back and Forth, Forever 2014 Mixed media on paper 30 x 22 inches
perceivable space outside the
forms, colors, and textures interact with each other in a new and realm of my mind.
103
rzengphoto.com
RUI ZENG Born
The rapture is to be alive and the
Tianjin, China, 1988
rapture is to be thinking. Thus, I started trying to respond to nature,
Education
to the moment simultaneously,
BA Chinese Literature,
to enhance or reconstruct the
Fudan University, 2010
phenomenon I see and feel in the
MFA Photography,
understand it and appreciate it. I
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
way that I think will express how I am creating my own ritual.
Pantheism 01 2014 Archival inkjet print 24 x 30 inches Pantheism 02 2014 Archival inkjet print 24 x 30 inches Pantheism 03 2014 Archival inkjet print 24 x 30 inches
104
YUXIN ZHANG Born
My work explores the passive
Baotou, China, 1991
and dark sides of humanity. Through my expression of the
Education
relationships between people,
BFA Drama, Film, and Art,
I talk about the psychological
Tianjin Normal University, 2013
changes people undergo when
MFA Film,
Indeed, the dark side of humanity
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
they are in different circumstances. presents in different people with different cultural backgrounds and life experiences in different ways. Based on this thinking and confusion, I’m trying to figure out each person’s psychology, thoughts, and position at that moment.
RED 2015 Video 20 minutes She 2014 Video 13 minutes
105
feendmedia.pixieset.com/archie
YANCHENG ZHOU Born
I deepen my understanding of
Wuxi, China, 1990
filmmaking more from practice and experience. I seek works or
Education
ideas that produce a simple but
BFA Communication Arts, New
interesting pseudo-classical farce
York Institute of Technology, 2012
or a drama with a distinct noir style.
MFA Film, San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
Scratching the Surface 2013 HD video 2:23 minutes
Archie 2014 HD video 18:50 minutes
106
rahelehzomorodinia.com vimeo.com/minoosh
RAHELEH (MINOOSH) ZOMORODINIA Born
An underlying theme in all
Tehran, Iran
my work is to investigate the concept of self as it relates to the
Education
natural environment. My works
MA Graphic Design, Islamic
are informed by my cultural
Azad University, Tehran, 2005; BA Photography, Islamic Azad
background, including religion and politics. I utilize both photography
University, Tehran, 1998
and video as my medium to
MFA New Genres,
time spent within a specific space,
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
document intuitive moments of making visible what is real in my mind’s eye and to reflect on my emotional, psychological, and subconscious experiences inspired by nature.
A Week Living Art 2014 Installation performance Dimensions variable Grid 2014 Photographs, clear plastic, and trampoline 96 x 48 x 60 inches
107
Chasing Honey Graduates, I’ve been watching very
13. “Doesn’t an art-experiment
23. “Fingeryeyes … is the transfer
closely the wandering paths you’ve
demand at least some sort of thought-
of intensity, of expressivity in the
taken through this place. Here are a few
experiment?” –Briony Fer
simultaneity of touching and feeling.”
of the landing spots I’ll remember with the cohort.
–Eva Hayward 14. “What I claim is to live to the full the contradiction of my time, which may well
24. “ … we go out anonymous into the
1. “Everything started here.”
make sarcasm the condition of truth.”
insect air and all we are is the dust of
–Felipe Dulzaides
–Roland Barthes, quoted by
colour, brief engineering of wings toward
Mark Van Proyen
a glint of light on a blade grass or a leaf
2. “We’re all mad here.” –Lewis Carroll
in a summer dark.” –Ali Smith 15. “ … look to each work of art not for
3. “Bees do have a smell, you know, and
its faults and shortcomings, but for its
25. “I work like a bee and feel that I
if they don’t they should, for their feet
moments of exhilaration … ”
accomplish little.” –Louise Bourgeois
are dusted with spices from a million
–Matthew Goulish
flowers.” –Ray Bradbury
26. “Beekeepers care. Bees are 16. “Skies are the organ of my
so extremely important … Bees/
4. “Are you sure you put your sex on
sentiment.” –John Constable,
beekeepers, artists/curators, all want
properly this morning?” –Hélène Cixous
quoted by Jeremy Morgan
honey. If the work is good, you should get stung.” –Ulay
5. “I am traveling through narrative.”
17. “The tense of criticism is the future
–Pierre Huyghe
perfect tense: what you will have
27. “My role is to see what I can get
become.” –Jacqueline Rose,
away with on behalf of artists.”
quoted by Jennifer Rissler
–Hesse McGraw
18. “We are not yet queer. We may
28. “Never love anybody who treats you
7. “Finding one’s voice isn’t just an
never touch queerness, but we can feel
like you’re ordinary.” –Oscar Wilde
emptying and purifying oneself of the
it as the warm illumination of a horizon
words of others but an adopting and
imbued with potentiality.”
29. “It is not what you see that is
embracing of filiations, communities, and
–José Esteban Muñoz
important, but what takes place between
6. “My library is an archive of longings.” –Susan Sontag
discourses.” –Lewis Hyde
people.” –Rirkrit Tiravanija 19. “I write entirely to find out what I’m
8. “The self is only a threshold, a door, a
thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see,
30. “Hope calls for action. Action is
becoming between two multiplicities.”
and what it means.” –Joan Didion
impossible without hope.”
–Gilles Deleuze
–Rebecca Solnit, quoted 20. “Scribbled secret notebooks, and
9. “Shame induced by photographs is a
wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy”
gateway.” –Martin Berger
–Jack Kerouac
10. “Compassion is not for the
21. “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try
squeamish.” –Aziz + Cucher
again. Fail again. Fail better.”
by Lucy Lippard 31. “Sometimes an object is all the more present for being gone.”
–Samuel Beckett 11. “Things can happen if you just hold and keep the shot going.” –Chip Lord
32. “We’re not shooting for fine.” –Rachel Schreiber
22. “A cat is never on the side of power.” –Chris Marker
12. “If this was art, it was some scary
–Richard Berger
33. “Stuff your eyes with wonder.” –Ray Bradbury
shit.” –Mike Osterhout As always, looking forward … Claire Daigle, Chair, MA Department
KATHRYN BARULICH Born San Francisco, California, 1990 Education BA Art History/ French Language and Literature, Fordham University, 2012 MA History and Theory of Contemporary Art, San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
LE MOT PEINT: DADA VANDALS OF FRENCH NATIONHOOD
by Francis Picabia and Suzanne
Duchamp. These Dada artists were In general, this thesis is aimed at Dada’s critical lessons into the current moment. It works to investigate a set of key aesthetic strategies that the Dadaists used not simply to “attack” the art world and its provincialities, but to attack French nationalism. As France came to simultaneously and increasingly know and produce itself through a set of artistic images and linguistic conventions, the Dadaists developed varied, hybrid strategies of linguistic and imagistic vandalism. Taking these strategies seriously is important not only because they might help one further appreciate an already-canonized movement, but
Suzanne Duchamp Multiplication brisée et rétablie (Broken and Restored Multiplication) 1918/1919 Oil and silver paper on canvas 24 x 19.7 inches © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris Courtesy of The Art Institute of Chicago
I look closely at paintings produced
also because they can provide an important reminder regarding just how simply and subtly the nation and nationalism can be critiqued. A simple lead pencil can suffice.
110
working in cosmopolitan Paris in the moment directly after World War I.
Through the isolation of examples of
Dadaist text-images that deliberately manipulate the French language and images of itself, this thesis critically deconstructs how they present an
often subtle, but serious, critique of
French nationalism. Investigating, in other words, the power of a missing
accent mark, an uncapitalized letter, a dropped “L.”
Today, nationalism continues to
be produced by many of the same
cultural means that operated during the time of the Dada movement.
While the rise of a global and digital culture might give one the sense
that the specific, material, “minor” vandalisms that marked Dada’s
strategies are insufficient today, this thesis hopes to suggest otherwise.
Dwight Mackintosh Courtesy of Creative Growth Art Center
LISA BOLING Born
a day program and studio space
discrimination and dismissal in
El Paso, Texas, 1989
for adults with disabilities. While
society. This has been made explicit
at Creative Growth, Mackintosh
in the display of their work, as
Education
yielded an exceptional amount of
artists with disabilities have time
BFA Studio Art, Emphasis in
individual successes as an artist
and again been infantilized and
Printmaking, Dominican
in the contemporary art world and
their work diminished. Oftentimes,
University of California, 2012
had several pieces acquired by the
there is a fascination with intimate
Collection de l’Art Brut in Lausanne.
personal histories and medical
MA Exhibition and Museum Studies,
Creative Growth serves as an
information, which is then put on
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
important advocate for artists with
display for public consumption
disabilities in the art world and is
alongside artists’ work, promoting
considered to be a leading voice in
grandiose psychoanalytical readings
the outsider art community.
that ultimately disenfranchise the
THE ETHICS OF DISPLAY IN OUTSIDER ART: DWIGHT MACKINTOSH My thesis tracks the social and art historical progress of artists with developmental disabilities and questions the politics of display by examining the work and scholarship surrounding the life of Dwight Mackintosh. Lauded as a great American outsider artist, Mackintosh (1906–1999) lived most of his life in hospitals. At the age of 72, he was released and later enrolled at Creative Growth Art Center. Creative Growth is a nonprofit gallery in Oakland, California, that facilitates
disabled artist even further. The manner in which artists with disabilities have been contextualized
However, this practice is not
in exhibitions and represented
ubiquitous. Galleries like Creative
by art historians has seen a rapid
Growth have endeavored to pioneer
evolution over the last century
a different way of looking and talking
and continues to progress today.
about outsider art and disabilities.
Mackintosh acts as a figure in the
This thesis is an examination of
larger story of outsider/disabled
both the follies and successes
artists as he lived through pivotal
found in the display of art made by
moments of progress for artists
artists with disabilities. It refers to
with disabilities: institutionalization
the underlying ethics that govern
to de-institutionalization, the
the methods of display when work
Creative Growth experience, and
made by artists with developmental
success as a contemporary artist.
disabilities is exhibited.
The disabled community has struggled to overcome continual
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Andy Kaufman’s Foreign Man Suit and Elvis Jacket 2013 Installation shot, On Creating Reality
ALEX MOLINARI Born
has created. In this thesis, several of
because of the holistic nature of this
Santa Rosa, California, 1990
Kaufman’s offstage performances—
epic performance, his appearance
including the firing of Tony Clifton
on that national televisual stage took
Education
from Taxi, and a car ride from Great
on an infectious radicality that is
BFA, School of the Art
Neck to Manhattan in 1978—are
typically subdued by the institution
Institute of Chicago, 2012
analyzed to understand the way that
of the sitcom. Kaufman was able
Kaufman extended Brecht’s epic
to infect the world in discrete ways
Dual Degree MA/MFA,
theatrical strategies into the real
by torquing familiar interpersonal
History and Theory of
world and the viral effects that those
encounters, making the rote and
Contemporary Art/Photography,
strategies exhibit in that space.
concrete associations of those
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
encounters fuzzy and untrustworthy. It is relevant to understand
KAUFMAN HASN’T LEFT THE BUILDING: EPIC PERFORMANCE AND VIRALITY Andy Kaufman’s regular reemergence in both art and popcultural contexts in the 31 years since his death is the product of a viral, epic performance and storytelling strategy. This strategy, found in Bertolt Brecht’s writings on the epic theater, informs this reading of Kaufman’s work and the legacy it
Kaufman’s work offstage in this
This infection followed his
way because it makes good on
more subdued public personas
the historic avant-garde’s promise
(specifically his role on Taxi) like
to dissolve the barriers between
a contagious germ. This infection
art and life in order to disrupt the
transformed people in his orbit into
normative status quo. The epic
viral performers and storytellers.
strategies of distanciation and
Those viewers perpetuate the epic
alienation that Kaufman employs
character of Kaufman and, through
literally create a viewer with a more
various means of expression
sensitive attention to the structures
(storytelling, books, retrospective
that define their social surroundings,
exhibits, and performance), resurrect
just as Brecht theorized. Kaufman
Kaufman periodically.
undertook this effort while employed as an actor on a popular sitcom;
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LIBBY NICHOLAOU Born
LET’S NOT IGNORE
the piece and found the location.
Beverly, Massachusetts, 1983
THE SUBTLETIES
The opportunity for the installation arose in response to the factory’s
Education
A Subtlety, Kara Walker’s site-
demolition, inspired by the window
Museum Studies Certificate,
specific installation in the Domino
for commentary on the past,
John F. Kennedy University, 2013;
Sugar Factory, activated its visitors
present, and future.
BA English, James Madison
to engage with their perception and
University, 2005
relationship with the black female
The architecture of A Subtlety
body. There are three main pieces of
was characteristic of monuments,
MA History and Theory
A Subtlety that I will explore in this
sculptures, and buildings. The
of Contemporary Art,
essay: why it was constructed, what
content of A Subtlety resided in
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
it represented, and the interplay of
the realm of slavery and feminism.
the meanings projected onto it.
A Subtlety’s physical existence played with temporality and memory
As an exhibition, A Subtlety
through its limited exhibition time
functioned as a meeting ground
and embodiment degrading popular
of historical and contemporary
imagery. Through the characteristics
thinking. It resided in a building that
of temporality, memory, and slavery,
played a large role in the historical
it was an exhibition that caught the
livelihood of the sugar trade, but—
attention of many visitors and online
due to its current state—was set
social media followers.
to be demolished right after the exhibition. A Subtlety was a product not only of Kara Walker, but also of Creative Time, who commissioned
113
evarecinos.com
Still from recording of virus.circus.breath Courtesy of Micha Cárdenas and Elle Mehrmand
EVA REGINA RECINOS Born
are further testing and exploring
reactions from such critics as
Los Angeles, California, 1991
the body’s endurance and
Jennifer González—I argue that
internal processes. This thesis
Cárdenas, Mehrmand, and Park
Education
investigates the ways in which these
are creating new definitions of the
BA English, Minor Art History,
contemporary artists utilize wearable
cyborg through their work. Through
University of Southern
devices and explore, in part, the
visual analysis, I explore the ways
California, 2013
expressive capacities of technology.
in which these artists use wearable
Wearable devices prove especially
devices to highlight and amplify
MA History and Theory of
important because of their physical
their internal processes. This act, in
Contemporary Art,
closeness to the skin and ability
turn, creates a productive space for
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
to interact with, and in some
discussions around queer sexuality,
cases change, the body. These
gender relations, fear, and control.
digital tools add a new element to
By placing the focus on the internal
performance in combination with
functions of their bodies, the artists
traditional notions of embodiment
demonstrate that technology can
and endurance.
bring one closer to the body rather
NEW CYBORGS: THE EXPRESSIVE POTENTIAL OF WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY IN PERFORMANCE ART
than further away from it. Drawing on the historical and
By combining digital tools with performance art’s investigation of the body, artists Lisa Park, Micha Cárdenas, and Elle Mehrmand
theoretical background of the cyborg—as developed in Donna Haraway’s crucial essay, “A Cyborg Manifesto,” and in subsequent
114
abodesolo.com
Parklet at Arizmendi 2015 The parklet is an example of a tactical urbanism intervention that was adopted by San Francisco. Photographed by Elizabeth Smith © Elizabeth Smith
ELIZABETH SMITH Born
governments have started to adopt
Innovation Zone and Market Street
Guttenberg, Iowa, 1988
this bottom-up approach. Relying on
Prototyping Festival fit into the larger
Michel de Certeau’s differentiation of
effort to develop Market Street in
Education
“tactics” and “strategies,” I examine
San Francisco? What are the effects
BA Art/Political Science,
what happens when a citizen-led
of this development, and what role
Luther College, 2011
model is adopted by the top-down
does tactical urbanism play in it?
structures that control city-making. MA Urban Studies,
Using two case studies out of San
In addition, tactical urbanism
San Francisco Art Institute, 2015
Francisco, the Living Innovation
operates from a place of
Zone and Market Street Prototyping
unacknowledged privilege. Tactical
Festival, I investigate the effects of
urbanism claims to be a neutral
tactical urbanism’s move from tactic
practice that is “open to everyone,”
to strategy.
but I end on its limitations, as it lacks
FROM TACTIC TO STRATEGY: PRACTICE, APPROPRIATION, AND LIMITATIONS OF TACTICAL URBANISM Tactical urbanism is growing in popularity in U.S. urban centers as a way to create incremental change in public space led from the ground up. This practice involves shortterm, small-scale interventions into public space, often created as an initiator for longer-term outcomes. It has been cited as a way to “democratize” the planning process, and as the influence of tactical urbanism spreads, local
critical engagement with factors that Beginning with an examination of
code the actions of different bodies
the literature on tactical urbanism,
in space. However, there is promise
I illustrate the various definitions
in a tactical approach to city-
of this practice, which range from
making, and tactical urbanism may
radical to compliant. I then examine
be a first step in establishing more
the adoption of tactical urbanism
livable cities.
by government in San Francisco. What kind of urban problems is the mayor’s office addressing with its use of tactical urbanism? Who were these initiatives created for, and who participates in them? Finally, how do practical applications of tactical urbanism like the Living
115
Collaborative Projects
Installation View, The Site A Live 2014 Photographed by Minoosh Zomorodinia Courtesy of Minoosh Zomorodinia
THE SITE A LIVE Faculty
site visits, and research centered on
During the opening reception of
Betti-Sue Hertz
mapping, site, and performance. As
the show, a set of red balloons was
a result of research and talks during
released in reference to a work by
MA Students
class, students critically engaged with
Lloyd. The Site A Live bridged eras
Lisa Boling
the ephemeral nature of performance
by including historical artifacts, one-
Alex Molinari
art and issues surrounding public space
time performances, and contemporary
Minoosh Zomorodinia
and art-making.
interviews. Through this unique
Carolin Rechberg Anita Giansante
combination, students engaged with the The themes explored within the course
artists’ pieces in an innovative manner,
resulted in The Site A Live, an exhibition
reinterpreting them through their own
Diego Rivera Gallery,
that highlighted six artists from the Bay
scholarly and artistic interests.
San Francisco Art Institute
Area. Each student chose one artist
November 2–8, 2014
to focus on and researched specific
The artists in the show dealt with
pieces, sometimes talking to the artist
similar themes, including temporality,
him/herself. As a result, The Site A Live
the body, and the mechanical. Other
The Fall 2014 Collaborative Project
focused on engaging in a dialogue with
subjects included healing, ritual, the
course focused on performance art
the work of Linda Mary Montano, James
blurring between art and life, existential
in the Bay Area, beginning with an
Lee Byars, Terry Fox, Ginny Lloyd, Darryl
questions, and layers of perception. The
investigation of SiteWorks, an interactive
Sapien, and Jim Pomeroy. The exhibition
project culminated in a public talk in
website created by University of Exeter
featured original objects, student works,
which students presented their research
Deputy Vice Chancellor and Professor
and performances. The pieces included
on the artists and their experiences with
of Performance Studies Nick Kaye.
recreations, creative interpretations,
creating the exhibition. Through these
His website pinpoints significant
and reenactments. Many of these
projects, the class learned more about
performance art projects that took place
works created a dynamic, participatory
not only the unique arts scene within San
in San Francisco from 1969 to 1985. In
experience within the Diego Rivera
Francisco in these specific decades but
collaboration with Kaye and with the
Gallery. Visitors to the show could create
also the individual oeuvre of each artist.
direction of Betti-Sue Hertz, the course
nonsensical poems from newspaper
used the geography and time period
clippings based on a project by Lloyd or
of Kaye’s project as a launching point.
gaze at three-dimensional shadows in a
The course included guest lectures,
work inspired by Pomeroy.
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Collaborative Projects THE ELEPHANT IN ANOTHER ROOM, OR NOTES ON DISEMBODIED VOICES Faculty
Taking up the life cycle of a key modern
their homes here and occupied a San
Frank Smigiel
technology—radio—this exhibition in
Francisco hotel for one night, where
time and space addressed the way
they recorded the voices that occupied
MA Students
cultural voices have freed themselves
them in this city. Our “driver” recorded
Kathryn Barulich
from the physical limits of human
instructions for specific car-based tours
Danna Bialik
speech. With a nod to the prehistory
throughout the city and the region. All of
Harper Brokaw-Falbo
of radio in Victorian séances, the
these strands were documented on
Gozde Efe
phonograph, and the telephone, the
The Tower, SFAI’s online radio station,
Hadar P. Kleiman
exhibition documented and imagined
via podcasts.
Libby Nicholaou
how disembodied voices have fueled
Guus Sanders
language and dialogue from afar.
During the week of April 19, we created a
Elizabeth Smith
What does it mean to transmit that
visual experience of these histories and
Christopher Squier
most intimate and everyday of human
contemporary commissions in the Diego
Chai-Ling Yu
exchanges—the speech act—across a
Rivera Gallery at SFAI. We also provided
distance where bodies are no longer
a listening station in the gallery where
present in the same space–if those
the entire project could be experience
voices occur at the same time?
in one place, at one time. We wondered:
Diego Rivera Gallery and Tower
what does it mean to listen, together, in
Radio, San Francisco Art Institute; the streets of San Francisco
We began in the SFAI archive, where
public—without your headphones?
April 20–25, 2015, and ongoing
we mined that field for real lectures
on The Tower
and legacies of speaking artists. We
The exhibition and podcasts were
then updated this historical voice into
complemented by a PDF-based
Other Elements
contemporary projects that imagined
catalogue, which documented the
Diego Rivera Gallery installation,
artists’ voices in the present—and
full process and history that took place
publication, offsite mobile tour, podcasts
how those voices, whether distant
here, while extending the project into
or proximate, could reach us. Via the
the future. Does anyone listen to the
“phone call,” the “hotel,” and the “drive,”
radio anymore? What do collective
we invited SFAI alumni and other artists
experiences of displaced voice mean for
to reach out, via voice, to current
us today, outside of our curated playlist?
students at SFAI and to the Bay Area as
Would you listen to someone else’s
a whole.
desire, and story, and with other people?
thetower.sfai.edu
These were the key questions for us. Our “phone callers” sent messages from other locations, messages that current artists at SFAI or art lovers in the Bay Area should hear. Our local “hotel” dwellers spent a night outside of
117
118
119
LINE THEORY SFAI Artists
Line Theory is a limited-edition
Megan Armstrong
artist book collaboration. Six
Brian Glenn Dean
distinct books were designed and bound by Brian Glenn Dean and
San Francisco
hand-drawn and hand-written by
2015
Megan Armstrong in 2015. The objective was to provide a clean and minimal presentation for the drawings and text and allow the viewer to spend more time with the content in an intimate way. The drawings inspired a design that is delicate and clean. The book design is structurally consistent, emphasizing the slight variations of each book. By minimizing the structural aspects of the book itself, attention is placed on the artwork.
Megan Armstrong Line Theory Handmade book, pen on paper 8 x 8 x 0.5 inches Photographed by Brian Glenn Dean Š Megan Armstrong and Brian Glenn Dean Courtesy of Brian Glenn Dean
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Installation View, Four Rooms Front yard (collaboration) and attic (Brownstein) Installation View, Four Rooms Living room (Insignares) and dining room (Brownstein) Installation View, Four Rooms Bathroom (Goldberg)
FOUR ROOMS SFAI Artists
Four Rooms was a showcase of
Rhys Bambrick
the domestic spaces we inhabit.
Evan Brownstein
Each room belonged to the mind
Santiago Insignares
of one artist, with collaborations
Matthew Goldberg
happening throughout the space and in the front “yard.” The
Swell Gallery,
exhibitors became roommates as
San Francisco Art Institute
they each brought their own flavor
November 23–December 8, 2014
and aesthetic to the gallery in order to form a collective unit. Ambitious in scale and full of visual cues, this collaboration invited the viewer to produce his or her own narrative. As the viewer was confronted with a familiar space, a story was not revealed, but rather waited to be discovered within the experience of each individual occupant of the artistic “home.” The gallery underwent a transformation from a space intended for viewing into a space capable of being inhabited, transforming the viewer from voyeur into participant.
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Installation View, kōˈhēZHən
re- AND kōˈhēZHən SFAI Artists
Working with found materials,
Erik Beltran
these artists challenged the
Tim Kopra
way people experience the
Carolin Rechberg
world around them. The variety of media, including sonic and
San Francisco
performative elements, used by
re-: April 27–May 8, 2014
the artists displayed a creative and
kōˈhēZHən: November 23–29, 2014
destructive synthesis that broke down the boundaries of exterior and interior space. For the exhibitions re- and kōˈhēZHən, these artists created works reflecting the dialogue they engaged in through their experience in SFAI’s MFA program and within their practice. Their emphasis on collaboration, material choice, and spatial composition resulted in an expression of our internal and external geographies.
122
Dilation 2014 Oil on canvas and fluorescent light 72 x 60 inches
NATIONAL WOMEN’S CAUCUS FOR ART EXHIBITION TRANSFORMING COMUNITY: DISABILITY, DIVERSITY, AND ACCESS Juror
This was a national juried exhibition,
“In the dialogue emerging among
Petra Kuppers
presented by the Women’s Caucus
the 26 artists represented in this
for Art at the Westbeth Center for
show, the exhibit never allows
the Arts.
disability to signify just one thing,
SFAI Artist Elizabeth Bowler Curator Karen Gutfreund Westbeth Gallery, New York City February 7–22, 2015
just one story, just one dismissal or Disability challenges all facets of art
experience. Instead, we can witness
and its accessibility: experiencing
rich agency, the effects of internal
art, interacting with artists, art
and external pressures, and artful
education, and art making. We were
transformation.” –Petra Kuppers
asked: how do artists find space, time, and audiences for expressing artful differences, be they physical cognitive, emotional, or sensory? How do forms of difference encourage new connections, new conceptions of what it means to be alive? How do different experiences of the world reshape what art can mean?
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EREHTHERE SFAI Artists
In November 2014, these four
In conversation with Heidegger’s
Minoosh Zomorodinia
artists came together to discuss the
ideas, the artists created a portal
Dio Chen
concept of belonging for the show
sculpture—a door—that utilizes
Santiago Insignares
BeLong at the Diego Rivera Gallery.
text as sculpture to hypostatize
Nathalie Elisabeth Brilliant
We began with the definition. The
the transitory or liminal state and
word belong births a duality of
the notion that to belong moves
terms that insinuate a passage
between being “here,” and being
from one space to another. Martin
“there,” simultaneously.
Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute November 18–22, 2014
Heidegger writes of this duality: “When I go towards the door of the lecture hall, I am already there, and I could not go to it at all if I were not such that I am there. I am never here only, as this encapsulated body;
EREHTHERE 2014 Door with sculptural text Photographed by Dio Chen © Dio Chen Courtesy of Dio Chen
rather, I am there, that is, I already pervade the space of the room, and only thus can I go through it.”
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labibliothequeapothicaire.com calq.gouv.qc.ca/index_en.htm
L’HISTOIRE EN CORPS L’HISTOIRE (THE EMBODIED STORY) SFAI Artist
L’Histoire en corps l’histoire (The
Universitaire de Réadaptation—
Rachelle Bussières
Embodied Story) is a project that
Readaptation Institute (IRDPQ).
partnered the Canadian organization Institut Universitaire de
Bibliothèque L’Apothicaire and
In fall 2014, while the Canadian
Réadaptation (IRDPQ),
Rachelle Bussières in a poetry and
organization met with people at
Quebec City, Canada
photography exhibition. With the
IRDPQ, relating their feelings and
March 26–April 26, 2015
support of the Conseil des Arts
thoughts about these encounters
et des Lettres du Québec, they
in a journal, Bussières produced
co-created a project surrounding
photographs in the darkroom
physical and mental implications of
inspired by them. Using the
sudden accidents and diseases. In a
damaged land as a metaphor for
creative collaborative process, they
the body, this series of images was
produced poems and unique gelatin
taken in the Canadian countryside.
silver prints concerning perceptions
Bibliothèque L’Apothicaire then
and experiences, translating the
translated these works into poems.
Rachelle Bussières Winter Forest 2015 Unique gelatin silver prints 24 x 40 inches Photographed by Rachelle Bussières © Rachelle Bussières and Bibliotheque L’Apothicaire Courtesy of Bibliotheque L’Apothicaire
intimate encounters with persons in rehabilitation at l’Institut
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PEPTO SFAI Artist
How much liquid can a body hold?
Bari Fleischer
How much can a piece of linen hold? These were the questions
San Francisco
that interested Bari Fleischer in
August 10, 2014
her sculptural installation Pepto. Fleischer used her personal experience with consuming liquid medication (Pepto-Bismol) and applied it to her artwork. Using a piece of natural, unprimed linen, she performed by pouring the liquid onto the linen until it was so saturated, it could no longer hold any more liquid without it spilling onto the floor. The process was created to mimic the digestion of the medication from its entrance to its exit from the body.
Bari Fleischer Pepto 2014 Linen and Pepto-Bismol 60 x 72 inches Photographed by Katie Harwood Courtesy of Bari Fleischer
126
INSIDE OUT SFAI Artists
Bari Fleischer is interested in
Bari Fleischer
internal landscapes and what
Katie Harwood
happens when they are brought from the inside out. After studying
Golden Gate Park,
the digestive tract and intestinal
San Francisco
polyps, she decided to take the
July 12, 2014
internal struggle into the outside world for a walk through the park. In addition to creating the costume and props, Katie Harwood documented the “walk” and the reactions of fellow park-goers, as well as the artist’s struggle dragging around large polyp props and navigating through everyday life.
Internal Struggle 2014 Photographed by Katie Harwood Courtesy of Bari Fleischer and Katie Harwood
Playing in the Park 2014 Photographed by Katie Harwood Courtesy of Bari Fleischer and Katie Harwood
127
Walking to the Museum 2014 Photographed by Katie Harwood Courtesy of Bari Fleischer and Katie Harwood
Katie Harwood and Bari Fleischer Outside the Box 2014 Mixed media: found objects, photographs, BB gun bullet pellets, foam core, and plastic .75 x 1.5 x 1.5 inches Photographed by Katie Harwood © 2014, Peachy Cheese, Inc. Courtesy of Katie Harwood and Bari Fleischer Outside Installation 2014 Photographed by Katie Harwood © 2014, Peachy Cheese, Inc. Courtesy of Katie Harwood and Bari Fleischer Interactivity with Installation 2014 Photographed by Katie Harwood © 2014, Peachy Cheese, Inc. Courtesy of Katie Harwood and Bari Fleischer
OUTSIDE THE BOX SFAI Artists
When thinking about participating
Katie Harwood
in a group show, it is hard to
Bari Fleischer
collaborate and to plan. Everyone needs to be on the same page in
Courtyard,
terms of venue, subject matter,
San Francisco Art Institute
medium, size, space limitations,
July 29, 2014
etc. If the criteria required for the show do not fit your artwork, how do you fit in Outside the Box? This artwork was specifically designed to do just that and was executed in a performance by Katie Harwood and Bari Fleischer that took place on the date of the show’s opening outside the Diego Rivera Gallery in the SFAI courtyard.
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PRECIOUSSENTIMENTALCOYCONCEALING WITHHOLDINGNARCISSISTICOBSESSIVE SFAI Artists
In this exhibition, Anna Garski and
are made. Garski confronts the
Katherine Vetne
Katherine Vetne reframed SFAI as a
limiting nature of the oppositional
Anna Garski
site for the examination of gendered
relationships between mind and
criticism within the graduate critique
body, femininity and masculinity, and
Other Participant
environment. The title subverts
artist and model. Her drawings and
Velvet Rage
the historical and contemporary
performances simultaneously accept
use of pejorative language used to
and reject the state of psychological
discredit the work of women artists.
duality that is encouraged by our
The exhibition explored complicated
heteronormative gender binary.
notions of self-censorship,
In conjunction with the opening
autobiography, and suppression of
reception, Garski’s alter ego,
gender identity through both large-
Velvet Rage, staged a durational
and small-scale drawings, paintings,
performance, Spit, Swallow, Choke,
and video work.
in which she attempted to consume
Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute October 5–11, 2014
a 12-foot roll of paper that detailed
Precioussentimentalcoyconcealing withholdingnarcissisticobsessive 2014 Installation view of the exhibition title wall Photographed by Katherine Vetne Murmurs II 2014 Graphite on paper 12 x 12 inches Photographed by Katherine Vetne
Vetne’s work is born out of
some of the alarmingly sexist
simultaneous notions of seduction
statements that were regularly made
and trauma: her highly rendered yet
throughout the course of several
ambiguous graphite drawings of her
critique seminars. Recalling decades
mouth pulling and stretching against
of critical analysis of the male gaze
scotch tape create enigmatic images
and normative gender roles, these
that hover between abstraction and
two artists used the exhibition as
figuration, while her densely layered
an opportunity to expose the veiled
sewing machine drawings pull at
misogyny that lurks beneath the
and distort the paper on which they
surface of SFAI’s exterior.
129
SPACE TRASH, BOOMERANG! SFAI Artist
For a four-month period between
What would happen if our trash
Matthew Goldberg
October 2014 and January 2015,
was launched into space in a
Matthew Goldberg participated
misguided attempt to rid the planet
Recology San Francisco
in the Recology San Francisco
of waste, only to orbit and return
October 1, 2014–January 27, 2015
Artist in Residence program. Since
back to earth? Says Goldberg, “The
1990, over 100 Bay Area artists
narrative is a fantasy—much like our
have completed residencies in this
perceptions of space and much like
one-of-a-kind program that utilizes
the general public’s perception of a
materials recovered from the Public
‘dump’ facility I have encountered
Disposal and Recycling Area of the
when explaining this program.”
recology center. Recology promotes
The resulting work took the form
new ways of thinking about art, the
of sculpture, collage, installation,
environment, and the reclamation
drawing, and video, with a feeling
of discarded materials. At the
both familiar and foreign—from
culmination of each residency,
the past and seemingly also from
the artists exhibit their work in the
the future.
Matthew Goldberg Surfin’ to Pluto 2015 Surfboard, ironing board, slide carousels, car parts, metal, foam pad, and spray paint 48 x 84 x 36 inches Matthew Goldberg Shrinking Machine (at the Speed of Light) 2015 Cardboard, terra cotta pots, basketballs, foam, and house paint Matthew Goldberg Installation View, Space Trash, Boomerang!
form of a solo show. Goldberg’s show, Space Trash, Boomerang!, explored the idea of trash as an extraterrestrial force.
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cargocollective.com/giveusachance
GIVE US A CHANCE SFAI Artists
All of these hand-selected,
artists as incompetent? Some might
Joshua Lee
purposefully curated artists have
say these artists are pathetic.
Megan Armstrong
been rejected. The following
Please, give us a ******* chance.
artists were picked because of Diego Rivera Gallery,
their friendship with the curator
San Francisco Art Institute
and ability to deal with rejection:
January 18–June 6, 2015
Joshua Lee, Megan Armstrong,
Every week at the Diego Rivera
Flo Pizzarello, Brian Glenn Dean,
Gallery openings, Armstrong and
Michael Wayne Garfoot, M. M.
Lee took pictures in front of the
Voelker, David Tim, Shannon Miya
gallery titles wearing shirts with
Russell, Matthew Goldberg, Scott D.
“GIVE ME A CHANCE” written on
Isenbarger, and Austin Siegert. Each
them, incorporating themselves into
individual was previously rejected by
the show.
the Diego Rivera Gallery Committee. Do these artists suffer because of rejection? Has the Diego Rivera Gallery contributed to this suffering? Is rejection a good thing? Will this Milk 2015
statement cause further rejection? Will you continue to view these
Proposal 2015
131
A chance was not given.
HOME IS IN THE HEART SFAI Artist
This project is about the homeless
Özlem Ayse Özgür (director,
people’s struggle against the City of
cinematographer, sound, editor)
Albany, which forced them to leave the Albany Bulb, where they had been living for the last 15 years.
Other Participants Joel Carter (assistant editor) Carlos Villagomez (assistant editor)
I interviewed 20 people, including Osha Neuman, who was the lawyer
Albany Bulb,
who did the pro bono work for this
Albany, California
community. However, in the end, the
January–August 2014
City of Albany kicked these people out of the Albany Bulb.
KC Beading 2014 KC was one of the residents of the Albany Bulb. She gets rid of her stress by beading. Photographed by Özlem Ayse Özgür © Özlem Ayse Özgür Courtesy of Özlem Ayse Özgür
Özlem Ayse Özgür Amber Hanging Out with Another Albany Bulb Resident and His Dog 2014 Film/interview (from Home Is in the Heart) 3 minutes Photographed by Özlem Ayse Özgür © Özlem Ayse Özgür Courtesy of Özlem Ayse Özgür
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ASOFNOW GALLERY SFAI Artist
In 2014, Austin Siegert established
Austin Siegert
AsOfNow Gallery in the backyard of his Presidio apartment. The gallery
AsOfNow Gallery,
hosted 11 solo exhibits by fellow
The Presidio, San Francisco
graduate students. The work ranged
March 2014–May 2015
from two dimensional to largescale installations in the woods
Participating Artists
surrounding the gallery space.
Cait Molloy Scott D. Isenbarger Hannah Marie Stahulak Josh Stulen Tim Kopra Jared Weiss Brittany Acocelli M. M. Voelker David Tim Alex Molinari Joanne Easton David Tim Reprise V. 2 2015 Photographed by Austin Siegert © Austin Siegert Courtesy of Austin Siegert
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Jared Weiss There Was A Bit Left 2014 Photographed by Austin Siegert © Austin Siegert Courtesy of Austin Siegert
GOLD RUSH SFAI Artists
The Gold Rush is notorious for the
Decadence appeared in the
Christopher Squier
fever it incited within humankind.
work of Aaron David Kissman
Aaron David Kissman
Though much time has passed,
as well. His gold, spray-painted
Katherine Vetne
our current era still believes in the
pineapples appeared expensive
Hadar P. Kleiman
idea of getting rich quickly. In San
and delicious yet eventually began
Joanne Easton
Francisco, new startups emerge left
to rot. Using collage, Christopher
and right; the city is becoming the
Squier juxtaposed varying images
Curator
wealthiest in the country. Gold Rush
and symbols of San Francisco,
Eva Regina Recinos
looked at the ways in which glamour,
including parrots and the visage of
lushness, gold, and desire converge.
St. Francis. Through her small piece,
Diego Rivera Gallery,
Focusing on groups like the nouveau
Joanne Easton explored the nature
San Francisco Art Institute
riche and the decorative, Hadar P.
of preciousness and the mystery of
July 13–19, 2014
Kleiman created works that reflect a
the found object.
tacky aesthetic. In a similar fashion, Katherine Vetne investigated the meaning-making in luxurious objects and their relationships to perceptions of women. Installation View, Gold Rush 2014 Photographed by Christopher Squier Courtesy of Christopher Squier
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WALTER AND McBEAN GALLERIES SFAI’s Exhibitions and Public Programs provide direct access to artists and ideas that advance our culture. The Walter and McBean Galleries, established in 1969, present exhibitions at the forefront of contemporary art practice. The gallery serves as a laboratory for innovative and adventurous projects and commissions new work from emerging and established artists. SFAI’s Public Programs develop meaningful interactions between artists, students, and audiences through lectures, education opportunities, and artistdriven experiences. Together, the Exhibitions and Public Programs of SFAI promote an environment that catalyzes the creative processes of its student artists and thinkers, and creates intimate connections between the SFAI community and the public.
JAVIER TÉLLEZ: GAMES ARE FORBIDDEN IN THE LABYRINTH September 9–December 13, 2014 Games Are Forbidden in the Labyrinth explored psychiatric confinement, surveillance architecture, and the game of chess as strategically interrelated systems. The exhibition’s two major works, Dürer’s Rhinoceros (2010), and Chess (2014), dislocated perception through reenactments of delirium. For nearly two decades, mental illness has served as a primary locus of Téllezʼs practice. Working in collaboration with psychiatric patients, Téllez’s films and installations diminish stereotypes associated with mental illness. Games Are Forbidden in the Labyrinth opened new spaces for play across formerly closed systems, and inverted the power dynamics between surveillance tower
M. LAMAR: NEGROGOTHIC January 30–February 28, 2015 M. Lamar’s exhibition NEGROGOTHIC stripped the American enterprise to its hard-core components of race, sexuality, violence, and optimism. This immersive, multi-media installation offered a searing and soaring portrait of the contemporary United States. In this fearlessly constructed landscape, Lamar projected ecstatic resistance toward both the subjugated and essentialized black male. Here we witnessed the violence of our past and freedoms of the present, alongside the ongoing inability of the American justice system to materially protect black lives. Lamar painfully evoked injustice, even as he occupied the transcendent, empowered role of the diva.
and cell. Games Are Forbidden in the Labyrinth at San Francisco Art Institute was co-presented with Kadist Art Foundation. Chess was jointly commissioned by REDCAT, Los Angeles, and Kadist Art Foundation, San Francisco.
M. LAMAR: NEGROGOTHIC opening reception photographed by Shane O’Neill DOUG HALL: THE TERRIBLE UNCERTAINTY OF THE THING DESCRIBED opening reception photographed by Shane O’Neill
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DOUG HALL: THE TERRIBLE UNCERTAINTY OF THE THING DESCRIBED March 28–June 6, 2015 Curated by Hesse McGraw and Rudolf Frieling SFAI and SFMOMA presented Doug Hall’s seminal, large-scale installation The Terrible Uncertainty of the Thing Described (1987), which conjoins
This exhibition marked the first time The Terrible Uncertainty of the Thing Described has been on view in the Bay Area in 25 years, when it was shown at SFMOMA in its former location in the War Memorial Veterans Building. The co-presentation of this major work from SFMOMA’s renowned media arts collection was part of the SFMOMA On the Go program.
industrial imagery with documentary
Doug Hall: The Terrible Uncertainty of the Thing
scenes of nature in turmoil. Its three
Described was jointly organized by San Francisco
channels of video, displayed on six
Art Institute and the San Francisco Museum of
monitors and a projection, were accompanied by the sculptural presence of a functioning Tesla coil, two large
Modern Art. Generous support was provided by Linda and Jon Gruber and Joachim and Nancy Hellman Bechtle. Additional support was provided by Pamela and Richard Kramlich.
steel chairs, and a tilted, commanding steel-mesh barricade. Bringing together the immediacy of sculpture with powerful moving images, and startling jolts extending from the coil, the installation was a potent reminder that we are subject to the forces of nature and the influence of media.
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SWELL GALLERY The Swell Gallery is a graduate
Fill in the _________
Doppelgängers
student-run art space dedicated to the
Megan Armstrong, Alice Combs,
Megan Armstrong, Lauren Shaw,
examination of the role of the gallery
Matthew Goldberg, Shannon Miya,
Scott D. Isenbarger
in an educational sphere. The gallery’s
Christopher Squier
February 1–14
mission is to provide a venue for the
September 28–October 11
exploration and discussion of varying
Incandescent
artistic perspectives from the student
Ways of Seeing
Ella Faktorovich, Christina Walley,
body, operating as a platform for
Mike Callaghan, Takako Matoba,
Hui Meng Wang
exhibition, events, and dialogue.
Anna McDermott, Yang Song
February 15–28
Curated by Eva Regina Recinos The Swell Gallery is open to the public
October 12–25
and located on the second floor of
Milhojas Marcela Pardo, Juan Pablo Pacheco,
SFAI’s Graduate Center at
The Subjective Landscape
Ana Maria Montenegro, Kelly Franklin,
2565 Third Street.
Åsa Åkerlund, Cecilia Christina
Simon Garcia-Minaur
Borgenstam, Nathalie Brilliant
March 1–14
October 26–November 8 The Song Will Come
FALL 2014 Curators: Christopher Squier, Joanne Easton, Eva Regina Recinos,
LIMP: Lifeforms of Innovative
Neil Eggist, Kevin Hill
Mechanized Perceptions
March 22–April 4
Åsa Åkerlund
Zoila Albarinia, Ann-Marie Cunningham, Shiwen Jing, David Tim, Jialuo Wu
Event Week
The Anatomy of Landscape
November 9–22
April 5–12
August 17–30
Four Rooms
The Waiting Room
Rhys Bambrick, Evan Brownstein,
Caitlin Petersen, Zen Du, Li Westerlund,
Rêverité
Matthew Goldberg, Santiago Insignares
Shannon Foreman
Christine Hyung-jin Cho, Sai Li,
November 23–December 6
April 19–May 2
Curated by Kathryn Barulich
SPRING 2015
You Kinda Had to Be There
August 31–September 13
Curators: Anita Giasante, Marcela Pardo,
Benjamin Smith, Nathalie Brilliant,
Joanne Easton, Jared Weiss, Cait Molloy
Vanessa Miller
Shannon Permenter, Kaitlin Trataris
Minoosh Zomorodinia, Nolan Sheehan
Katherine Vetne, Aaron David Kissman,
Urban Velocity
Aaron David Kissman, and Anna Garski
Shannon Miya, Hayley Sutton
Rob Brinson IV, Yue Shi, Grace Kim
May 3–9
September 14–27
January 18–31
Badlands
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Jankowski, Dio Chen, Tim Kopra,
DIEGO RIVERA GALLERY The Diego Rivera Gallery, on the
Low-Residency Final Critique Exhibition
Of Other Spaces
Chestnut Street campus, home to SFAI’s
Rachelle Bussières, Tyler Davis, Bari
Evan Brownstein, Joseph Dwyer,
historic Diego Rivera Mural, is a student-
Fleischer, Lisa Foote, Leigh-Anne
Jared Weiss
directed exhibition space. The gallery
Galloway, Pieter Griga, Katie Harwood,
September 7–13
provides an opportunity for artists from
Pattiann Koury, Monika Lin, Victoria
all academic programs to present their
Maidhoff, Jay Scantling, Denny Silver,
Juried Individuals Exhibition
work or curate in a gallery setting; to use
Tito Vandermeyden, Janean Williams
Zen Du, Dallas Holfetz, Patrick X. Liu,
the space for large-scale installations; or
Faculty: Sammy Cucher, Anthony Aziz,
Eric Carl Mastrodonato Vignau
to experiment with artistic concepts and
Alicia McCarthy
September 14–20
concerns in a public venue.
July 27–August 2
Co-Directors: Anjuli Wright and
Summer Undergraduate
Sebastian Bates, Gregorio Figueroa,
Guus (Drew) Sanders
Residency Show
Dallas Holfeltz, Sofia Sinibaldi
August 2–9
September 21–27
Public Education Summer Exhibition
Contours
August 10–16
Jessica Buckley, Armando Ciallella,
Something/Nothing
SUMMER 2014 Picture a Change
Grant Gutierrez, Nico Padayhag
Adrian Burrell, Derek Holguin,
September 28–October 4
Wilfredo Raguro, Jeri Tern
FALL 2014 PreciousSentimentalCoy
June 8–20 Someone Left the Cake Out in the Rain Juried Low-Residency Show June 22–28
Bobby Alexander, Josh Appleman, Seth Camp, Ryan Darley, Rex Delafkaran, Johnny Francisco, Dominic Garcia,
Juried Low-Residency Show
Anna Garski, Jared Gruendl, Danielle
July 6–12
Hernandez, Terrence Ho, Adam Hydock, Michael Johnson, Christine Lee, Casey
ConcealingWithholding NarcissisticObsessive Anna Garski, Katherine Vetne, Velvet Rage October 5–11 Food Coma Rhys Bambrick, Hadar P. Kleiman,
Gold Rush
McManis, Eli McNally, Patrick Santos,
Christopher Squier, Aaron David
Christopher Squier, Zawadi Ungadi, Eric
Kissman, Katherine Vetne,
Carl Mastrodonato Vignau, Scott Welsh
Hadar P. Kleiman, Joanne Easton
Curated by Aaron David Kissman
Curated by Eva Regina Recinos
August 17–23
Not Asking How Far
Continuing MFA Show
Cait Molloy, Xiao Wang
August 24–30
October 19–25
Vivo en America
Juried Individuals Exhibition
Margot De La Rada, Gregorio Figueroa,
Cecilia Christina Borgenstam,
October 12–18
Kathryn Barulich, Hadar P. Kleiman,
July 13–19 PreCollege Final Exhibition
Sam Spano
July 20–26
Grant Gutierrez, Barrett Moore, Pedro Alejandro Verdin August 31–September 6
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Mike Callaghan, Samantha Jungheim, Kevin Valor October 26–November 1
MA Collaborative Project: The Site A Live
A Mirror, Is A Mirror, Is A Mirror
MA Collaborative Project: The
Lisa Boling, Alex Molinari, Minoosh
Colin Liang, Michael Santiago,
Elephant in Another Room, or Notes on
Zomorodinia, Carolin Rechberg, Anita
Juan Pablo Pacheco, HuiMeng Wang
Disembodied Voices
Giansante, Eva Regina Recinos
February 8–14
Kathryn Barulich, Danna Bialik, Harper
Faculty: Betti-Sue Hertz November 2–8
Brokaw-Falbo, Gozde Efe, Hadar Waterscapes
P. Kleiman, Libby Nicholaou, Guus
Brian Dean, Vince Baworouski,
Sanders, Elizabeth Smith, Christopher
Post-Baccalaureate Fall Exhibition:
Mitchell Yee
Squier, Chai-Ling Yu
Post Appreciation
February 15–21
Faculty: Frank Smigiel
Alex Gold, Nathanael Kooperkamp,
April 19–25
Melanie Reese, Kimberly Volkmann
Holy Hole!
Faculty: Taravat Talepasand
Scott Welsh, Aaron Kissman,
I Have Nothing to Say and I’m Saying It
November 9–13
Flo Pizzarello, Simon Garcia-Minaur,
Brittany Acocelli, Nathalie Brilliant,
Marcela Pardo, Nathalie Brilliant,
Joanne Easton, Gregorio Figueroa,
BeLong
Casey McManis
Anna Garski, Matthew Goldberg,
November 18–22
February 22–28
Nolan Sheehan Jankowski, Elisabeth Kohnke, Grace Kim, Tim Kopra, Zoe
kōˈhēZHən
The Big Clay Show
Kuhn, Jessica Moreno, Juan Pablo
Erik Beltran, Tim Kopra,
Owen Laurion, Joanne Easton,
Pacheco, Natasha Romano, Sofia
Carolin Rechberg
Matthew Goldberg, Charlotte Hodgson,
Sinibaldi, Cristina Velazquez, Minoosh
November 23–29
Anjuli Wright, Cactus Liu
Zomorodinia
March 1–7
Curated by Aaron David Kissman April 26–May 2
Fall BFA Graduate Exhibition November 30–December 6
Panama Pacific International Exposition Centennial (PPIE100)
Post-Baccalaureate Spring Exhibition
Public Programs Fall Exhibition
Celebration Exhibition
Arika Bready, Gianna Brusa, Rafael
December 7–20
March 8–21
Bustillos, Juliette Fonseca, Chanah Haddad, Alexandra Jabre, Yixia Li,
City Studio Exhibition
No Dogs, No Hamsters
Marissa Martini, Deepali Raiththa,
December 14–20
Nicholas Makanna, Laura Rokas,
Kathleen Sirico, Eric Sorensen,
Rhys Bambrick
Jessica Tin, Kimberly Volkmann,
March 22–28
Chu Wang, Chia-Ling Yu Faculty: Libby Black and Reagan Louie
SPRING 2015
May 3–9
Sidewinding The Space In Between
Megan Armstrong, Joanne Easton,
Caitlin Petersen, Li Westerlund,
Katherine Vetne
BFA Exhibition
March 29–April 4
May 10–23
Juried Individuals Exhibition
City Studio Exhibition
Not Your Girls
Ella Faktorovich, JuYong Lee,
May 17–30
Rachel Sterner, Adrianna Adams,
Penelope Anstruther, Michael Callaghan
Shannon Foreman, Zen Du January 18–24
Gina Pierik Hendry
April 12–18
Public Education Spring Exhibition May 31–June 6
January 25–31 MILK Charlie Watts, Lauren Carly Shaw, Dana Morrison, Nathalie Brilliant, Christine Spillane Curated by Harper Gene February 1–7
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VISITING ARTISTS AND SCHOLARS LECTURE SERIES The Visiting Artists and Scholars Lecture Series (VAS) provides direct exposure to major figures in international contemporary art and culture. FALL 2014 JAVIER TÉLLEZ September 9 JILL MAGID September 18 KATRÍN SIGURDARDÓTTIR September 29 LISA FREIMAN October 7 LLYN FOULKES + TAMAR HALPERN
MEL CHIN McBean Distinguished Lecture
October 13
April 7
ALLISON MILLER
MICHAEL JONES McKEAN
Richard Diebenkorn Teaching Fellow October 21 ERIN SHIRREFF November 4
April 14 ANNIE LAPIN April 21 CONSTANCE M. LEWALLEN April 28
SPRING 2015 EVA FRANCH i GILABERT February 17 MARIAH ROBERTSON February 24
SFAI’s Exhibitions and Public Programs are made possible by the generosity of donors and sponsors. Major support is provided by Grants for the Arts. Program support for SFAI is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, Harker Fund of The San Francisco Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Kadist Art Foundation, Meyer Sound, Fort Point Beer
LEWIS HYDE March 3
Company, Gregory Goode Photography, and Thomas J. Fogarty, MD. Ongoing support is provided by the McBean Distinguished Lecture and Residency Fund, The Buck Fund, and the Visiting
JON RUBIN
Artists Fund of the SFAI Endowment.
March 10
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Leong Leong (Dominic Leong and Chris Leong) Past Futures, Present, Futures Installation view: Storefront for Art and Architecture Photographed by Naho Kubota
GRADUATE LECTURE SERIES The Graduate Lecture Series (GLS)
FALL 2014
SPRING 2015
public to engage with emerging and
MIKE OSTERHOUT
JENNIFER A. GONZÁLEZ
established artists, curators, critics, and
September 12
January 30
CHIP LORD
ASUKA OHSAWA
September 19
February 6
MATTHEW GOULISH
RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA
September 26
February 20
WONG KIT YI
EVA HAYWARD
October 3
February 27
BLAKE STIMSON
SHAUN LEONARDO
October 10
March 6
JOHN DIVOLA
JONN HERSCHEND
October 17
April 10
LINDA MARY MONTANO
ERICK BELTRÁN
October 31
April 24
enables students and the general
historians from local and international art communities.
SUMMER 2014 ANNA SHTEYNSHLEYGER June 20 RICHARD T. WALKER June 27 ANTHONY AZIZ + SAMMY CUCHER July 11 CHERYL DUNYE July 18 JOHN DE FAZIO July 25
BRIONY FER November 14
Asuka Ohsawa Vim & Vigor, 2013 Gouache on paper; 21x26 inches
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Erick Beltrán Atlas Eidolon, 2014 Sculpture; 197 x 232 x 197 inches 18 minutes Courtesy of the artist
PHOTOALLIANCE LECTURE SERIES PhotoAlliance, an affiliate of SFAI,
FALL 2014
SPRING 2015
to supporting the understanding,
RICHARD RENALDI
MICHAEL LIGHT + CLIFTON MEADOR
appreciation, and creation of
September 19
February 6
PhotoAlliance fosters connections
ROBERT H. CUMMING
REBECCA NORRIS + ALEX WEBB
within the Bay Area photography
October 10
March 13
and educational activities, including
ROBIN SCHWARTZ
ELI REED + MICHAEL SANCHEZ
workshops, lecture series, and
November 7
April 17
MITCH DOBROWNER
ANNU PALAKUNNATHU MATTHEW
December 5
May 8
is a nonprofit organization dedicated
contemporary photography.
community through public programs
portfolio reviews. photoalliance.org
SPECIAL EVENTS SCREENINGS OF YA TA HEY! ALCATRAZ + AI WEIWEI: THE FAKE CASE November 7, 2014 A PUBLIC LECTURE BY LUCY LIPPARD November 8, 2014 Concurrent with the landmark Ai Weiwei exhibition @Large (presented by the FOR-SITE Foundation on Alcatraz Island), ArtTable and SFAI presented a screening of Ya Ta Hey! Alcatraz and Ai
government on bogus tax-evasion
Weiwei: The Fake Case, followed by a
charges in 2011, and the subsequent
public lecture by Lucy Lippard the next
year spent on probation during which he
evening. Directed by Walter Chappell
fought for his freedom.
and Blaine Ellis, Ya Ta Hey! Alcatraz (1971) is an impressionistic documentary
Lucy Lippard is a critic, curator, activist,
chronicling the 1969 occupation of
and writer known for groundbreaking
Alcatraz by a community of Native
scholarship on contemporary art,
American activists. Directed by Andreas
feminism, and place. In her talk, Lippard
Johnsen, Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case
considered the contextual and cultural
(2013) is a documentary that reflects on
implications of Ai Weiwei’s exhibition on
artist Ai Weiwei’s arrest by the Chinese
Alcatraz Island.
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Image Credit: Ai Weiwei in the elevator when taken into custody by the police, Sichuan, China, 2009 Courtesy of the artist
SFAI CONCENTRATE
Throughout the weekend, the SFAI art
Uncommon Art Sale + Festival
sale featured work by over 140 SFAI
November 15–16, 2014
artists displayed across campus, salonstyle, with proceeds directly benefiting
SFAI’s third annual art festival and
student artists. Sunday daytime
alumni celebration took over the
festivities included family friendly art-
Chestnut Street campus for a weekend
making activities (one medium of choice:
in November, featuring the raucous
Jell-O), a heart-shaped bounce house,
convergence of art, craft, food, music,
a craft beer garden for adults, tactical
and general revelry.
ice cream for all, pizza, music spun by DJs from SFAI’s Tower Radio, goats, and
Alumni reconnected at a spectrum of
much more.
vibrant events, including the Saturday night opening of Collected, an exhibition of alumni photographs revealing SFAI myths and legends through candid snapshots.
2014 SFAI Concentrate photographed by Shane O’Neill
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SFAI Remembers Richard Berger, 1944–2015 The SFAI community was deeply
On April 17, 2015, SFAI held a memorial
saddened by the loss of beloved friend,
service celebrating Berger’s life, work,
collaborator, mentor, and colleague
and memory.
Richard Berger. Richard taught at San Francisco Art Institute for more
“I propose that one attribute of the
than 40 years, with a deep knowledge
productions of those makers we call
of sculpture’s history and great
artists, historically and culturally,
imagination for its possibilities. Admired
constitutes a kind of prosthetic activity
and respected by his colleagues and
to address an unforgettable and
generations of students, Richard was a
irreconcilable absence. To forget would
unique and imposing presence to all who
be to surrender to incompleteness,
knew him. Both an intellect and born
an untenable and intolerable state.
storyteller of the first order, he brought a
The production, the work of the artist,
rigor and grace to teaching that inspired
is intended to, however imperfectly,
minds and changed lives.
reestablish completeness.” –Richard Berger
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Graduate Program Faculty Rigo 23 is a visual artist working in site- and culturalspecific settings, often in collaboration with others and over extended periods of time. Recent group exhibitions include the 12th Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates; 5th Auckland Triennial, New Zealand; 2nd Aichi Triennale, Japan; 1st Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India; Regionale XII, Austria; The Jerusalem Show IV, Palestine; 10th Lyon Biennale, France; and 4th Liverpool Biennial, United Kingdom. He holds a BFA from SFAI and an MFA from Stanford University.
Zarouhie Abdalian creates sculpture and
installations that respond to the specific attributes of a given location, architectural setting, or social landscape. Abdalian received an MFA from California College of the Arts in 2010. She was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum, and recent exhibitions include Prospect.3, New Orleans; Audible Spaces, David Winton Bell Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island; 8th Berlin Biennial, Germany; Nothing Beside Remains, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, Australia; and CAFAM Biennale, Beijing, China.
Sebastian Alvarez, an interdisciplinary artist
and independent researcher, was born and raised in Lima, Peru. Working across diverse media, including film, audio, performance, and installation, his artistic practice explores the interrelation and fragmentation of human systems. He received an MFA in Performance Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and has performed, curated, and presented work internationally at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Whitney Biennial, New York; Postgarage, Graz, Austria; Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt; and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Art Bourges, France.
Nicole Archer, PhD, Chair, Bachelor of Arts
Department. Archer researches contemporary art and material culture, with an emphasis in modern textile and garment histories. She also concentrates on critical and psychoanalytic theory, corporeal feminism, and performance studies. Archer’s work has appeared in Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture and Working for Justice: The L.A. Model of Organizing and Advocacy. She is currently working on a manuscript, A Looming Possibility: Towards a Theory of the Textile.
Johnna Arnold is an artist, photographer, educator,
and urban farmer based in Oakland. Her latest series of photographs focuses on the relationship between herself and a massive network of modern-day efficiency, the freeway system. She has exhibited at venues worldwide, including the Headlands Center for the Arts, San Francisco Camerawork, the Oakland International Airport, and the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery. Her work is a part of public collections including Pier 24 in San Francisco and UNESCO in Paris, France.
Anthony Aziz is an artist and photographer
specializing in digital imaging, and a collaborator in the team of Aziz + Cucher. Since 1991, the team has exhibited photography, sculpture, and video installations addressing the anxieties of living in an age of technological utopianism. Their work has been exhibited in museums and festivals worldwide, including the Venice Biennale; the Biennale de Lyon; the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, New York; the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; and the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Aziz holds a BA from Boston College and an MFA from SFAI.
Robin Balliger, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist
whose research interests include globalization, geography, media, music/sound, postcolonial theory, and the Caribbean; she is currently researching urban cultural politics in Oakland. She has received fellowships from Fulbright, the MacArthur Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and was awarded the Textor Award for Outstanding Anthropological Creativity. Balliger’s publications appear in The Global Resistance Reader, Trinidad Carnival: The Cultural Politics of a Transnational Festival, Anthropological Forum, and Media Fields Journal.
Megan Bayles is a doctoral candidate in Cultural
Studies at UC Davis. Her research is located at the intersections of body theory, medical history, freak and disability studies, museum studies, visual culture, and material culture. She also recently co-edited (with Achy Obejas) Immigrant Voices: 21st Century Stories (Great Books Foundation, 2014), a collection of short stories by immigrant writers in the United States. She holds a BA from Macalester College.
Jessica Beard is a literary scholar interested in
experimental writing, archives, book arts, textual studies, and critical theory. She received her doctorate in Literature at UC Santa Cruz, writing a dissertation focusing on the chaotic archive of poet Emily Dickinson. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from SFSU and an MA in Poetics from SUNY Buffalo.
Chris Bell is a site-specific installation artist and
sculptor. His experimental research focuses on systems common to Western culture: electricity, architectural space, perception, and natural phenomena. He has received support from the Australian Council of the Arts and the PollockKrasner foundation (1999, 2009). In 2013, he was commissioned by the Exploratorium to create a kinetic installation for their new location. Bell holds a BFA from Sydney College of the Arts, completed post-baccalaureate study at R.M.I.T. University, and earned an MFA from Stanford University.
Cindy Bello’s current research focuses on the
aesthetics and politics of cultural production in the contemporary context of the Columbian armed conflict. Her broader research interests include Latin American cultural studies, aesthetic theory, visual culture, feminist theory, postcolonial theory, critical legal studies, museum and curatorial studies, human rights, transitional justice, and memory studies. She received her PhD in History of Consciousness, with a designated emphasis in Feminist Studies, from UC Santa Cruz. She also holds a BA in Comparative Literature from Oberlin College.
JD Beltran is a conceptual artist, filmmaker,
writer, designer, and curator. She received the Artadia Grant and Skowhegan Residency, and has exhibited internationally, including at The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; SFMOMA; Cité des Ondes Vidéo et Art Électronique, Montreal; ProArte, Saint Petersburg, Russia; and at the 2006, 2008, and 2012 ZeroOne New Media Biennials, San Jose, California. She is also president of the San Francisco Arts Commission.
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Timothy Berry’s hybrid paintings/prints reflect,
through both process and content, a visual inquiry into such symbolically loaded material as nature provides, as a way to take past experience and expand upon it in a larger context that is resonant for our times. His latest work was exhibited in a solo show at B. Sakata Garo, Sacramento, California, in 2014.
Beth Bird is an award-winning documentary
filmmaker and scholar whose expertise extends across the fields of film, photography, and contemporary art. Her first feature film, Everyone Their Grain of Sand, is the story of a highly organized, low-income community struggling to survive amidst the changes NAFTA has brought to the border region of Mexico. She holds an MFA from California Institute of the Arts and a BA from Brown University.
Libby Black is a painter and sculptural installation
artist living in Berkeley. She has exhibited nationally in shows including Bay Area Now 4 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; the California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach; and The Superfly Effect at the Jersey City Museum. She received a BFA from Cleveland Institute of Art in 1999 and an MFA from California College of the Arts in 2001.
Lisa Blatt is attracted to the light, beauty, and
simplicity of the desert, but stays for its complexity, contradictions, and secrets. She often works in extreme landscapes, including camping on a live volcano in Antarctica where she survived a Condition One storm trapped in her tent for six nights. Her work has been exhibited widely internationally and domestically. She holds an MFA from SFAI, a JD from the University of Michigan Law School, and an AB from Duke University.
Matt Borruso is a visual artist who lives and works
in San Francisco. Recent solo shows include The Hermit’s Revenge Fantasy at Steven Wolf Fine Arts and Return to Holy Mountain at 2nd Floor Projects, both in San Francisco. His work has been included in exhibitions at the Manhattan Cultural Council, Derek Eller, and Anna Kustera, in New York; the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery; Headlands Center for the Arts; and Exile Projects, Berlin; among others.
Lydia Brawner researches performance in
contemporary art with concentrations in gender studies and religious studies. As an artist she has performed at numerous venues in New York City and the Bay Area. She is currently a PhD candidate in Performance Studies at New York University, where she earned her MA in Performance Studies. She also received a BA in Religious Studies from Macalester College.
Johanna Breiding is a multi-media artist and
photographer who was conceived in Death Valley and raised in Switzerland. In 2012, she graduated from California Institute of the Arts with a master’s degree in Photography and Related Media. Breiding’s practice deals with issues of identity, loss, crossculturalism, and the changing environment. She is currently working on End of the Line, a long-term, ongoing project addressing memory, entropy, and the death of analog photography via the historical and environmental significance of a small town, Keeler, California.
Pegan Brooke makes paintings inspired by her
studio environs in Bolinas, California, and Ketchum, Idaho, and maintains a parallel practice of creating video/poems filmed near the Aven River in Pont-Aven, France. Light falling on water as visual metaphor for the fleeting quality of experience is a central theme of the work. Brooke has exhibited extensively, and her work is owned by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; SFMOMA; Des Moines Art Museum; Swig Collection, San Francisco; and Anderson Collection, Menlo Park, California. Her work has been widely reviewed in Art in America, The New York Times, and ArtWeek.
Brad Brown is an artist working primarily in
Linda Connor is a photographer and dedicated
educator who approaches both roles by enlisting the power of images—the ways they communicate, their unique properties, and how they interrelate. She has exhibited widely for the last four decades, both internationally and nationally, and is the recipient of many awards and grants, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and multiple grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2002, she founded PhotoAlliance. She has been a driving force in the Bay Area’s photographic community and has helped to make that community accessible to her students.
Kevin E. Consey’s research interests are in the
drawings and works on paper. His largest project to date, The Look Stains, began in 1987 and consists of tens of thousands of works on paper that are continually worked on, torn up, redrawn, and recontextualized. His work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; SFMOMA; The National Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Legion of Honor, San Francisco; Arkansas Art Museum, Little Rock; and Boise Art Museum, Idaho.
leadership, management, organization, business, and ethical practices of art museums and art institutions. Consey has been a museum curator or director for 35 years, and has held positions at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; among other institutions. He is currently Executive Vice President of the Harriet and Esteban Vicente Foundation, New York and Madrid.
Dale Carrico teaches philosophy, critical theory,
Christopher Coppola, Director of Film. Coppola
and science and technology studies, focusing on the planetarity of both environmental concerns and peer-to-peer media formations. Recently, Carrico organized conferences on feminist bioethics at UC Berkeley and on human “enhancement” and human rights at Stanford. His writings have appeared in Existenz, Re-Public, World Changing, and The Foundation for Peer to Peer Alternatives. He writes about the politics of technoscience, developmentalist ideology, futurological subcultures, and the suffusion of public life by marketing norms on his blog, Amor Mundi.
John Chiara is a San Francisco–based
photographer working in large-format, unique, no-film photographs that are viscerally evocative of place, presence, and materiality. In 2011, his Bridge Project was commissioned by The Pilara Foundation in San Francisco and included in the Pier 24 Photography exhibition HERE. In 2012, Chiara was one of 13 international artists whose work was included in the exhibition Crown Point Press at Fifty at the de Young Museum, San Francisco. Chiara’s work has also recently been included in Staking Claim: A California Invitational, a triennial exhibition at Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego.
Anne Colvin is a Scottish artist based in San
Francisco who works primarily with the moving image. Working with a combination of found footage and her own filmic observations, Colvin’s work has a heightened awareness of time, frame, texture, and gesture. Recent exhibitions include The Shape of a Pocket: Anne Colvin and Margaret Tait, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland; One Minute Film Festival: 10 Years, MASS MoCA; and The Very Eye of Night, Jancar Gallery, Los Angeles.
Kimberly Connerton, PhD, is an international
lecturer, researcher, and spatial artist specializing in architecture, interior and spatial design, and art. Connerton is currently writing a book on the topic of interdependent and reciprocal relationships between installation art and architecture from the 1960s to the twenty-first century. She has published and exhibited in Australia, the United States, Spain, England, and Canada. She holds a PhD from the University of Sydney, Sydney College of the Arts, and a BFA from University of the Arts, Philadelphia.
is a film producer, director, screenwriter, and digital film entrepreneur. His company, Christopher R. Coppola Enterprises, produces feature films, episodic television, and alternative media. He is the founder of Project Accessible Hollywood, a hands-on, nonprofit, international digital-filmmaking festival for both nonfilmmakers and student filmmakers. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild, and the California Arts Council.
Dewey Crumpler ’s work examines issues of
globalization and cultural commodification through the integration of digital imagery, video, and traditional painting techniques. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and is in the permanent collections of the Oakland Museum of California; the Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California; and the California African American Museum, Los Angeles. Crumpler has received a Flintridge Foundation Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Eureka Fellowship from the Fleishhacker Foundation.
Sammy Cucher is an artist and a collaborator
in the team of Aziz + Cucher. Since 1991, they have exhibited photography, sculpture, and video installations engaged with social and political themes. Their work has been exhibited worldwide, including at the Venice Biennale, the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, SFMOMA, and the National Gallery of Berlin. Their work has been reviewed in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Art in America, Artforum, ARTnews, and Parkett. In 2012, Aziz + Cucher had a major museum show at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Claire Daigle, PhD, Chair, Master of Arts
Department. Daigle is a writer, art historian, and critic whose work has appeared in New Art Examiner, X-tra, Art Papers, Sculpture, Brooklyn Rail, and Tate, among others. She was a fellow in critical studies at the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program, New York, and holds a PhD in Art History from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her dissertation, Reading Barthes/Writing Twombly, was received with distinction.
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John de Fazio’s recent work involves the
creation of “super objects”—handmade objects of desire that encode layers of meaning through the obsessive processes involved in their conception and production. These forms have included ceramic funerary urns, distorted mannequins, clay pipes and hookahs, toilet fountains, and conference room tables. In 2012, de Fazio’s work was featured in the exhibition Shifting Paradigms in Contemporary Ceramics at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, with a catalogue published by Yale University Press. His work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum, New York; the de Young Museum, San Francisco; and MTV Networks, New York.
Joseph del Pesco has been the director of the
Kadist Art Foundation in San Francisco since 2010. Previouly, he produced an experimental education program called The Pickpocket Almanack for SFMOMA, and worked as an adjunct curator at Artists Space, New York. His exhibition projects Feral Share, Black Market Type & Print Shop, and Collective Foundation explored experimental institutional strategies, and his publishing projects In Protest, Anecdote Archive, and Kapsul.org have considered new modes of collaboration, distribution, and circulation.
Janet DeLaney is a fine art photographer who
focuses her attention on the global urbanscape. After working in Beijing and Delhi, she has returned to her South of Market project, where she is investigating the present scenario in light of a past she knows well. Delaney has received three National Endowment for the Arts grants. Her work is included in collections at SFMOMA and the Pilara Foundation. South of Market is currently featured in a one-person show at the de Young Museum. She holds an MFA from SFAI and a BA from San Francisco State University.
Anthony Discenza is an interdisciplinary artist
based in Oakland. Employing a range of media— including video projection, text, street signage, and audio—his work explores our interactions with the production of mass media, as well as the relationship between textual and visual systems of representation. Discenza’s work has been presented at SFMOMA, the Wattis Institute, Ballroom Marfa, Objectif Exhibitions, Gallery 400, the Getty Center, the Pacific Film Archive, and the Whitney Biennial. He holds an MFA from California College of the Arts and a BA from Wesleyan University.
Andrea Dooley, PhD. Dooley’s work currently
focuses on genocide memorials in Rwanda as a space for reckoning with state violence and the recalibration of postconflict identity. Her most recent essay, “We Are All Rwandans: Repatriation, National Identity, and the Plight of Rwanda’s Children,” was published in The Journal of Human Rights. She is the recipient of the University of California President’s Predoctoral Fellowship and an African Studies Research Fellowship.
Carolyn Duffey, PhD, works in literary and
cultural studies. Her research interests include the Caribbean and the Maghreb; race, ethnicity, and gender in literature of the Americas; the history of Islam in Europe; French medieval poetry and history; postcolonial and feminist theory; and urban studies. She has received a French Government Scholarship for study in Paris, and UC Berkeley and Columbia University research grants. Her recent essays appear in Ma Comère, Journal of Caribbean Literatures, Women in French Studies, and Pacific Coast Philology.
Felipe Dulzaides has developed an experience-
based body of work that examines the thin line between perception and context, architecture and ideology, intent and form. His projects also explore crossing, cultural links, and the reconstruction of cultural identity today, among other themes. He is the recipient of prestigious awards, including Artadia, Art Matters, and the Rome Prize. His work has been internationally featured in a wide range of contexts, from art galleries and museums to public spaces and biennials. He was born in Cuba to a family of prestigious writers and musicians.
Laura Fantone, PhD, is an urban ethnographer
from Italy. Her past work, funded by Fulbright and Spencer grants, addresses gender and visual politics, digital cultures, postcoloniality, orientalism, and globalization. Fantone is currently researching Asian diasporas in California. Her writing has been published in Feminist Theory, Digital Creativity, and Feminist Review, and her documentary, ReSisters, has recently been distributed in the United States. Her new book, TRANS Q FEM, edited with Paola Bacchetta, featuring essays on queer and transnational feminisms, was published in Italian in 2014.
Ana Teresa Fernandez was born and raised in
Tampico, Mexico. She received her MFA in 2006 from SFAI. Fernandez was the Tournasol awardee at the Headlands Center for the Arts in 2007, and was selected to be part of the Bay Area Now 5 triennial at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Her work has recently been presented in a solo exhibition at Electric Works, and in group exhibits in the Tijuana Biennial, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, and Oakland Art Museum.
Sharon Grace’s concept-driven works in analogue/
digital installation, performance/video, and sculpture engage explorations of presence and absence. Her awards include a National Endowment for the Arts Award, an Award of Honor for Outstanding Achievement from the City of San Francisco, a Rockefeller Foundation Award, and a William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Grant. At NASA/AMES, she was artist/project leader for SEND/RECEIVE, the first satellite artists’ network. She has exhibited at the Metro Opera, Madrid; in Informatique at the Venice Biennale; and at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Lonnie Graham is a photographer and cultural
activist addressing the traditional, integral role of artists in society. Graham, a Pew Fellow and former Associate Director of the Fabric Workshop and Museum, has developed arts and academic projects cited by Hillary Clinton as a National Model for Arts Education. His work has been shown worldwide, including in Accra, Ghana, Paris, France, and the Smithsonian Institution. Graham holds MFA and BFA degrees from SFAI.
Alexander Greenhough is a filmmaker and a
doctoral candidate in the Department of Art and Art History at Stanford University. His writing has appeared in Metro, Film Criticism, and Quarterly Review of Film and Video. His three feature films—I Think I’m Going, Murmurs, and Kissy Kissy—were all set and produced in New Zealand. He has received grants from the Arts Council of New Zealand, Toi Aotearoa, and the New Zealand Film Commission.
Catherine Guimond, PhD, researches how urban
SFMOMA. His curatorial projects include the online archive Media Art Net, and the SFMOMA exhibitions The Art of Participation: 1950 to Now (a major survey of the history of contemporary participatory practice) and Stage Presence: Theatricality in Art and Media, as well as numerous monographic exhibitions.
space is integral to both the production of inequality in our society and to social justice struggles that have the potential to transform our world. She recently completed her dissertation on the rebuilding of the South Bronx in New York after its devastation by disinvestment in the 1970s. Guimond holds a PhD from UC Berkeley, an MEM from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and a BA from Wellesley College.
Thomas Gamburg is a screenwriter working in
Lynn Hershman Leeson’s artwork is featured in
Rudolf Frieling, PhD, is curator of media arts at
drama, thriller, action, and horror. A conservatorytrained actor and Bay Area native, Gamburg is a graduate of UC Berkeley (BA English, Film, and Creative Writing), UCLA (MFA Screenwriting), and The New Actors Workshop (Certificate). His writing credits include the Russian television crime series Petrovich (Kino Versia, for NTV network, 2013) and independent feature Dead City (Pulse Films, 2004). Gamburg is a former partner in Pulse Films with a focus on documentary, short narrative, industrial, and independent feature film development.
Maria Elena González is a Cuban American
artist best known for her sculptural installations informed by architecture and personal experience. In 1999, González received widespread acclaim for her site-specific sculpture Magic Carpet/Home, commissioned by the Public Art Fund. She has been a visiting critic in Sculpture at the Yale University School of Art, a resident faculty member at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and a visiting artist faculty member at The Cooper Union. Awards include a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, the Prix de Rome, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. González is currently chair of the Board of Governors at Skowhegan.
the public collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and in many celebrated private collections. Hershman Leeson has recently been honored with grants from Creative Capital, National Endowment for the Arts, Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. In 2014, a museum retrospective, Civic Radar, opened at ZKM Museum in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Betti-Sue Hertz is director of visual arts at Yerba
Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco. Her curatorial and scholarly projects are fueled by the intersection of visual aesthetics and socially relevant ideas, where emotional content is filtered through intellectual machinations. Recent exhibitions and catalogues include Dissident Futures, Nayland Blake: FREE!LOVE!TOOL!BOX!; The Matter Within: New Contemporary Art of India; Song Dong: Dad and Mom, Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well; and Renée Green: Endless Dreams and TimeBased Streams.
Fiona Hovenden, PhD, is a scholar of the dynamics
of change. Her research interests include the psychology of transformation, critical analysis of the role of the future, and the use of art to create social and personal change. With her company, Collective Invention, she creates immersive visions of the future to help provoke a reassessment of possibility through lived experience. She is co-editor of The Gendered Cyborg: A Reader.
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Mildred Howard, known for sculptural installations
and mixed-media works, is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Adaline Kent Award from SFAI; a Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship; a National Endowment for the Arts Award in Sculpture; the Anonymous Was a Woman Award; and the Rockefeller Fellowship to Bellagio, Italy. Howard has also completed public art projects with the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, Glide Foundation Affordable Housing Program, San Francisco International Airport, and the Elihu M. Harris State Office Building, Oakland.
Jason Kalogiros is a photo-based artist who lives
and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has been featured in exhibitions both nationally and internationally, including shows at Eleven Rivington, New York; 1/9 Unosunove, Rome; Rodeo, Istanbul; SF Camerawork; Civilian Art Projects; and the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago; among others. Writing about his work has been featured in Daily Serving, ArtSlant, Big, Red and Shiny, and The New Yorker, among others. He holds an MFA from California College of the Arts and a BFA from Tufts University, The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Brian Karl, PhD, has worked as curator and director at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Harvestworks Media Arts, and Headlands Center for the Arts. He has also worked as curator and consultant for Art in General, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Creative Time, and the Kitchen, and served as editor for Tellus, the Audio Art Magazine. His work has been purchased for collections and/or commissioned by the Jewish Museum, the Whitney Biennial, and the New York and San Francisco Film Festivals. He holds a PhD and MA from Columbia University and a BA from UCLA.
Bessma Khalaf is an Iraq-born interdisciplinary
artist based in Oakland. She uses photography, video, sculpture, and performance to explore the boundaries of landscape, place, and image, while employing processes of degradation, including burning, smashing, shattering, melting, defacing, eating, regurgitating, etc. Khalaf earned her BA from San Diego State University and MFA from California College of the Arts. Her works have been exhibited at Jack Shainman Gallery, New York; Steven Wolf Fine Arts, San Francisco; Southern Exposure, San Francisco; and the ISE Cultural Foundation, New York.
Paul Klein, Chair, Bachelor of Arts Department.
Klein’s teaching and collaborative studio practices foster understanding of how viewers, media, and society create meaning in specific and cross-cultural contexts. Klein also works concurrently as a design strategist and research developer. He presented his work at the 2012 International Conference on Design Principles and Practices in Los Angeles, and was recently included in In Transition Russia: Cultural Identities in the Age of Transnational and Transcultural Flux, National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Moscow.
Tony Labat , Chair, Master of Fine Arts Department.
Since the early 80s, Labat has developed a body of work in performance, video, sculpture, and installation dealing with the body, popular culture, identity, urban relations, politics, and the media. Labat has exhibited internationally over the last 30 years, received numerous awards and grants, and his work is in many private and public collections. Recent exhibitions include the 11th Havana Biennial; Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York; Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver.
Kerry Laitala is an award-winning, moving-image
artist who uses analogue, digital, and hybrid forms to investigate the ways in which media influences culture-at-large. Laitala’s work resides at the intersections of science, technology, and her uncanny approach to evolving systems of belief through installation, photography, paracinema, performance, kinetic sculpture, and single-channel forms. She recently performed an expanded cinema work entitled Trip the Light Fantastic at The Exploratorium, San Francisco.
Christina Linden is associate curator of painting
Tom Marioni is best known for his social practice
Caitlin Mitchell-Dayton’s large-scale paintings
Alicia McCarthy lives and works in Oakland,
Jeremy Morgan’s paintings are investigations into
work The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends Is the Highest Form of Art, which debuted at the Oakland Museum in 1970. He is the founder and director of the Museum of Conceptual Art (MOCA) and the editor of Vision magazine (1975–1981). His work has been exhibited across the United States, Europe, and Japan; and he is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is currently a contributing editor at SFAQ.
and sculpture at the Oakland Museum of California. Her recent work has focused on social practice, public space, the environment, and art in the Bay Area. Published writing has appeared in ARTLIES, Art Practical, Daily Serving, Fillip, Modern Painters Magazine, Paletten, Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, and numerous artists’ books and exhibition catalogues. She holds a BA from New York University and an MA from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College.
California. She received her BFA from SFAI in 1994 and also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and the New York Studio School. In 2007, she received an MFA from UC Berkeley. Her work has been exhibited in venues including Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco, and Deitch Projects and RARE Gallery in New York. Honors include an artist residency at Headlands Center for the Arts and a 2013 Artadia Award. McCarthy is represented by Jack Hanley Gallery, New York.
Bob Linder is an artist and curator living in
Frances McCormack is an abstract painter whose
San Francisco. Linder is co-owner and director of CAPITAL, a contemporary art gallery in San Francisco’s Chinatown. He holds an MFA from Stanford University and a BFA from SFAI.
Crystal Liu’s photography and paintings on
paper can be described as psychological and emotional landscapes. Using flora, fauna, geological phenomena, and meteorological events as metaphors for emotional states and personal relationships, she depicts interstitial moments of hope, longing, loss, and love. Her work has been exhibited in Asia, Canada, San Francisco, and New York, and her photographs have been purchased by SFMOMA. She is represented by Hosfelt Gallery. Liu holds an MFA in New Genres from SFAI and an AOCAD from Ontario College of Art & Design.
Jennifer Locke composes physically intense
actions in relation to the camera and specific architecture in order to explore hierarchies between artist, model, camera, and audience. Working in video, photography, and installationbased performance, her actions focus on cycles of physicality, duration, and visibility. Recent exhibition venues include Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE); Rocksbox Fine Art, Portland; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; and SFMOMA. Locke was awarded a 2012 Eureka Fellowship from the Fleishhacker Foundation.
Reagan Louie’s photography and installations
explore global transformation and cultural identity. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; SFMOMA; Gwangju Biennale, Korea; Asia Society, New York; and Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland. His books include Toward a Truer Life and Orientalia. His awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Fulbright Fellowship.
Mads Lynnerup was born in Copenhagen,
Denmark. Lynnerup has shown his work at SFMOMA; The Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; MoMA PS1, New York; Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw; and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others. Lynnerup was recently commissioned to produce two new videos for FOKUS 2014, Copenhagen. Lynnerup’s work has won numerous awards, including the Bay Area Award, a Eureka Fellowship from the Fleishhacker Foundation, an Artadia Award, the Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship Award, and a Danish Art Council Grant.
work draws on the history of gardens and landscape design. Curatorial work includes Silence, Exile, and Cunning for the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art. McCormack collaborated with the composer Kurt Rohde and the writer Sue Moon to produce a series of videos for the multimedia work Artifacts, which opened at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 2012 and traveled to venues on the East Coast. McCormack is represented by Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, San Francisco, and R. B. Stevenson Gallery, La Jolla, California.
Bruce McGaw was born in Berkeley in 1935. He
teaches painting and drawing at SFAI, and continues to paint and draw in the studio he built in 1990. Selected exhibitions include Fresno Museum of Art; Walter and McBean Galleries, SFAI; John Bergen Gallery, San Francisco; and John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, California.
Hesse McGraw is Vice President for Exhibitions
and Public Programs at SFAI. From 2008 to 2013, he served as chief curator at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska, where he developed an exhibition program focused on site-specific, immersive, cross-disciplinary, and socially engaged projects, including major public projects with artists Theaster Gates and Michael Jones McKean. Recent honors include an Andy Warhol Foundation Curatorial Research Fellowship, an ArtPlace America Grant, a Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Artistic Innovation and Collaboration Grant, NEA Our Town and Art Works grants, and a Harpo Foundation Grant.
Allison Miller received her BFA from the Rhode
Island School of Design and her MFA from UCLA. She is represented by Susan Inglett Gallery, New York, and has had a solo show at ACME., Los Angeles. Group exhibitions include Orange County Museum of Art; Bregenzer Kunstverein, Bregenz, Austria; Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles; Ameringer/McEnery/ Yohe, New York; D’Amelio Terras, New York; and Las Vegas Museum of Art. Her work has been reviewed in Artforum, frieze, Flash Art, Modern Painters, Hyperallergic, and the Los Angeles Times.
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hew closely to the formal parameters of traditional portraiture, informed by tropes drawn from comic books, illustration, and fashion advertising. Her work has been exhibited at SFMOMA; the de Young Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, John Berggruen Gallery, and Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco; the Lizabeth Oliveria Gallery and Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles; and The Drawing Center in New York. both Western and Asian landscape traditions as they relate to notions of abstraction and philosophicalspiritual contexts. Primarily a painter, Morgan’s work also utilizes aspects of digital technology to further explore the shifting terrain between the virtual and “real.” His work is in the collections of the China National Academy, Beijing; Luxan Academy of Fine Arts, China; Lucent Technologies, California; and Beringer Wineries, St. Helena, California.
Asuka Ohsawa was born in Los Angeles, raised
in Japan, and educated in Boston. She received her BFA in Printmaking from California State University, Long Beach, and her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Tufts University. Her practice often involves collaboration, including a recent edition with United Kingdom–based silkscreen studio Bradbury & Blanchard. Ohsawa is represented by The Flat, Milan, and Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York. Her work is held in numerous permanent collections, including The Center for Book Arts, New York.
Berit Potter, PhD, received a master’s and doctorate in the History of Art from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and an MA in Museum Studies from the Graduate School of Arts and Science, New York University. She has held positions in several art institutions, including a Terra Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Her research examines modern and contemporary art, with an emphasis on art of the Americas, and engages with the politics of display. She is particularly interested in the art and history of San Francisco.
J. John Priola’s photography and video work
reveals the subtle details of built and natural landscapes, depicting what presence and absence look like, while vibrating in the space between art and idea. His work has been published and exhibited widely; selected collections include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; SFMOMA; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. He is represented by Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco; Joseph Bellows Gallery, La Jolla, California; and Weston Gallery, Carmel, California.
Thea Quiray-Tagle researches Filipino/American
social movements and the production of postcolonial subjectivities in visual cultural productions, performance, and literature. She also specializes in Third World and women of color feminisms, critical geography, film studies, and queer theory. QuirayTagle is currently completing her dissertation, an exploration of contemporary Filipino/American cultural works that materially and metaphorically remap networks of kinship and identity in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. She received an MA in Ethnic Studies from UC San Diego and a BA in Political Science and Human Rights Studies from Barnard College.
Brett Reichman’s approach to realism addresses
the complexities of identity politics. This inquiry into the politics of gay culture critiques political correctness and cultural assimilation through images that convey a range of subtexts distilled through personal and political concerns. Reichman’s paintings and drawings are in many public collections, including SFMOMA, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and the Orange County Museum of Art. His work is represented by Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, and Angles Gallery, Los Angeles.
Laura Richard, Faculty Head of the Low-Residency
MFA program at SFAI, assumes a leadership role in shaping the summer Graduate Lecture Series, and will have oversight of the annual Summer Symposium. Richard works in modern and contemporary art with an emphasis in film. A PhD candidate at UC Berkeley, she is finishing her dissertation on the early film and room works of Maria Nordman. From 2003 to 2008, Richard was editor-in-chief of ArtWeek magazine.
Mariah Robertson produces camera-less
abstractions that unspool in trapeze-like ribbons and dance in architectural space. Her works straddle the languages of painting and photography, yet begin in the darkroom, where she masks, tears, chemically douses, and otherwise manipulates metallic photographic paper to startling ends. Robertson’s work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among many others.
Will Rogan is a sculptor and photographer. His
work deals with the passing of time, the materiality and history of objects, and our relationship to matter and images. Rogan’s work has been shown internationally; he currently shows with Laurel Gitlen Gallery, New York, and Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco. He is a recipient of the SECA Art Award from SFMOMA, and a MacArthur Foundation Media Arts Fellowship.
Clare Rojas’s paintings concentrate on abstract
space and blurring architectural dimensionality and geometric flatness. She has held solo exhibitions at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, León, Spain; The Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; Modern Art, London; Deitch Projects, New York; and Kavi Gupta, Chicago. Rojas is the recipient of a Project Space Residency and Tournesol Award from the Headlands Center for the Arts, a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant, a Joan Brown Grant, a Eureka Fellowship from the Fleishhacker Foundation, and an Artadia Award.
John Roloff’s recent work includes public projects
in Oakland, Minneapolis, and Atlantic City, as well as exhibitions for the Denver Art Museum, and Habitats at the Presidio, San Francisco. He has shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; SFMOMA; the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; and the Venice Architectural and Art Biennales. He is a recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, the California Arts Council, and the Bernard Osher Foundation.
Özge Serin, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist
whose scholarly interests range widely from philosophies of time and death to local histories of Marxism and radical politics to political theologies and psychoanalytical theories of subjectivity. Serin received her PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University, and she is currently working on a book manuscript, Writing of Death: Ethics and Politics of the Death Fast in Turkey, which scrutinizes as well as radicalizes the ontological and political structure of hunger striking.
Frank Smigiel, PhD, is associate curator of public
programs at SFMOMA, where he designs and implements live events, from artists’ talks and public projects to visual arts–based performance and film. He has realized live work with Martha Colburn, William Kentridge, OPENrestaurant, Rebecca Solnit, Eve Sussman & the Rufus Corporation, Stephanie Syjuco, and Mika Tajima/New Humans, among many others. He recently co-curated Public Intimacy: Art and Other Ordinary Acts in South Africa for SFMOMA at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco.
Chris Sollars’s work revolves around the
reclamation and subversion of public space through interventions and performance. The results are documented using photographs, sculpture, and video that are integrated into mixed-media installations. Awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship and an Artadia Award. Selected exhibitions include The Swimmer, Steven Wolf Fine Arts, San Francisco; Bay Area Now 6, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; Democracy in America, Creative Time at the Park Avenue Armory, New York; and C RED BLUE J, SFMOMA.
Laetitia Sonami is a sound artist and performer.
Her sound performances, live film collaborations, and sound installations focus on issues of presence and participation. She has devised new gestural controllers for performance and applies new technologies and appropriated media to achieve an expression of immediacy through sound, places, and objects. Sonami performs worldwide and has received numerous awards, including the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award.
Tim Sullivan is a multimedia artist working primarily in video, photography, performance, and installation. Sullivan has spent the last five years completing a series of works exploring the myths and stereotypes of California as informed by television, film, music, and literature. He has had solo exhibitions in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Singapore, Ireland, and Poland, and has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including the 2006 California Biennial.
Ryan Tacata is a performance maker and PhD
candidate in Theater and Performance Studies at Stanford University. He holds a BFA (2007) in Performance from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His dissertation focuses on La Mamelle (SF) and the relationship between early Bay Area performance art and the alternative art space movement. His larger research interests include support structures, automobiles in the avant-garde, and critical spatial practice.
Taravat Talepasand’s works on paper, egg tempera paintings, and sculpture draw on realism to bring a focus on an acceptable beauty and its relationship with art history under the guise of traditional Persian painting. Paying close attention to the cultural taboos identified by distinctly different social groups, particularly those of gender, race, and socioeconomic position, her work reflects the cross-pollination, or lack thereof, in our “modern” society. Talepasand lives and works in San Francisco, and has exhibited in venues including Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston; Orange County Museum of Art; and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
Aaron Terry grew up as a kid with no electricity or
running water in the woods of upstate New York until fate brought his family to Philadelphia, where he grew into the city as a young adult. His biggest fear as a child was nuclear war or a bear attack. Terry’s work has been shown in Philadelphia; Portland, Oregon; and the San Francisco Bay Area. He recently traded his digs in the Mission District for a trailer nestled into the oak and redwood groves of Canyon, California. He holds an MFA from SFAI and currently teaches there and at California College of the Arts.
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Weston Teruya is an artist working primarily in
paper sculptural installations and site and social research to explore how history, power, and geography shape community interactions. He has exhibited at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Southern Exposure, San Francisco; the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center; and Longhouse Projects and the NYC Fire Museum, New York. He is the recipient of a 2014 Investing in Artists Grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation and a 2009 Artadia Grant. He holds MFA and MA degrees from California College of the Arts and a BA from Pomona College.
Meredith Tromble is an artist and writer with a
specialization in art, science, and technology. Her areas of interest include creative process and cultural histories of creativity; protocols for interdisciplinary research; collaboration and group dynamics (including interspecies relationships); energy; and women in new media. Her recent projects include a long-term collaboration on an immersive virtual reality installation, a series of performances/lectures, and the blog Art and Shadows, funded by a grant from the Arts Writers Grant Program of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
Mark Van Proyen’s visual work and written
commentaries focus on satirizing the tragic consequences of blind faith placed in economies of narcissistic reward. Since 2003, he has been a corresponding editor for Art in America, and has contributed to a wide variety of other publications. His most recent catalogue essays include Prophetic Polymathematics: The Art of Wally Hedrick and William T. Wiley, Facing Innocence: The Art of Gottfried Helnwein, and Cirian Logic and the Painting of Preconstruction. His satirical novel Theda’s Island is being serialized in SFAQ.
Ben Venom is interested in juxtaposing traditional
handmade crafts with extreme elements found on the fringes of society. Venom was included in the November 2011 issue of Artforum and selected for Bay Area Now 6 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. His work has been shown both nationally and internationally, including at Charlotte Fogh Gallery, Denmark; Circle Culture Gallery, Germany; Wolverhampton Gallery, England; Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco; Get This! Gallery, Atlanta; the Honolulu Museum of Art; and the National Folk Museum of Korea.
Nina Waisman produces multimedia projects
that explore how technologically driven forms of control and communication impact the body’s space, time, and logic. As a former dancer, she is particularly fascinated with the critical role that movement-based modes of thinking play in forming our thoughts—neurologists and cognitive scientists call such “physical thinking” the pre-conscious scaffolding for all human logic. She has exhibited in museums, galleries, and public spaces nationally and internationally. She is Artist in Residence at The SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) for 2015–2016.
Mary Warden holds an MA from San Francisco State University and a BS from University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Steven Wolf is a professional art dealer and founder
of Steven Wolf Fine Arts, where he has organized almost 100 exhibitions since 2004. The gallery exhibits artists in all media and publishes artist books and catalogues. Since 2011, Wolf has published a blog called theoffbrand.com, and has written for Open Space, a blog published by SFMOMA, since 2012. In 2012, Wolf curated Bruce Conner and the Primal Scene of Punk Rock at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver. He holds a BA from New York University.
San Francisco Art Institute Board of Trustees & President’s Cabinet Officers
Faculty Trustees
Cynthia Plevin, Chair
Nicole Archer
Penelope Finnie, Vice Chair
Paul Klein
Bonnie Levinson, Secretary Chris Tellis, Treasurer
Student Representatives Caitlin Molloy Graduate Representative
Trustees Sandra de Saint Phalle Jennifer Emerson
Ross McKinney
Hank Feir
Undergraduate Representative
Penelope Finnie Diane Frankel
President’s Cabinet
Candace Gaudiani
Charles Desmarais
Charles Hobson
President
Michael Jackson Teresa L. Johnson
Janette Andrawes
John C. Kern
Director of Marketing and
Bonnie Levinson
Institutional Messaging
Pam Rorke Levy Jeff Magnin
Maureen Keefe
Joy Ou
Director of Development
Cynthia Plevin Lara Ritch
Hesse McGraw
Elizabeth Ronn
Vice President for
John Sanger
Exhibitions and Public Programs
Steven J. Spector Chris Tellis
Elizabeth O’Brien Vice President for Enrollment
Trustees-at-Large Don Ed Hardy
Espi Sanjana
Annie Leibovitz
Chief Operating Officer
Barry McGee Brent Sikkema
Rachel Schreiber Dean and Vice President for
Trustees Emeriti Paule Anglim
Academic Affairs
†
Agnes Bourne Gardiner Hempel Beverly James † Howard Oringer Paul Sack Jack Schafer Roselyne C. Swig William Zellerbach † Deceased
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Acknowledgements Produced by San Francisco Art Institute Zeina Barakeh, Content Editor Amy Krivohlavek, Associate Editor Anne Shulock, Associate Editor Gil Gershoni, Gershoni Creative Agency, Art Director Design by Trevor Hacker Printed by Smythe & Son, San Francisco Special thanks to: Gordon Smythe Kathleen Smythe Vera Kachouh Rachel Rutter Robin Van Wijk San Francisco Art Institute (Main Campus) 800 Chestnut Street San Francisco, CA 94133 415.771.7020 San Francisco Art Institute (Graduate Center) 2565 Third Street
Timeline Images:
San Francisco, CA 94107
Hand-painted disc for Zoopraxiscope. Courtesy of Kingston Museum, Surrey, United Kingdom
415.641.1241
Panama Pacific International Exposition, 1915. Courtesy of UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library
sfai.edu
Cover of The New Yorker magazine, February 21, 1925 Diego Rivera, The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City, 1931, fresco, 271 x 357 inches, gift of William Gerstle Beaumont Newhall, Ansel Adams at Mono Lake, East Side of the Sierra, 1947. Copyright 2005, the Estate of Beaumont Newhall and Nancy Newhall Clyfford Still, 1950-A-No. 1, 1950. Photographed by Ben Blackwell/ Clyfford Still Estate Allen Ginsberg, Howl and Other Poems, City Lights Books, Pocket Poets Series Number Four, 1956 Annie Leibovitz, cover of Rolling Stone, January 22, 1981. Courtesy of Rolling Stone Tattoo by Don Ed Hardy Karen Finley, Shut Up and Love Me, 2001. Photographed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders Archival photograph of George Kuchar Still from Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, 2009. Courtesy of Summit Entertainment, LLC Kehinde Wiley, Kern Alexander Study I, 2011. Oil on paper, 53 x 40 inches. Courtesy of Kehinde Wiley Studio
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