Nexus of 12

By Bendik Sorensen
A&E Editor

As the summer is growing nearer, graduate students in the art department are scrambling around in the Steinberg Museum to prepare for the annual MFA exhibition, this year called Nexus of 12. “It’s a reflection of work from 12 artists who have learned and grown together,” said Carrie-Anne Gonzales, a photographer and one of the MFA graduate students in the show. “Nexus of 12 shows the universe’s incredible ability to harmonize individual paths and beings in and through itself.”

The show has a variety of mediums, chosen by the artist themselves, ranging from photography to print making, video art and painting. Alongside the Nexus of 12 in the Steinberg, which is up for six weeks, the artists also show their work in SIA Gallery in Chelsea in NYC. The shows are a part of a mandatory thesis for the students, and show some of the body of work they’ve created throughout their academic career at Post. “Your job is to create art… all of the time. To see where it takes you, to reflect on it, to see what drives you and how far you can come. We all have our own process and way of getting there,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales has a pretty rigid process, after over 20 years of being a photographer. “I start with sketches, or charcoal drawings, or cut-outs or collages of an idea and then I stick it to my studio wall,” she said. “There are many things up there.” Her work shows the struggle of women, relationships and of the working class, and for her thesis, she gives a nod to the Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros. “Like Siqueiros, my pieces also reflect on social and political subjects of today,” she said.

Although the students work on their theses during the time, they can exhibit anything they’ve made. “Most artists usually have some kind of theme and/or ideology that ties the works they’re exhibiting together,” said Nicholas Frizalone, another artist and graduating MFA student. Frizalone is showing paintings and drawings in the exhibit. “It’s helpful to me because I get to experience what it’s like to exhibit alongside artists of other disciplines and backgrounds,” he said.

The show in the Steinberg Museum opens April 11, and is up through May 6. It is located in the Hillwood Commons at LIU Post campus. The show in the SIA Gallery is up from April 13 to April 20, with an opening reception April 14 from 6-8 p.m.

Steinberg Museum hours:

Monday – Friday 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Wednesdays 9:30 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Saturdays 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.