Calendar

Exhibition

Presented by BFA Visual and Critical Studies

CAN’T READ THE ROOM

January 25 - February 12, 2024
The letters "C R T R" are placed at each of the 4 corners of an image representing a house, in an Old English style font. In the house is an upside-down book with a "happy" and "sad" emoticon.

SVA Flatiron Gallery

133/141 West 21st Street, 1st floor, New York, NY 10011

Reception

Thu, Jan 25; 6:00 - 8:00pm

A black wall surrounds the gallery doors. To the right, the exhibition title, CAN’T READ THE ROOM and the artist names are listed. To the left, small paintings hang over a vitrine.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM,” SVA Flatiron Gallery, January 25 – February 12, 2024

Many colorful works of various media hang on walls and sit on the floor of the gallery. There is a large dragon-like fabric sculpture, as well as a painting on wooden shapes hanging from the ceiling.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM,” SVA Flatiron Gallery, January 25 – February 12, 2024

On another wall, a vertical line of polaroids runs from the ceiling onto the floor, with small photographs sticking up out of a pile of blue sand to their left. To the right of the polaroids, four paintings and mixed media works hang on the wall.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM,” SVA Flatiron Gallery, January 25 – February 12, 2024

Across the back wall of the gallery, colorful pieces of paper are pinned to the wall depicting an illustration of young children in dresses and hats with birds flying above. Several children stand in a group and one stands off to the side, alone.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM,” SVA Flatiron Gallery, January 25 – February 12, 2024

Next to the paper children on the back wall, a small box covered in a blue textile sits on the floor. On the wall to its left is an orange, blue, and green painting on a cut wood panel.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM,” SVA Flatiron Gallery, January 25 – February 12, 2024

Drawings on paper line the tops of the walls in one corner. Beneath them, colorful sculptures of body parts sit on white pedestals.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM,” SVA Flatiron Gallery, January 25 – February 12, 2024

Looking toward the gallery doors, the back of the dragon sculpture is visible, as well as the back of the wooden painting suspended in the air.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM,” SVA Flatiron Gallery, January 25 – February 12, 2024

On a black wall, a row of small paintings hangs over a vitrine. To the left, a surfboard sits atop a wooden frame.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM,” SVA Flatiron Gallery, January 25 – February 12, 2024

A different hallway has three small black and orange works hanging on the wall, before a large, bright, sequined tapestry of flower faces.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM,” SVA Flatiron Gallery, January 25 – February 12, 2024

Beside the sequined flower face tapestry, there is a circular blue painting of someone falling on the wall.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM,” SVA Flatiron Gallery, January 25 – February 12, 2024

In front of a window, mannequins hang from the ceiling dressed in different clothing. On the left wall, white and cream colored objects are arranged in a cluster.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM,” SVA Flatiron Gallery, January 25 – February 12, 2024

The other wall of the same hallway shows five large drawings on paper. At the end of the hallway, a paper girl swinging with balloons is pinned to the wall.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM,” SVA Flatiron Gallery, January 25 – February 12, 2024

In a hallway, several black, white, and red illustrations hang in a sequence. To the right there is a busy, red, yellow, and blue painting on a drop cloth.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM,” SVA Flatiron Gallery, January 25 – February 12, 2024

Five drawings on paper hang on the wall. They are filled with geometric lines and shapes, and all have different color schemes.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM,” SVA Flatiron Gallery, January 25 – February 12, 2024

In a dark room, a projection shows a casted shadow of someone reading in a chair. In front of the projection sits an empty wooden chair.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM,” SVA Flatiron Gallery, January 25 – February 12, 2024

From across the street, the work of BFA Visual and Critical Studies students is visible through the SVA Flatiron Gallery Windows.

“CAN’T READ THE ROOM,” SVA Flatiron Gallery, January 25 – February 12, 2024

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 collaborative fourth 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.


CAN'T READ THE ROOM