i'm afraid to pimp the spirit

BFA REVIEWPART II of II

I’M AFRIAD TO PIMPTHE SPIRITHiwot Adilow 2Melana Bass 4Ryan Cain 6Finn Curry 8Carlos Eduardo Gacharná 10Natalie Hinahara 12Steven KP 14Hillary Kuhlemeier 16Claire Larkins 18Matea Losenegger 20Nadja Mataya 22Kanjana Namvech 24Emily Nelson 26Sydney Parsons 28Anais Reyes 30Carson Shipley 32Jordan Weiss 34Ariel Wood 36

HIWOT ADILOW

Arsema & The Sinner,

Acrylic & Tempera on Paper & Masonite

I create art across disciplines in order to interrogate concepts

like sanctity, martyrdom, suffering, and love. Arsema is the

name of a highly venerated Saint in the Ethiopian Orthodox

Church. After refusing the advances of a King, Arsema was

tortured, murdered, and finally celebrated for her death.

2 - I’M AFRAID TO PIMP THE SPIRIT

MELANA BASS

Afro puff

Mixed medium

My work is based on the hardships of embodying elegance

and pride even through the iron fist of racial injustices,

mass incarceration and poverty. The personal narratives

of black women are told through the lens of whimsical

portraits, in which the popular aesthetics of black women,

like skin and hair, are rendered in a multi-medium form of

color and texture.


RYAN CAIN

The Infinite Song (detail)

Mixed media drawing


FINN CURRY

THELIGHTNESSTHELEVITATIONTHEEARSPOPPIN

Nylon tent

COSMIC ENERGY SETTLING/ PRIMORDIAL OOZE,

SIMPLE CRITTERS FLOATING, SINKING, GROWING

THE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD/

THE FIRST ASCENDER/ THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE

TOO HEAVY/ TIRED, CAN’T KEEP UP/ AIR STOPS

DRAWING, BECOMES LIGHTNING, FIRE, STARDUST


CARLOS EDUARDO GACHARNÁ

For the Sun Babies Trapped in the Tundra

Mixed Media Installation

No vestige of a beginning

No semblance of an end

Between Heaven and Earth.

A meditation on the eternal nature of energy

Transmuted through different state of matter.

Liquid, Solid, Gas. Light. Death.

Liminal moments as one becomes another.


NATALIE HINAHARA

Meadow at Daybreak

Relief woodcut

My art practice is fueled by my desire to understand the

complex and contradictory relationships between the human

culture that I am a part of and the natural world we exist

within. I am interested in the strange juxtaposition of feelings

I experience when in a moment of direct relationship with

the land. There is a sense of connectedness, belonging,

and peace, but also a humbling awareness of your own

vulnerability and smallness in relation to the power held within

an river, mountain, or thunder storm.


STEVEN KP

some space in between (detail)

Plaster, Iron, Graphite, Lithograph on paper

I think about meaning and truth. The ultimate is interesting

because as you accept something as unquestionable it

can become blinding. The truth hides other truths and

that in itself is an ultimate and I think that’s funny.


HILLARY KUHLEMEIER

Particle Cloud

Projector & Maya Software

Within my work I challenge myself, I take the medium

that I am most interested in and I create with it the most

technically challenging figure that I can wrap my head

around. With “Particle Cloud” the idea was to create an

object of nature inside a sterile environment like the gallery

setting. Most of my work circumnavigates the idea of

bringing nature indoors to create a safe-space, a space of

tranquility and meditation.


CLAIRE LARKINS

Slice Type Specimen Book

Illustrator, Indesign

I’m a graphic designer who has always had appreciation

for beautifully crafted typography. This project was designed

from slices of circles and squares. The goal was to create

a simplistic, geometric typeface in ornamental and display

weights.


MATEA LOSENEGGER

Displacement

Watercolor & Pen

My series illustrates the effects of Asian fetishism by

recreating feelings of claustrophobia and discomfort.

These glorified symbols and figures are deconstructed

inside an uncanny space, stripping them of their identity

and leaving behind a damaged form trapped within an

unsafe environment.


NADJA MATAYA

Topless

Acrylic of stretched canvas, red light.

At its core, all of the art I create is some sort of portrait,

whether it is obviously figurative, symbolic, or abstracted.

It could be a portrait of an individual, a group, or a

generalized type, but it always boils down to a visceral

human experience.


KANJANA NAMVECH

Persist

Screen Print, Acrylic Paint

Would your childhood self be proud of the person that

you have become today? As we grow up, we have to

manage the expectations that we placed on ourself as

well as the expectations that others placed on us. Persist

is about hanging onto your childhood dreams.


EMILY NELSON

My mother’s hands dissecting a pregnant rat

Digital video, monitor, extension cords

I am in love with the idea of a something that begs to be

touched. My work is about body and sexual development,

and is presented in a frank, intimate visual language with

a particular emphasis on tactility.


SYDNEY PARSONS

GOLD

Oil and acrylic on canvas

Black identity is American culture. My work illuminates the

consumption of black identity by the mainstream that

is then sold back to black and brown people, who then

consume themselves by prescribing to what white America

says black culture is. This cycle furthers us from who we

are, who I am. We are the beginning, the mystics.


ANAIS REYES

Everything is Fine

Ink, wax, chocolate

Accept what you can and cannot control. You are young,

and you are learning. You will not always be young, but

you will always be learning.


CARSON SHIPLEY

Devils Lake

Albumen silver print

explore

explore

explore


JORDAN WEISS

the process of gelid magma descending and upending

as measured through seismograph, telegraph; peak XV

Cat size stone, phone cords, phone jacks

The stone represents the force of people, life, love, death,

joy, while the cords represent an exchange. An exchange

of energy, of communication, and ultimately, of temperature.

The tactility of the cords twist, turn, skip, wither, and retract,

while being held down by all things beautiful and confusing,

like reaching the peak of Mt. Everest.



ARIEL WOOD

Indent, Rise, Return

Acrylic on canvas, on twin bed

mattress frame, on bed springs

The concepts of solitude and companionship are often

considered at odds. To create the distinction between

alone and together as opposites, rejects the complexity

of emotional and psychological underpinnings that exist

within ourselves as we relate to one another. The fabric that

envelops us as we sleep holds a history of our presence.

i'm afraid to pimp the spirit

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