Four CalArtians showed work in the 2019 GLAMFA exhibition.
The Fine Art Roundtable (FAR), a collective created by MFA and MA students from California State University Long Beach (CSULB), hosted its 12th annual Greater Los Angeles Master of Fine Arts (GLAMFA) Exhibition from Jan. 27-Feb. 1, 2019 at the CSULB galleries. Included in the exhibition, Open Relationships, were works by four CalArtians: Silvi Naçi (Art MFA 19), Antoine Midant (Art MFA 19), Lucinda Trask (Art MFA 19) and Andrew Siedenburg (Art MFA 20).
According to the program, the goal of Open Relationships was “to move beyond a conventional juried exhibition and instead focus on fostering a community of artists interested in collaboration.”
Additional schools represented in the exhibition included University of California, Santa Barbara, Claremont, UCLA, UC Irvine, Otis, CSU Northridge, ArtCenter College of Design and CSU San Bernardino.
‘Bow Wake’ by Silvi Naçi focuses on concepts of gender and cultural identity as they relate to exile, migration, the idea of the illegal body and citizenship. | Photo courtesy of the artist
Naçi, an MFA student in the Photography and Media Program, was born in Albania and later immigrated to Boston, Mass. They returned to their home country in the summer of 2018 to photograph and work with LGBTQ+ communities, resulting in the two channel video installation The Bow Wake (Vala e Harkut).
The Bow Wake explores concepts of gender and cultural identity as they relate to exile, migration, the illegal body and citizenship.
‘It wasn’t until after I walked away that I realized it could have been an awkward hug,’ from ‘Ways of Saying Hello’ by Antoine Midant (Art MFA 19) and Lucinda Trask (Art MFA 19). | Photo courtesy of Antoine Midant
Ways of Saying Hello by Midant and Trask is a multichannel video installation about body language and the complexity of interpersonal communication. Each of the videos displays a variety of gestures and greetings.
The inspiration behind the work sprung from a simple encounter between the artists. Trask said, “When I saw Antoine in the hallway my hands were full of objects and there were bags looped over my shoulders, so I leaned in and I kissed him on the cheek. Such a simple action, it used to be the way that I said hello and goodbye but now I hug. The kiss felt so intimate even though my lips barely grazed his cheek.”
‘Authentic Sound Effects’ by Andrew Siedenburg who combines photography, video and sound. | Photo courtesy of the artist
Authentic Sound Effects began with Siedenburg’s discovery of Authentic Sound Effects, a sound effects record, in the CalArts library. Using the descriptions of the sound effects from the record, Siedenburg created a three-channel video installation that combined still photographs, moving images and sound.
For the full list of artists in Open Relationships visit the GLAMFA 2019 website.