Opening Reception | Easy to Love: The Annual First-Year MFA Exhibition
Five dynamic artists from Stanford’s MFA program in Art Practice join forces for the first time to present an exhibition of their latest work. Brett Amory, Mad Luellen, Stuart Robertson, Hannah Subotnick, and Shirin Towfiq comb the near and far shores of an ocean laden with metaphor. Their works hug the line between the difficult and the lighthearted and tackle themes environmental and urban, intergenerational and intercultural, of everyday processes gone awry and the sheer joy of making it happen. Easy to Love, marvelous to behold! —Paul DeMarinis, Curator and Professor of Art Practice
Easy to Love is on view at the Coulter Art Gallery from February 5 through March 24, 2019. Join us for the opening reception on Thursday, February 7, 4–6 pm.
Brett Amory: Through the use of digital technologies and traditional tools, I alter images of overlooked moments while exploring the disjointed snapshots that make up our everyday life, and how our unconscious mind assembles these abstract, nonlinear events to attempt to fuse together a logical, linear explanation of our surroundings. Self-referential, repeating motives, and material manipulation are used to reassess how things are seen and how our perception of space, time, and place are not always as they appear to be.
Mad Luellen investigates material allegories at the intersection of disposability, queer bodies, and plastics. He was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where his family owns a flower shop. Being inducted into the world of floristry at an early age introduced him to color theory, sculpture, and temporality, which continues to influence his art practice today. After receiving his BFA from The Cooper Union in 2012, Mad continued to live and work in New York, working in high-end lighting and metal fabrication, and as a tattoo artist.
Stuart Robertson is an interdisciplinary painter and mixed-media artist who explores the intersections of Jamaican Dancehall culture and mainstream USA. Stewy’s practice primarily examines the medley and clash of elements from home and abroad during his progression through various institutions, environments, rituals, and relationships into adulthood. His most recent work re-presents his own "trash," community-sourced scraps and internet-found images to create expansive monochromatic forms which blossom and disintegrate concurrently.
Hannah Subotnick makes art using film, animation, photography, dance, and sound. Although her work crosses many disciplines, at its core is a love of the transformative potential of the lens. She uses visual mysteries to explore non-corporeal intimacy.
Shirin Towfiq: My projects build empathy with others’ experiences and stories in order to break down preconceived assumptions and stereotypes. My multi-medium approach incorporates textiles, performance with objects, and working on socially engaged art projects within my local community. I work with ideas surrounding family, memory, embodied archives, and self-constructed identity resulting from feelings of non-belonging as a second generation Iranian immigrant.
Image courtesy of Brett Amory.
VISITOR INFORMATION: Coulter Art Gallery is located at 355 Roth Way, in the McMurtry Building of the Stanford campus. Visitor parking is free all day on the weekend and after 4 p.m. on weekdays, except by the Oval. Alternatively, take the Caltrain to Palo Alto Transit Center and hop on the free Stanford Marguerite Shuttle.