Boston University College of Fine Arts
MFA Exhibition
October 29th 2020
Oct 29th - Nov 8th, 2020

The class of 2020 includes fifteen artists working in the expanded field of painting. Using oil and acrylic paint, drawing, animation, paper making, photography, casting, and even cultivating fungi -- to name a handful of their processes -- this group of artists has uniquely reimagined the materiality of painting in the twenty-first century. 

Thematically, their collective work casts a wide net. 

Some tell stories, visualizing histories that have been erased. Others picture post-apocalyptic futures or allude to ancient symbols of life and language. For others, sensation is prioritized, where the mediumistic quality of paint traces interior worlds, rendering them tactile and proximate. For many, their work exists in response to real-time events and the shifting sociopolitical landscape. Definitions and re-definitions of globalization, gender, humor, and health are inscribed into the surfaces of these artworks, graphically, and in full color. 

This has been an extremely challenging time for the class of 2020, having been forced out of their hard-earned routines by a raging pandemic. All the while, they have had to weather a national climate of fear, distrust, and uncertainty, where information — and disinformation — shape our everyday realities, sometimes by the minute. Courageously, they have insisted on clear-eyed critical thinking. They have followed their education through, forging new ways to create and sustain community and practice. They have shown that to make art is to make sense of the world, no matter how complex it is, envisioning a future through making.

Josephine Halvorson, Professor of Art and Chair of Graduate Studies in Painting Boston University

Exhibition organized by:
Lucy Kim, Assistant Professor of Art - Painting and Interim Chair of Graduate Studies in Painting at BU
Jaya Howey, Assistant Professor of Art - Painting at BU
Lauren Whearty, Co-director of OyG Projects

Boston University MFA Painting 2020:
Anna Berlin www.anna-berlin.com @_annaberlin_
Kelley Harwood  www.kelleyharwood.com @kelleyharwood
Alex Stern https://alexsternstudio.com @alexzstern
Mack Sikora http://www.macksikora.com/ @mack.sikora 
Josh Richards www.joshrichards.studio @joshrichards.studio
Marjaneh
Yoav Hainebach www.yoavhainebach.com @hainebach
Julian MacMillan www.julianmacmillan.com @_julianjosiah 
Maggie King Johns www.maggiekingstudios.com @magglywaggly
Charles Suggs http://charlessuggs.cwsart.net/ @sggschw
Liza Clement https://www.lizaclement.com/ @lizzclement
Jana Benitez Www.janabenitez.com @benitezjana
Hana Yilma Godine www.artworksofhana.com @yilmish_hana
Diana Laurence Walsh www.dianawalsh.art @diana_l_walsh
Madison Vander Ark   https://madisonvanderark.com/ @madisonvanderark