MFA Candidate Exhibition 2024!

 

Master's of Fine Arts Studio Art Candidate Exhibition 2024; Sloane Cabrera, Ngan Nguyen, Kathy Page 

A mixture of oil paintings, monotype prints, and installations, Master's art candidates Sloane Cabrera, Nan Nguyen, and Kathy page showcase a variety of amazing works to represent what they have been working on so far in this program. I was honored to be able to see each of the works in person, up-close and observing the hard work each of the MFA art students put in. 

Sloane Cabrera, an MFA student who's concentration is on painting and drawing created a series of works that each involve a triptych outlook. Her paintings are said to be "existing between the irrational and the rational," Cabrera says. Her artistic practice revolves around creating paintings that idealize time, memory, and the inevitability of death. Through these ideas, her works takes her viewers into another realm consisting of dreamlike scenery, experiences, and memories that all include animals, figures, and architecture. She pushes, pulls, flattens space and plays with perspective to give a very distorted image of illusions that take the viewers into another world. 

Faustus and I, 2024, Oil on Panel, Triptych, each panel: 60 x 48 inches

As a viewer of her work, I find her ideas fantastic and how well they all work together to create a melodious art piece with hues of blue, what appears to be burnt sienna, and the use of the panel itself. Her figures and portraits have this feeling of numbness, the animals feel alert and alarmed, and the objects like the apple or the houses are deteriorating. Some not fully rendered and some fully rendered to show the decomposition of some objects. One thing I absolutely find interesting are her fine line sketches that can be hard to miss if one doesn't observe the work closely. I find it very intricate in the painting like it belongs there and it makes a viewer question as to why the artist chose to leave it as a "sketch". 

Are You Going To Heaven?, 2024, Oil on panel, Triptych, each panel: 60 x 48 inches

The Searchers, 2024, Oil on Panel, Triptych, each panel: 60 x 48 inches 

Kathy Page, an MFA student that specializes in printmaking created a series of prints in which they called it "A Cartography of the Imagination". The use of the formal elements like line, color, pattern, repetition, scale, and juxtaposition are all huge aspects of Page's works. Her goal is to initiate an exploration for the viewers to see the work visually and physically from all kinds of angles. 

Red and Black, 2024, Monotype prints, acetate transparencies, ink, 120 x 90 inches

Orange and Black, 2024, Monotype prints, acetate transparencies, 120 x 60 inches

Mixed media installations were consisted of drawing, painting, and printmaking that created abstract organic forms that referenced real-world images. In Orange and Black, layering was a huge factor in this work by layering acetate transparencies and the drawings to create depth and movement. Each monotype print was composed into a grid composition. The colors indicate the earth, fire, and ancient caves. These ideas really fascinated me and seeing how well everything was put together. The colors are very satisfying together along with the layering to create depth and movement was very interesting to witness. 

Ngan Nguyen, an MFA student who's emphasis in their study are sculptures and installations. Their work revolves around the use of everyday objects to create a cohesive installation. The installations are abstract and Nguyen expresses these with her memories and imaginations. She incorporates sound, light, video, and kinetic elements that invites the viewers into an engaging environment. I definitely felt a very strong presence of this installation when walking into the room. There was so much variety of light, colors, objects that create abstract forms. The light would turn off at times and show the glow-in-the-dark effects. The installation was always in motion from the small fans around the installation. 

Untitled, 2024, installation

Untitled, 2024, paper, foam balls, wire, acrylic, Mylar, yarn, thread, tulle, Q-tips, bamboo skewers, LED lights, mirrors, bells, mini glass bottles, plastic ornaments, water pump, glow-in-the-dark powder, adhesive, and sewing pins. Installation.