Program Support

Academic Advisor: Jan Avgikos is an art critic and historian who is based in New York City. She is a Contributing Editor with Artforum International magazine, where she regularly publishes reviews. She is widely published and her writings appear internationally in magazines, museum catalogues, and anthologies of critical writing. Recent and forthcoming texts include a monograph on Katy Grannan (Aperture Books), and essay on Roni Horn for Dia’s ongoing series of collected lectures from the Robert Lehman series. Recent and forthcoming catalogue essays include Lili Dujourie (for the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels) and Matts Leiderstam (for the Magasin in Stockholm).She is a recipient of the Frank Jewett Mather, awarded by the College Art Association for distinction in arts criticism, and was a Mellon Fellow in graduate studies in art history at Columbia University. Ms. Avgikos is an adjunct member of the faculty for the graduate visual arts program at Columbia University, and the graduate visual arts program at NYU. She is also a professor at the School for the Visual Arts in Manhattan. In addition, she lectures regularly for the Dia Foundation for contemporary arts and at Sotheby’s in their graduate American Art program.

Artist Mentor: Max Razdow - website

Documents

Forms:

Collection of Papers:

June Residency Summary
Papers
1. Taking Humor Seriously?
Midterm Artist Mentor Report

Group Critiques

Group F: Alex Gerasev, Taylor Hayes, Joe Sasarak, Anne Barnes, Marc Morin

Small Group: Laurel Sparks, Tomashi Jackson, Resident Grads: Michael Dorn, Elyse Kotakis

Individual Meetings: Peter Rostovsky, Jan Avgikos, Elyse Kotakis, Hilary Tait Nord, Michael King, Amanda Herzog, Tessa Click, Tomashi Jackson, Deborah Davidson, Sunanda K Sanyal

Seminars

Critical Theory II: Dominant Paradigms and Diverse Tactics
This course considers some emergent and dominant paradigms in contemporary cultural
production. Blurring the boundaries between diverse creative disciplines, as well as aesthetic
contemplation and political intervention, it traces a path through some of the key
conversations animating our visual and practical field. Throughout, a focus will be maintained
on how these discourses and debates overlap with popular culture, politics, technology and
social concerns. Through a series of challenging readings and discussions, students will be asked
to articulate complex artistic positions in response to this important cultural and historical
moment.

Instructor: Peter Rostovsky is a Russian-born artist who works in a variety of disciplines that include painting, sculpture, installation and digital art. His many projects attempt to bridge the gap between painting and conceptual art while remaining attentive to painting’s history and especially to its encounter with new technologies. Recently, Rostovsky has expanded his practice to explore e-books, graphic novels and comics as hybrid forms that integrate writing and visual imagery. His work has been shown widely both in the United States and abroad and has been exhibited at such venues as The Walker Art Center, MCA Santa Barbara, PS1/MOMA, Artpace, The Santa Monica Museum of Art, The ICA Philadelphia, the Blanton Museum of Art, S.M.A.K., and a host of private galleries. In addition to his artistic practice, Rostovsky also writes art criticism under the pen name David Geers. Focusing on the convergence of art, politics and technology, his writing has appeared in October, Fillip, Bomb, The Third Rail Quarterly, The Brooklyn Rail and Frieze. He currently teaches at New York University and Parsons New School.

Elective Seminar: "What For?: What Contemporary Work Are We Making and Why?" –This twelve hour graduate painting seminar intimately explores the studio work of participants to facilitate an ongoing group inquiry into the subjects and methods that drive us to paint with commitment. During the term we will explore common texts in the forms of essays, poetry, and artists’ interviews. Each student will be assigned texts (and local organizations when appropriate) in response to the expressed focus of their current projects. The seminar will also include field trips to local institutions relevant to our efforts.

Instructor: Tomashi Jackson is this semester’s Visiting Faculty. Jackson’s multi-media practice works across painting, video, textile, and the sculptural. Examining the relationship between the aesthetic and the political, Jackson creates layers of content which bridge historical actions with shifting artistic structures. Her work has been shown at venues such as MoMA PS1, the New Museum, Mass MoCA, and the Walker Art Center. Jackson is represented by Tilton Gallery in New York.