School of Visual Arts (SVA) presents “CAN’T READ THE ROOM” an exhibition of thesis work by 14 senior students in the BFA Visual and Critical Studies program. The exhibition, curated by artist and SVA alumnus Kayla Gibbons (BFA 2011 Fine Arts), will be on view Thursday, January 25, through Monday, February 12, at the SVA Flatiron Gallery, 133/141 West 21st Street, 1st floor, New York City.

The BFA Visual and Critical Studies program at SVA offers a rigorous individualized academic experience culminating in a highly collaborativefourth year, where seniors share a communal studio. Without walls or partitions to clearly distinguish the bounds of personal practice, from this shared room emerges the work for the thesis show. Fabric scraps, a mosaic of cut paper, a touch of white oil paint, rings from an old coffee cup—material residue adorns the central co-working table and becomes not remnant, but possibility.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM” embraces the complexities in presenting a group exhibition, weaving together diverse methodologies which address a range of social, political and artistic issues within a shared context. Rather than a selection of works that enhance the meaning of a singular theme, this exhibition aims to dispel artistic boundaries and bring cohesion to differences both aesthetic and cultural, where the individualism characteristic of postmodernism is exchanged for a “kind of collaboration…emblematic of democracy” (Ault). Legibility is exchanged for integration and harmony, wherein 14 distinctly different sensibilities are united by the shared impulse to create.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM” includes work by Adrian Apollo, Storey Baldwin, Jordan Banks, Eden Caine, Ellyce Chisholm-Matzek, Matthew Cohen, Malena Del Pino, Tomás Dominguez, Abbey Rose Frank, Mercedes Hieb, Geena Janovsky, June Shin, Laura Trujillo Salazar and Serena Hanzhi Wang. On the occasion of the opening on January 25, Tomás Dominguez will present a performance entitled El pregón de La Bananera at 7:00pm. At 7:30pm in room 101C, Storey Baldwin will screen her documentary short, My Stor(e)y.

For more information or inquiries about available work, please contact kgibbons1@sva.edu.

The SVA Flatiron Gallery and Flatiron Project Space is open Monday through Saturday, 10:00am – 6:00pm. Masks are encouraged but not required.