School of Visual Arts and BFA Fine Arts present “Once Upon a Time…,” curated by department chair Suzanne Anker. The exhibition is on view Tuesday, February 28, through Saturday, March 11, at the SVA Chelsea Gallery, 601 West 26th Street, 16th floor, New York City. Admission is free and open to the public.

“Once Upon a Time...” the world was considered flat and the earth the center of the universe. We now speak of a global geography which intersects the practices of diverse cultures and habits. Currently, however, we are faced with false news, alternative facts, gentrification, xenophobia and racism. But we can still dream of the survival of the beautiful, fair social practices and delights of the imagination. We can dream of equality for all.

As globalization transforms the receding industrial age into our current information age, and as data continues to pile up at an exponential rate, our world has become utterly reconfigured—ideologically, economically, technologically and aesthetically. An all-pervading media buzz blurs and deafens any careful examination necessary to make distinctions—subtle or otherwise—about what is at stake. In light of the recent American Apocalypse and the growing importance of symbols and their interpretation, can artists become a useful political force in at least representing an antidote to historical amnesia? Creativity is our ally.[1]

“Once Upon a Time...” represents the diversity of media as practiced in the BFA Fine Arts Department. From video to video mapping to sculpture, painting and drawing, the works exhibited here reflect our current state of affairs.The exhibition highlights those born in the USA, combined with students whose heritage is English, Ghanian, Iranian, Russian, Dominican, Japanese, Israeli, Kashmiran and Korean.

Artists in the exhibition include: Kesewa Aboah, Maumoon Ahmad, Alana Austin, Emma Fague, Raquel Hazell, Ella Hilsenrath, Mahyar Kalari, Seoyoung Kim, Shinnosuke Miyake, Viktorea Nagibina, Natalie Ochoa, Maria Semenenko, Eduardo Solana and Logan Swedick.

[1] Excerpt from Stylus, Art History Newsletter, written by Suzanne Anker, Fall 2001.

Exhibition

Once Upon a Time . . .

SVA Chelsea Gallery

Reception