80 Washington Square East, NYU

MFA Thesis, Class of 2022

Desire Lines

September 14 – October 1, 2022

80 Washington Square East

Desire Lines is an exhibition featuring five graduating Studio Art MFA students of the NYU Steinhardt School focusing on the process of mutual symbiotic growth. The works, spanning the fields of painting, sculpture, drawing and photography represent the culmination of artistic perseverance, not only through graduate school, but through a rapidly shifting human landscape of increasingly constrained circumstances. In the quiet community of the studio space and in the loud isolation of the internet under lockdown, these artists together found new material and intellectual methodologies while also refining the innate elements of their practices. Within this swirl, they shook, scraped and scratched away to emerge slightly shaken, partially raw, but fully cooked. The works shown are the respective outcomes of an unusual but uniquely powerful academic process.

with:

Daniel Chase
Arctica Delancey
Cecile Hirschler Alberti
Soel Kwun
Hugo Yu

Image of the exhibition from street view featuring several large windows situated between to large brick walls.
Installation image featuring a gallery room in the exhibition. A large white, canvas covers the windows on the left. On the right, another large unfinished looking canvas stands upright in front of the wall.
Installation image of two large, almost wall sized canvases standing upright in front of the white walls.
Installation image of two large, almost wall sized canvases standing upright in front of the white walls.
Image of one work hanging against a white wall in the exhibition space. The work consists of mangled and re-arranged bits of canvas.
Installation image of several works in the exhibition. On the left, two paintings hang against a white wall. On the back wall two rows of four works of art hang on the back wall, evenly spaced apart. On the right, a large window lets lots of light into the space.
Installation image of the exhibition featuring three paintings hung against a white wall on the left side of the room. On the right side of the room, two rows of four paintings are hung evenly apart.
Installation view of two walls in the exhibition. On the right, a dark rectangular painting hangs against a white wall, slightly illuminated by a white spotlight. On the right side wall, there are three pinkish, lighter colored rectangular paintings hanging evenly spaced apart against a white wall.
Installation view of several works in the exhibition which is dimly lit. The works shine bright with a white spotlight against the white wall.
Installation image of two works of art hanging against a white wall. Two spotlights illuminate the works of art. On the left, a small orange painting hangs with a protruding breast-like object. On the right, an abstract mish-mash of real and fake objects crowd the canvas.
Installation view of a sculpture on the floor of the exhibition. The exhibition space is dim, almost no light shines except for a spotlight on the object that sits on teh woodo floor. The object consists of a box with a yellow top. Atop the box is an object that seems to be illegible form camera view.
Installation view of a wall sculpture in the exhibition that features a neon, white, and red light mounted to the wall in an abstract conglomerate.
Installation image of a sculpture in the corner of the gallery. The sculpture stands on two wire thin legs and climbs up to meet a light-fixture looking object with two thin wirey poles protruding from the piece in opposite directions. The corner of the floor, where the walls meet is covered in wires weaving together around like snakes.
Installation of several works in the exhibition hanging on two white walls. Each work is slightly illuminated by white spotlight. On the back wall, there are three paintings, hung evenly apart. The paintings are abstract and organic with color and shape. On the left wall, two more paintings of similar ideas are hung on the white wall- also slightly illuminate with white light.
Installation view of three works in the exhibition. The works hang on two walls, that converge at a corner. Each work is evenly spaced out and slightly illuminated by a white spotlight. The white walls are contrasted by a cement floor in the foreground.
Installation image of three works hanging on white walls in the exhibition. On the left wall, a work is slightly illuminated by a white spotlight. On the right or middle wall, that is head on from the viewpoint of the camera angle, two paintings are with slightly illuminated spotlights on them. The background of the image leads to another room with more artworks.
Installation view of the exhibition featuring three very large dark paintings on the left side of the back wall. The third dark, mostly black painting includes a teal oval on the top. On the right side of the back wall, four smaller dark paintings are hung against the white wall. Each work is illuminated by a white spotlight. In the foreground, two white, bench-sized pedestals sit on the ground with several sculptures lined on them. Some of the sculptures have neon light implements.
Installation view of the exhibition featuring three dark, mostly black paintings hanging on a white wall. While the first two are mostly black, the one on the right is black with a large teal oval, sitting horizontally painted on the top of the canvas. In the foreground, on a white bench pedestal, several sculptures sit in a row, but they are illegible from the camera view.
Installation view of two works hanging on a white wall in the exhibition. Each work is slightly illuminated by a white spotlight. The work on the left, is painted with mainly blue hues, the subject is abstract and features a light grey oval painted at the top of the painting. The painting on the right features mostly red hues, with two red ovals painted on top of one another at the top of the canvas. The white wall is contrasted by the cement floor of the gallery in the foreground.
Installation view of the exhibition featuring a white bench shaped pedestal. The pedestal has five sculptures placed atop it in a row. The sculptures are multicolored and extremely abstract. There is a red painting hanging out of focus against a whitewall in the background.
Installation view of four artworks hanging against a white wall in the exhibition space. The floor of the gallery is made of a grey cement.
Installation view of three works hung against a white wall in the exhibition. The first work consists of a darker color pallet with a blue neon stripe through the center. The middle work consists of multiple colors and multicolored christmas lights which travel down the painting, down the wall and plug into an outlet near the floor. The last work is much smaller compared to the rest and consists of blue and green abstraction.
Installation image of three paintings in the exhibition.
Image of six sculptures on a white bench in the exhibition. Some of the sculptures include neon light components of purples, pinks, and blues.