Left: Halie Smith, detail from “Last Load” (2019) | Right: Zhidong Zhang, “Beauty Disguise” (2019) (image courtesy Massachusetts College of Art and Design)
Massachusetts College of Art and Design’s 2020 MFA Thesis Exhibition, on view via Kunstmatrix from May 19 through June 18, 2020, showcases the work of ten graduate students in the final year of their respective Master of Fine Arts programs. Amidst the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, this spring’s show goes fully virtual, with an online exhibition curated by MassArt Art Museum executive director Lisa Tung and a permanent exhibition website.
Visitors will find a range of work, from Harlan Crichton’s disquieting color photographs of pyrotechnics to Halie Smith’s skillful contemporary landscapes that focus on labor and class. Alongside Zhidong Zhang’s constructed photographic scenes of fantasy, fetish, and desire are Nate Heilman’s cement and found object sculptures, channeling memories and relics of combat. Photographer Jen Mawson explores abandoned neighborhoods and forgotten towns in a narrative of loss, flight, and economic decline. 2D artists Tara Hayes and Hung Ju Kan portray mental spaces, Hayes playfully overlapping real, altered, and fictional lands, and Kan mapping memories brought to life by combining flower-patterned fabric with impressions of an unfamiliar place. Huiquan Jiang and Neetu Singhal both examine a universal spiritual realm through their large-scale paintings, while Li Wang navigates his own existence in two opposing countries and cultures through painting, drawing, and sculpture.
Join the MassArt community via Zoom for live public artist talks with all participating MFA students on Friday, May 29 at 1:30 pm EST.
Visit massart.edu or go directly to Kunstmatrix to view the work featured in MassArt’s 2020 MFA Thesis Exhibition.
For more information about MassArt’s graduate programs in Fine Arts and Design, visit massart.edu/grad.
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