Four BFA Exhibition
Claire Anderson: Individual subjectivity fills a void where language is lost. These moments where the distinction between our own self vs. an object subsides may challenge our ability to understand something without obvious meaning. We draw from personal experiences to create associations between known objects and an unknown thing. My work strives to create a space that is empty of conclusion and uses the potential of a material to equalize the identities and conditions of all objects. Our desire to find familiarity and connections is tested by a lack of singular language towards an ambiguous thing.
Hannah Rose Cole: I am interested in fracturing and manipulating reality through the layering of photography and paint. The division between photo and paint begins to blur through the use of photographic ink transfers depicting staged self-portraits. This literal and symbolic act of dismantling the alternative personas I invent, challenges the traditional role of the female character and broadens the scope of women in cinematic history. The images—hazy, grainy and soft—reflect the human psyche when challenged by emotional responses to seclusion. The resulting paintings consider the possibility of emotional disorientation and the mental decay induced by loneliness, as a result of isolation and withdrawal.
Leeandra Durfey: My most recent work is an expression of the effects of my father’s incarceration, both on my family dynamic and my own personal experience of loss. The incarceration of my father altered the course of my life and the artwork I make in response to it. It provoked an unrelenting curiosity to understand where he is, what he is experiencing, how I can remain part of his life while he is away, and most importantly what he will need when he returns. While working to express the internal and external effects of his absence I also started to look outward, to see the larger impact incarceration in the United States has on our communities, families, and the children that are left behind. It has become a catalyst motivating me to make work that engages ex-offenders with the society from which they are being denied access, even after they serve their time.
Sabrina Yagman: Humanity is a bond created through shared experiences. From the thrills of life to the mundane, we all experience a wide spectrum of external and internal encounters. What makes us each unique is the way in which we interpret and process those moments. For me, finding allure in an unassuming object—bits of lint from strangers’ laundry, orphaned gloves on the street, stray hair caught in a drain—is an invitation to recognize the sacred in the everyday. In my work, the ritual of collection is a practice of instinct. Repetition and transformation allow the ordinary to become extraordinary