COPY/CUT/EDIT

By Daniela Izaguirre, Richard Buchanan and Marco Pali (MFA 2016)

There is a process in which the artist’s identity inhabits the work one way or another. The real presence of identity is often overlooked. The Student Curatorial Committee (SCC) opened "Copy, Cut and Edit," an exhibition that unveiled, through the practice of portraiture, the identity of artists with three different but complementary elements.

Evidently, there is plenty of literature that states that identity is inherent in every person, but the search of identity is a process that is often belittled. In the process of creation, artists navigate, construct, imitate and tear apart systems of information. Sometimes, artists are not conscious of their in-born quest that leads to the sense of self; however, their search of identity naturally manifest in their work.

Curator Daniela Izaguirre stated that during the first month of classes she observed that many peers were finding personal insights through the use of techniques and methods assigned in class. For example, activities like analyzing our own facial anatomy that opened up internal dialogues with matters beyond observation. Then, realized there was a deeper story in the physical actions of creating artwork, a natural human narrative in making sense of who we are.

“All the world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” -Shakespeare

Daniel explains “When I think of art, I think Shakespeare said it all: Human nature is predictable. I observed as well that there is a continuous thread that ties the millennial artist, managing a social media account, and Egyptian funeral painters, that of “editing” our own identity and how others perceive it.” 

The purpose of the SCC is to allow students to broaden their experience in the contemporary art world. They are encouraged to conceptualize curate, and install exhibitions. The following are some comments from some of its members:

“During the selection of the work I did my best to put my own identity on the side and tried to read the artist’s identity in each piece. Being able to step into the world of others was a very enriching personal experience,” says Daniela

Richard Buchanan, a member of the SCC stated: “The student curatorial committee provides a wonderful platform for graduate students to engage with the curating experience. Being a part of this group has been a fantastic learning experience. I found Heidi Elbers’ (NYAA Manager of Exhibitions) input and guidance invaluable throughout the process.”

Curator Marco Palli reflects: “The best part of the curatorial process was to mingle with the student body. It was inspiring to see my peers’ work and to hear the stories and processes behind each single piece. I was honored that they let us enter into their studios. Unequivocally, I felt proud of belonging to this great community of artists.”

This exhibition is currently on view until late January 2015 on the 2nd and 3rd Floors at the New York Academy of Art. We invite you to experience it!

ADVICE FROM THE CRITICS

By Claire Cushman (MFA 2015)

On Monday March 24^th,  Sharon Louden's Professional Practice Series presented esteemed art critics Roberta Smith  (New York Times) and Jerry Saltz (New York Magazine) in conversation with Randy Cohen for “Person Place Thing” in the Academy’s Wilkinson Hall.  The room’s walls, recently stripped of the ten “Big Picture” paintings and not yet adorned for Tribeca Ball, were, for once, bare. Guests outnumbered seats, and their excited chatter, along with live bluegrass music by Duncan Wilkel and Eric Robertson, filled the air.

For his unique spin on the one-on-one interview, Cohen, (former author of the New York Times “The Ethicist” column), invites prominent figures from various backgrounds to discuss one person, one place, and one thing they care about.

A hush fell over the room when Cohen introduced his guests, but as Smith and Saltz discussed their three items, (Donald Judd, the Met, and art), the audience often erupted into laughter. Though the atmosphere was generally light, some important lessons for artists emerged over the course of the conversation. Here are a few I believe are worth emphasizing:

Familiarize yourself with the Met (and art history at large).Before coming to the Academy, I knew very little about art history. I still know relatively little, but do feel that I have a much better understanding of the trajectory after History and Theory of Composition, and Art and Culture 1, which all Academy students are required to take during their first semester.

As the couple discussed their chosen place, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, they emphasized how important it is for artists to understand art history. They encourage all artists to really get to know The Met.  “It’s the greatest encyclopedic museum in the world,” says Saltz. “You have a responsibility as an artist to see how much there is, be humbled, and see what your options are.  And to know that you’ll never live up to it.”

You cannot see too much.

As we toil away in our studios, it’s easy to forget how much art is at our fingertips all over the city. Since I moved to New York for school, my friends have often asked me about living here, and my response is generally, “Well I’m usually at school…” This talk was a helpful reminder to get out more.
“We go to 20, 30 galleries a week, and museums on Sundays,” says Saltz. “Galleries and museums are ecstasy machines – you experience your autonomy while looking at an autonomous object, and it’s great.” The couple underlines the importance of going to see the things you don’t like, as much as the shows you do. “The bad shows teach you as much as the good shows, or even more,” says Saltz. “If you go to Chelsea and see a show and think it’s bad, figure out why.”

Copy, and Redefine Skill
In discussing Donald Judd, Smith explained how after emerging from the Whitney Independent Study program, she copied Judd’s writing extensively to better understand it, in terms of both craft and content.  Judd was a Renaissance man, “almost as powerful a writer as he was an artist,” she says. “He used words in a way that were unusual but legible.”
Copying to understand applies not only to writing, but of course also to art. Every Academy student is required to complete numerous Master Copies over the course of his or her two years at the Academy. To successfully copy a masterwork is to understand how the artist achieved his or her final product.
What’s challenging is taking the skills learned from copying to the next level.  “In this school, you’re learning time-honored skills,” says Saltz. “You need to reinvent them.” A common criticism most art students hear from their teachers is that whatever they’re doing has already been done.  “Don’t listen to ‘it’s been done’,” Saltz says. “Instead, do it again. Until you make it yours. Do the American flag until its not Jasper Johns’ anymore: Its yours.”

Follow your oddball nature:

What these critics are attracted to in art is a certain intensity. “I’m interested in a glitch,” Saltz says. “In some pieces, you can see that the artist is focusing so hard that it herniates, and boom! That’s art.” Saltz compares the type of art he likes with what he typically sees in Chelsea galleries. “The Chelsea stuff can be so generic in its failures. What I like has a certain kind of blatancy to it. The failures are more flamboyant.”
“All artists are self taught,” says Smith. “So much of what we do is inborn- our handwriting, our voice… Artistry comes in many shapes and sizes.” Saltz advises students to “follow your oddball obsession,” to make all that art that we are specifically impelled to make. “Make your bad art. Honor that part of your work. Do EVERYTHING. Don’t make PRODUCT.”
In short, Saltz and Smith advise us to first understand the variety of options we have as artists, then to make the art that is most meaningful to us as individuals. Although they may not have known it, their advice lines up incredibly neatly with the Academy’s mission.  At the New York Academy of Art, “We believe that rigorously trained artists are best able to realize their artistic vision.”
Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? One final note, from Saltz: “it only takes a lifetime.”

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To learn more about Claire Cushman (MFA 2015), take a peak at her bio and recent paintings.  Remember, your thoughts are welcomed. 
  

Please visit Person Place or Thing's website to download the complete podcast. Follow these links for more details about the Academy's Professional Practice series and it's creator, artist and faculty-member Sharon Louden.

Franklyn Project - The First Generation

The New York Academy of Art is proud to be the first home of the Franklyn Project - "a collective born in the 80’s and raised at the Academy."  From their inaugural exhibition we've heard them say: "Our artistic pursuits have placed us unwillingly within the Warhol canon, tasking us with the impossibility of outrunning or rising above His relentless shadow. We wander nevertheless, surveying this Aesthetic Hell rich with the relics left in His multidisciplinary wake." With a moment to spare in their busy lives, we grabbed their attention and caught up on what's happened this year for the Franklyn Project and where they are headed.

How did the Franklyn Project begin? Evolve?
The genesis of the Franklyn Project began toward the end of our first year at the New York Academy of Art and into the summer of 2013. We were so overwhelmed with all the information we had gained that we really needed a way to unwind, let it sink in, and not think too much. It started with a few people in the basement just wanting to have fun with painting again, with no stress. We have a shared respect for each other’s work so we decided to paint a painting in 30 minutes on the same panel at the same time. Every ten minutes we would switch spots and finish each other's areas. People started to crowd around to see the process unfold. 
Next, we did portraits of each other on separate canvases, switching every 15 minutes till we decided they were done. It started to turn into a battle, pushing areas in one pass to find out the next turn it was taken in a different direction. They don’t always turn out, but we all have a shared trust. From that point, we liked some of the things we were seeing, so we decided to bring in more people.  This time we had four people in one studio, four blank canvases on each wall. We rotated every 15 minutes, this was also when we introduced Warhol as our subject matter. It was a beautiful thing to see unravel. 
Since the work wasn't part of anyone's personal body of work, it freed us up to experiment and try things that we may never have been interested in pursuing in our own work. The first project, "Portraits of Our Father", sat somewhere between just having fun with each other, feeling out what it's like to paint with a lot of other people on the same painting, and trying to make a more poignant artistic statement, (probably a little more of the former two). Now, however, the real possibilities of a collective have begun to manifest themselves in our collective consciousness and we're working to streamline a vision and take on projects with a little more organization and gusto. The process is ever evolving but the intent stays true.

What is the collective’s goal/mission? What do you hope to accomplish?

We like to make great art. We appreciate old masters and will bring back painting. The goal is always to make good work. But in this case, a lot of how that comes to be is by actually having a lot more fun than we might usually have in our own work (separate from the Franklyn Project). Maybe the short term goal is to make a lot of work, show it, and see where it leads. Nothing too fancy just yet.

Tell us about your process for the collective work.  How has the process evolved from when you first started?

At first the process was kind of haphazard; Setting up some easels cracking a couple of beers and just going from hand to brush. We were experimenting and not sure where this was going. Once we started bringing in more people we had to organize more and set up times to meet up and paint. Now we all meet in one room, usually once a week on a Friday, there's food, drink and music and a lot of painting. We readdress paintings started before that need work or we start new ones. It's pretty fun at this point because we know each other’s strong points and assign works to certain people to make the piece work. We still paint on the same painting at the same time or switch off or do whatever we want, that's what's great about it.

Your show at Bleeker Street Arts Club (BSAC) garnered a great deal of attention.  Why is that? What sets you apart?

Well, there's always something to be said for novelty, haha. But, really it's a level of real conviction. Even with our love of humor and play, there is a real seriousness and ambition that is fueling whatever we're up to.
What sets us apart besides the fact that we all paint on the same paintings, is the variety that can come out of these shows. You put some of the best up and coming artists from all over the world with different backgrounds and styles into one room and somehow they can not only agree on pieces but thoroughly enjoy what is being produced. What is being made surprises us every time we do it. 

Now that the show at BSAC is over, what’s next? Tell us what’s to come for your collective.

We can't say really, just that we have every intention to make more work and continue to show it. We are still meeting every Friday night as long as we are all still together in NYC and as long as we are still enjoying it.

Where can we find you working? Do you work together in a single studio? What’s the password?

You can find us working in our studios. At times we get together as a group to discuss the work. We often paint together as a group. These meetings are lively and social. They always include food, drink, and music. Of course the goal is to make work, but these meetings also help us stay connected and reinforce our sense of community. The locations and times of these meetings are always changing. There is no password.

Are the Franklyn Project members also pursuing individual careers outside of the collective?

Yes of course. I think it is impossible for Franklyn Project members to collectively agree to an absolute about art, and it would be rather boring if we did. What's great about having multiple practices is the flexibility to entertain ideas that inform both sides. 

Do your parents and families know you are the Franklyn Project?

Yes, my mom is very proud of us although I don't think she even know I am an artist. haha

The first and second rule of FIGHT CLUB is: ‘You do not talk about FIGHT CLUB.”  Is this the case with the Franklyn Project?  Why is anonymity important to you?  How do you intend to keep it guarded?

Funny you should ask, because the first rule of Franklyn Project is don't talk about Fight Club. The Second rule is you must drink while you paint.  The Third rule is have fun. Anonymity is important because it's all about the group effort and not the individual, I know people kind of know who's in it but it's not shouted from the roof tops. We are all pursing our own artistic paths and we don't want the project to define us individually.

There definitely is a little bit of fight club mentality amongst members of the group, and rightfully so if we want to keep a certain degree of anonymity. The anonymity allows us to be more creatively free and test ideas that maybe we wouldn't try in our own work. It relieves a certain level of pressure that is usually part of the job description in being an artist and that in turn lets us focus more on creating. As far as guarding it, right now we're resting on a lot of trust.

Will there be generations of the Franklyn Project, like the members of the Bruce High Quality Foundation?

Will there be subsequent generations? Time will tell. Right now though, the first generation is still just getting started.

Finish this sentence:  
In 2014, the Franklyn Project will not only ________, but will also _________.

Hmm...You said it best...In 2014, the Franklyn Project will not only, but will also!

Franklyn Project egg - Fabergé The Big Egg Hunt (on view Spring 2014)

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Join us for MFA OPEN STUDIOS on Friday, April 25, 6-9pm to get to know our artists and their work better.  Curious to see more Academy student work from the MFA 2014 and MFA 2015 classes before then, check out the Student Work Online Gallery.

Mid-Year Critiques

By Zoë Sua Kay (MFA 2014)

It might be said that one of the frustrating things about mid year critiques is that as soon as they’re over, the school closes because Christmas around the corner. But what about all that advice you’ve just been given?

Suddenly, despite having been absolutely exhausted from the final push in the studio leading up to it, you’re re-energized – you’ve got to go and fix that thing you’ve just been told is the collapsing point of that painting. But alas, you’re being shuffled out, slightly relieved, slightly ecstatic, slightly like you’ve just survived you first foray through the tumble dryer. 

Regardless of whether your own critique went well, or whether it was a disaster, it’s probably a good thing that no one really remembers in the immediate aftermath what had been said.   A few salient comments stick in your mind but really, when you’re under the spot light in front of one hundred-or-so of your peers, adrenalin kicks in and part of you snaps in to survivor mode.  On critique day, all the work you’ve done thus far – the desperate search for meaningful content and that entirely original stroke of genius that makes your artistic "voice" more Pavarotti than the guy at the 14^th street subway who for years never quite managed to figure out the lyrics to The Beatles song he keeps singing – all that exertion is finally, and in one fell swoop of the 15 minutes you’re assigned, either deemed worthwhile or, heaven forbid, a fundamental "mismanagement" of time.

Although I had only witnessed a couple of the mid-year critiques the previous year, I had heard the horror stories.   In the days leading up to critiques for my fellow class of 2014, compatriots were divided between fear of imminent apocalyptic disaster and a Joan of Arc-esque sense of martyred stoicism.  You try to tell yourself it doesn’t matter that much, that you’ve done what can.   By the time you you’re hanging your work, you are falling apart at the seams because you’re suddenly overcome with grief at the lackluster body of work you’ve produced.  However, when my name was finally called and the formal introduction made, something unexpected happened.  I found myself switching into the role of a host.   As I gave my little blurb about what my work was about, it felt as though I was welcoming them into the party that I guess is my art making.  And then it was all a blur.

I remember Wade Schuman likening one painting to a billboard (thanks, Wade) but it was all mixed between more positive comments and other criticisms.  So much is said in so little time and between so many "jurors" that it’s difficult to keep track of it all. In hindsight, it’s difficult to get into a meaty debate over certain points you’d have liked to expand on. The comments that are made by our professors are incredibly astute yet abridged versions of a full criticism you want explore. It’s actually rather an unbelievable exposé of their intellect and ability to get to the meat of the matter within a few minutes. This, however is the only drawback. If such insightful issues can be raised in such a short time, imagine what could be discussed if we had each had an hour of their time..or an entire day?? I think I can safely say that all my classmates were left hungry for more. Alas, we must take pity on our faculty members, and applaud what, for them, must have been a long and grueling two days.

All in all, the experience for us students was a good one.  And I didn’t even feel the urge to cry.  At the end, when people gave their congrats and shook my hand, and exhaled with a somewhat shaky sense of relief, thinking, ‘it’s all over…for now’. All in all the experience for us students was a good one. And I didn’t even feel the urge to cry. Especially at the end when people gave their congratulations and shook your hand, and you exhaled with a somewhat shaky sense of relief, thinking, "it’s all over…for now". 

My only grievance, as a young female artist, is the lack of female presence on the panel. Catherine Howe did a fantastic job of holding the flag for us and there were a few more women artists in the mix the following day, but in all honesty, my heart did sink a bit when in the morning I noticed the male to female ratio. 

Now though, after the dust has settled and I’ve had time to obsess over the transcripts of my critique, I feel armed and ready for the turbulence of the final semester. The time has come to jump back into attack mode and prove to Wade that my paintings are not fated to be billboards, thank you very much.  Besides, there’s nothing wrong with a good billboard.

 

On behalf of the students I’d like to thank the faculty for their time and effort, it really is an honor to be offered so much of it. Thanks to Holly for providing us all with transcripts and ultimately minimizing post-blur amnesia. I’d also like to thank the first years that made it in to show their support. And well-bloody-done fellow second years! 

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To learn more about Zoë and her work visit: www.zsuakay.com

 

Interested to experience critiques for yourself?  Find past critiques on Academy’s Vimeo channel.

THOUGHTS BEFORE THE FIRING RANGE

Uttering the words “mid-year critique” in early December to a second-year student is likely to induce an excited and petrified reaction simultaneously.  Can you imagine the courage it takes for a student to stand in front of an audience of their peers with their work as a backdrop explaining their intent and point of view to a group of esteemed faculty and visiting critics including Alex Kanevsky in under a minutes or less?  Sprinkle in the Dean of Academic Affairs, Peter Drake, Academy President David Kratz and you have quite the all-star squad ready to not only challenge and question the student’s techniques but the success of their outcome. Staying present during this fifteen minute critique is no small feat, especially with the camera rolling and recording every word.  However, beyond the fear and vulnerability lies inspiration that creates the space to expand and grow.

In this blog post, Adam Cross (MFA 2014) shares his experience:

From the moment I stood to present my art pieces, I began to feel a sense of relief.  Soon this public review of my work would be over, and at least now it had finally begun. All of the hard work, preparation, and anticipation for this event – the Mid-Year Critique at the New York Academy of Art – was under way.

 As silence began to fill the room, I was given the floor to introduce my work, and suddenly became fully aware of the fact that I now had the attention of the entire audience.   As I let this realization sink in, I skimmed the assembly I faced.  The first row of the all-star crowd staring back at me represented my critics – esteemed and admired professionals of the contemporary art world who were among my favorite living artists.   Beyond that sat my colleagues, an equally talented and inspirational group of artists, possessing sharp minds and skillful hands.  My fellow classmates were also capable of sophisticated critical feedback – evidenced by numerous faculty and peer discussions of each other’s works throughout the semester – but were resigned to remain silent this time, as they were not permitted comment during the Mid-Year Critiques.

Looking out, I pondered what an honor it is to be counted among these peers with this unique chance to receive comments from such a talented and accomplished panel of reviewers.  Once I introduced my work, and was able to say mostly what I had intended, it was now my turn to listen. Having talked with alumni of their experience “before the firing range,” I was told the experience was for most people like a “black out” and would be “over before you realize it.”  However, for me, it was just the opposite.  I felt as if I was wide awake for my own surgery, but rather unlike being under the knife, it was relatively painless.  Although difficult at times to remain quiet, I knew from past personal experiences that being defensive would be selfish, senseless and only rob me of valuable expert feedback.  What my critics offered was their fair, insightful and, sincere reactions that I feel so fortunate to have received.  As difficult as the truth was to hear, the honesty they provided will help to shape me as an artist, enabling me to create the best work I am capable of producing, and I know this was their goal.

To learn more about Adam and his work visit: www.adamcrossartwork.com

Interested to experience mid-year critiques for yourself?  Find past critiques on Academy’s Vimeo channel.