New work by TCU’s Masters of Fine Arts students in dialogue with work by their primary influences

Saturday, April 24- Sunday, May16, 2010

Shafaq Ahmad, Jeff Elrod, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Nate Glaspie, Timothy Harding, William Kentridge, M, Lorrie McClanahan, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Nic Nicosia, Devon Nowlin, Adeniyi Olagunju, Tom Orr, Harmony Padgett, Christoph Trendel 

    Art-making transmissions don’t travel along a one-way street. They fill a busy intersection of exchange: between younger and older artists, regional and international artists, living and dead artists, and of course students and students. Filmmakers, writers, architects and the like join the discussion as well. We take for granted that emerging artists study the work of established ones, and consciously or not, they convey this exposure in their own work. But established artists, when taking part in a healthy art system with its free flow of communication, are watching the emerging artists, too, and if they still have a pulse they can’t help but absorb the new energy and ideas, even if it means reflecting back the reflections of their own work they see in the work of younger artists.

    The eight MFAs of TCU are clearly part of an active dialogue—with each other, with the established artists of our region and beyond, and with the history of art, design, and enlightened ideas. The connections between all the minds in this exhibition are active, no matter the geographical or cultural differences between them, and here the influences on the MFAs' work spike a greater understanding of contextual starting points, while the art between the students vibrates in its art-school ritual of appreciation, critique, and rebuttal. - Christina Rees, curator