BFA Thesis (2024)
More Like ThisSCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS BFA THESIS SHOW (2024)
May 2 – 11, 2024
Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery • 808 Gallery
Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Visual Arts hosted the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) Thesis Exhibitions, on view at select BU galleries from May 2 through 11, 2024, with a public reception on Friday, May 3. The shows featured the works of the 33 students graduating from BFA programs in Painting, Sculpture, Printmaking, and Graphic Design. “The Class of 2024 has faced enormous cultural change during four years as undergraduate students. Due to the pandemic, they have adapted to different ways of working together, but creating in the face of so much flux seems to have heightened these students’ attentiveness to manipulating images and materials in new ways,” writes Dana Clancy, Director, School of Visual Arts; Associate Professor of Art, Painting, in the BFA Thesis catalog.
The BFA Graphic Design Thesis Exhibition, on view at Boston University Art Galleries’ 808 Gallery, explores four overarching themes: design for social impact, community-focused design, the portrayal and exploration of social phenomena, and the intersection of technology and graphic design. The students bring their unique interpretations and approaches to the table.
“While our design approaches differ, we find convergence in our shared experience of design as a lens for critique, culture, and connection. Even so, our interests are not fixed points. Each of us explores a range of concepts and mediums. This exhibition reflects our unique engagement with the world. Our ideas and perspectives are fluid, subject to the influence of our surroundings,” write the students.
Curated by Beth Kantrowitz, art consultant and curator, the BFA Painting, Sculpture, and Printmaking Thesis Exhibition titled, “In Their Own Words,” conveys students’ feelings through their art. “The depth and creativity evident in the words and artwork of the Painting, Sculpture, and Printmaking class of 2024 struck me profoundly and set the tone for this exhibition,” says Kantrowitz.
“Their insights, conveyed through personal statements, served as the guiding compass for my curation process. To truly grasp the compelling narrative woven through their visual expressions, there is no better way than to share excerpts of their own words here: ..my art tells my story, ..art is a medium to record and heal, ..altering human’s perception of real world color, ..in a digital world artificiality seems to be a common avenue, ..carrying a capacity of memory, ..items from my object library gifted to me by my grandmother, ..difference in material associations are in fact distinctions in class, ..decorative and the abstract are extraordinary and profound, ..my paintings force me to reconsider repressed memories, imagined futures, ..to find humor in uncomfortable situations, ..it is my portrait, I am the ghost who paints them, ..through repeated marks I construct the squishmallows I cuddle every night, ..using oil paint and canvas I mix digital languages with the art historical canon, ..some part of me has never grown out of living in these virtual worlds, ..the goal of my painting is to make moments permanent. I want to seize them, ..making a body of work that is the essence of myself, ..paint what I love, ..in my portrayal of the female figure I take an approach to the body that deviates from gender norms, ..I have feelings of a cultural identity crisis, ..these people are heroes to me, ..my work is an imprint of my soul, a macroscopic display of sensuality always in flux.”
The BFA Painting, Sculpture, and Printmaking Thesis Exhibition exhibition is on view at BU’s Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery.
