Exhibition

School of Visual Arts presents “Already Broken: The Personal That Is Not Ours,” exhibition of works by MFA Art Practice students. Curated by faculty member Thyrza Nichols Goodeve and MFA Art Practice director of operations Jacquelyn Strycker, the exhibition is on view Thursday, July 10, through Wednesday, August 6, at the SVA Chelsea Gallery, 601 West 21st Street, 15th floor, New York City.

Participating artists include Callie Barker, Kristen Bisson, Hovey Brock, Tina Chavera, Amy Dolan, Quinn Dukes, Alexandra Hammond, Unnur Leifsdottir, Brandi Martin, Bryan Moore, Samuel Nichols, JD Raenbeau, Lou Woods and Pippi Zornoza.

JD Raenbeau documents his alter ego, Cordelia Fagonard, and her return to his childhood bedroom, where she plays with My Little Pony dolls. Samuel Nichols’ Tuff Rabbit is an abstract portrait of his uncle Jo “Butch” Satmary, a professional drag racer and his childhood hero, who he later learned was arrested on drug charges. “Unnatural History,” Bryan Moore’s series of drawings and sculptures, portrays historical giants, including presidents, statesmen and dinosaurs, each of whom have met untimely deaths.

According to Goodeve and Strycker, “The exhibition takes its name from a Buddhist teaching of Ajahn Chah, as explained by Mark Epstein in Psychotherapy without the Self:

Do you see this glass? I love this glass. It holds the water admirably. When I tap it, it has a lovely ring. When the sun shines on it, it reflects the light beautifully. But when the wind blows and the glass falls off the shelf and breaks or if my elbow hits it and it falls to the ground I say of course. But when I know that the glass is already broken, every minute with it is precious.”

MFA Art Practice at SVA is an expansive interdisciplinary program of study founded on the belief that artists need not be defined by their use of materials or chosen platforms. The program offers experienced artists an opportunity to deepen their studio practice and develop an advanced body of work under the guidance of some of the world’s foremost artists and critics in the heart of New York City’s Chelsea gallery district.