“Next Up: Switchboard” at SVA Chelsea Gallery, 601 W 26^th St.

Tuesday, January 14 – Saturday, February 1, 2025

Reception: Thursday, January 16, 2025, 5:00 – 8:00pm

“Next Up: Reverberations” at SVA Gramercy Gallery, 209 SVA Way (E. 23^rd St.)

Tuesday, January 14 –Saturday, February 8, 2025

Reception: Tuesday, January 14, 2025, 5:00 – 8:00pm

“Next Up: Sun Chasers” at SVA Flatiron Gallery, 133/141 W 21^st St.

Tuesday, January 14 – Saturday, January 25, 2025

Reception: Tuesday, January 14, 2025, 5:00 – 8:00pm

January 9, 2025—New York, NY—School of Visual Arts (SVA) Galleries announce a revitalization of their annual slate of juried exhibitions with “Next Up,” a series of shows on view at three of the College’s gallery spaces. In this reimagining of SVA’s long-running tradition of showcasing emerging student talent chosen by a prestigious group of notable alumni, “Next Up” will comprise three simultaneous exhibitions, each representing a component of the series’ central theme of connection—between peoples, histories, ideologies—across a wide range of medium and practice. Opening Tuesday, January 14, 2025, “Next Up” offers visitors the chance to journey the trail through the College’s galleries from the east to west side of Manhattan, making connections of their own between these diverse, multidisciplinary shows.

“SVA Galleries has long been a public-facing incubator for student talent across the College’s many academic programs, and juried exhibitions are one of the best ways of showcasing that,” said SVA Galleries Director Tyson Skross. “This new chapter in our tradition of juried shows aims to better foster a sense of connection through a cross-departmental effort that bridges three experiences at three different gallery spaces for the public—and our community—to enjoy.”

Juried exhibitions have been crucial to the fabric of SVA for more than 30 years as a way for SVA students to recognize the achievements of their most distinguished classmates. Artists are selected from a large pool of applicants to the annual SVA Galleries call for entries, whose submissions undergo a rigorous examination of presented materials, including documentation of work and artist statements. “Next Up” was inspired by the “playlist” experience with each exhibition meant to be seen as part of a greater whole. This campus-wide event will showcase the work of more than 30 students representing more than a dozen departments, including BFA 3D Animation and Visual Effects, BFA Design, BFA Fine Arts, BFA Illustration, BFA Photography and Video, BFA Visual & Critical Studies, MFA Computer Arts, MFA Fine Arts, MFA Illustration as Visual Essay, MFA Interaction Design, MFA Photography, Video & Related Media, and MFA Products of Design.

The 18 artists and designers of “Next Up: Switchboard” seek to resolve severed or forgotten connections. Whether reflecting upon familial and diasporic erosion or the body's fragility, the works on view pair personal and community experiences with materials that amplify meanings. Some pay tribute to the rich histories that have led them to the present moment, while others establish new connections through their work via active observation and interaction. Each creator integrates elements of resilience, psychology, and memory into their work, emphasizing how inextricable the human psyche is from a complex yet beautiful web of influences.

In “Next Up: Reverberations,” nine artists create work in conversation with personal and social histories, weaving these varied strands of inspiration into a material to cut, layer, and piece together social commentary. Across drawings, installations, paintings, and sculpture, their respective practices connect past causes with present effects, prompting the question of how best to move forward. Whether embracing the sublime, rebuilding from grief, repurposing historical motifs, or utilizing beauty to deconstruct familiar scenes, works in this exhibition embrace contrast as a highlighting of contours. Making these shapes and throughlines more apparent, these artists encourage viewers to consider their own composite perspectives and the narratives that society chooses to elevate or dismiss.

Through painting, photography, and printmaking, the six artists in “Next Up: Sun Chasers” retrace steps and identify recurring patterns that have led societies to their present-day state. A common thread among their aesthetically varied work is the pursuit of freedom, ranging from social expectations, embedded ideologies, groupthink, and alienation. These artworks use familiar visual vernacular while embedding alternate messages amidst their subjects. Pushing for an unlinking of time-honored yet destructive constraints, they assert that transformative progress happens through acknowledging and reckoning with the past. These artists grapple with forms of darkness—emotional wounds, tradition and power dynamics—in pursuit of the light within. As they reach toward the horizon, viewers may consider new trajectories between here and the future.

Exhibiting artists include Issa Nader Elias Abu Aita, Ronnie Ahlborn, Evelyn Brabant, Ema Lauren Cadacio, Yining Cai, Leyla Cui, Amber Dacanay, Selema De Bellis, Lester Jingyi Dou, Shaohan Fang, Kailee Finn, Camya (Mya) Hernandez, Tao Tao Holmes, Elika Jiang, Guoguo Ji, Jimmy Johnson, Mina Kim, Yorknam Lam, Suzy Lee, Ziru Lin, Loren (Xuanyu) Liu, Fangzi Luo, Will Maddoxx, Evan Peltzman, Maya Satterberg, Sofiia Sichkar, Xiaoyan Sun, Zai Thakoor, David Wang, Emily (Xinya) Wang, Jessie (Qian) Wang, Jianshen Wu, Ying Zhang, and Jingyi Zhu.

Jurors are selected to represent the wide range of SVA's creative community. Each of them has become successful in the worlds of design, fine arts, illustration, and the moving image.

School of Visual Arts has been a leader in the education of artists, designers and creative professionals for seven decades. With a faculty of distinguished working professionals, a dynamic curriculum and an emphasis on critical thinking, SVA is a catalyst for innovation and social responsibility. Comprising 6,000 students at its Manhattan campus and over 43,000 alumni from some 130 countries, SVA also represents one of the most influential artistic communities in the world. For information about the College’s 30 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, visit sva.edu.