Exhibition

School of Visual Arts (SVA) presents four exhibitions taking place at the Chelsea Gallery: “Unhinged,” “Tangled Threads,” “Out of Scale,” and “Inside/Out,” comprising painting, sculpture, fiber arts, and video work by BFA Fine Arts students, curated by Suzanne Anker, BFA Fine Arts chair; Samuel Sherman, director of operations, Fine Arts; and Gunars Prande, director of operations, Printmaking. The exhibition will be on view Wednesday, February 11, through Tuesday, February 24, at the SVA Chelsea Gallery, 601 W 26th St., Suite 1502, New York City.

While canvases have traditionally employed stretcher bars as structures for painting, in “Unhinged,” such support has been eliminated. A metaphor for an unhinged time, these paintings speak to the erosion of expectations as the fabric of society is distorted amidst a multitude of opposing forces. The works vary in iconography from the abstract to the figurative; however, the material sentiment reflecting a lack of stability is consistent for all.

Moving on to sculpture, expectation is thwarted again. Steel chairs have lost their function bouncing off the wall while piercing it. Their empty seats, without any cushioning, embrace loss. A metal sculpture of a chandelier— also nonfunctional—dangles from the ceiling. Its weight and position make the visitor pause as it reaches out to the sublime by embracing both terror and beauty.

“Tangled Threads” reflects a growing desire to recapture the handmade. As the digital world envelopes us, artists have turned to weaving and sewing as a meditative process. From looms to needles, the pieces invoke the mythology of Ariadne’s Thread, symbolizing the process of navigating through complex times.

A multimedia exhibition encompassing sculpture, photography, and video, “Out of Scale” carries the traces of labor, the language of planning, and materials left unresolved. Documents, images, and objects no longer point toward clear purposes, losing their authority and directive force. Eschewing a specific location or historical scene, the installation attends to the residual spaces that have not yet been fully absorbed into institutional narratives.

“Inside/Out” highlights artists working in painting and sculpture who explore ideas of representation and repurposing. These artists, through the act of translation, use photographs and found objects as a starting point. They seek new directions and ways of re-presenting concepts by juxtaposing images from one medium to another. Through this process, they discover new visual languages.

The SVA Chelsea Gallery is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday, from 10:00am to 6:00pm, and closed on Sundays and Mondays. It is fully accessible by wheelchair.