Features

This week’s edition of The Five sees SVA alumni and faculty celebrated around the world across fine art, film, design, comics and even the culinary space. The new business venture is coming with new exhibitions in these highlights from the press over the past few weeks.

1. In a major career milestone for Jasmine Gregory (BFA 2009 Photography), MoMA PS1 in Queens, New York, will present her first U.S. museum exhibition, “Who Wants to Die for Glamour,” on view from October 10, 2024, through February 17, 2025. “Commingling paintings with items such as wine bottles, wire hangers, tinsel, and studio refuse, she weaves scenarios whose ambiguous drama reflects the difficulty of digesting and producing within hyper-saturated cultural landscapes,” writes Fad. The show will also include a large-scale, site-specific installation for MoMA PS1.

2. When cinematographer Harris Savides (BFA 1982 Film and Video) passed away in 2012, he left an indelible mark across the film industry. Indiewire recently asked a slew of directors and crew to reflect on Savides’s impact on their projects and careers, including Noah Baumbach, Sofia Coppola, Gus Van Sant and Jonathan Glazer. One particularly glowing anecdote from the piece reads, “There was a sense of magic surrounding what Savides was able to do. When discussing what his go-to cinematographer was using to light a scene, director David Fincher used to joke, ‘I don’t know, Harris [has] got a jar of fireflies.’” 

3. Twenty years after Print named SVA faculty member Willy Wong its 2004 New Visual Artist, Wong reflects on his long and varied career in design, which has spanned New York City agencies and cultural institutions, and most recently, his own Maine-based studio Ars Marinus. With this new venture, Wong is using his talents and creativity to revitalize the local community and empower his neighbors toward social impact. “The world deserves to see your work,” he says. “Your efforts could inspire someone, perhaps even change their life for the better, so put it out there!”

4. On the occasion of opening a new branch of her Hong Kong-based vegan bubble tea shop, Mother Pearl, Po Chen (BFA 2006 Advertising) talks to Gafencu about how her advertising background, as well as becoming a mother led to founding her own brand of the popular Taiwanese treat. After graduating from SVA, Chen worked as an art director for ad agencies, and eventually sought to create a more sustainable and kid-friendly version of bubble tea with fewer artificial ingredients and sugar. “Mother Pearl isn’t just a product; it’s a community for health-conscious families,” she says. “My diverse background has gifted me a rich tapestry of influences to draw from, and the East-meets-West fusion in my cultural exposure has undeniably left an imprint on the design and branding of Mother Pearl.”

5. Best known for his comics illustrations in Image Comics’ Little Bird and its prequel series Precious Metal, as well as The Dark Horse series Bowery Boys: Our Fathers, Batman Eternal, Wolverine and the X-Men and House of Penance, Ian Bertram (BFA 2012 Cartooning) talks to The Comics Journal about his practice and the mentorship of SVA faculty member Klaus Jansen while he was a student. “Klaus taught me literally everything I know about comics in terms of storytelling techniques and the real workmanship aspects,” Bertram recalls, “where you draw all the time and you do it even when you don't want to because it’s not about you—it’s about servicing the story.”