Contemporary Art Commons^™

Sparks: A Love Story, Stacey Kramer

MA Projects

In 1953 Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns met through a mutual friend, thus sparking a romantic and creative partnership that would endure until late 1961. At a time when it was illegal to be in a same-sex relationship, these two artists collaborated and inspired each other, and together they changed the course of contemporary art. Breaking free of the Abstract Expressionists, they chartered an artistic path forward and beyond while working from their adjacent studios, sharing intimacies and a similar mindset.  The two artists often channeled a shared sensibility and aesthetic, developing their own symbolic language even as they avoided …

Transmission/Reception, Ma'ayan Noy

MA Projects

From the 1940’s to the 70’s the California-based artist Wallace Berman produced a wide-spreading oeuvre, encompassed drawing, collage, assemblage, single channel video, and three dimensional object making. His practice was deeply informed by his interest in Jazz, Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism, film, and poetry, and more. The transmission and reception of an everflowing stream of references which informs Berman’s creative intake and output adopts a mystical undertone in his grand oeuvre. The unifying theme for Transmission/Reception asserts the centrality of Kabbalistic influences on Berman’s practice, his affinity and spiritual regard for the act of creating. Transmission/Reception underscores Berman’s underlying belief …

He Rengao Super-Consciousness Imagery, A Global Touring Exhibition, Jun Dong

MA Projects

Focusing squarely on He Rengao’s long-developed visual philosophy, this exhibition will take the form of a solo presentation introducing Super-Consciousness Imagery to New York audiences. As one of China’s most established contemporary artists, He has spent decades refining a highly introspective and philosophically grounded painterly language. This exhibition aims to situate his mature body of work within an international conversation, foregrounding painting as a site where civilizational imagination, spiritual inquiry, and aesthetic experimentation converge. The exhibition title, Super-Consciousness Imagery, encapsulates two key elements central to He’s artistic practice; it refers to the expanded state of awareness the artist seeks to …

Tradition Reimagined, Andrea Ortiz

MA Projects

Tradition Reimagined explores the dynamic intersection of traditional Mexican craftsmanship and contemporary art, celebrating the rich cultural heritage of Mexico while embracing innovative artistic practices. This exhibition brings together an extraordinary collaboration between Mexican artisans, whose ancestral techniques have been passed down through generations, and contemporary artists who reinterpret these traditions through a modern lens. Hosted at Galería Kurimanzutto’s Chelsea space in New York, the exhibition highlights the importance of preserving artisanal practices in an era where immediacy and mass production threaten their sustainability. Artisans from regions such as Oaxaca, Jalisco, Chiapas, and Puebla bring their expertise in weaving, ceramics, …

Artcatalyze Investments: Empowering Art Investment Innovation, Wan Yu Hung

MA Projects

The Art Investment Fund represents an ambitious fusion of art expertise with state-of-the-art Web3 and cryptocurrency technology, poised to revolutionize the landscape of art investment. At its core, the Fund is dedicated to establishing a secure and transparent art investment trading platform that caters to the needs of artists and collectors alike. Anchored by a team of seasoned art advisors, the Fund offers personalized guidance tailored to each client's unique financial goals, ensuring that investment decisions are informed and strategic. Additionally, a cadre of skilled art restorers plays a crucial role in preserving the integrity and enhancing the long-term appreciation …

The Birth Of "A Painting": You Yong Solo Exhibition, Dongpeng Wang

MA Projects

Curator Wang Dongpeng takes great pride in unveiling "The Birth of 'A Painting'," an exclusive solo exhibition by the renowned painter You Yong. In this thoughtprovoking display, You Yong harnesses the simplicity of the iPad to craft vivid artworks that capture the essence of individual lives amidst the pandemic. His pieces offer a window into the lived realities within mainland China during these challenging times. This exhibition is an invitation to an extraordinary art experience that breaks free from the confines of traditional art space, promising to leave viewers with lasting impressions. The Birth of "A Painting" stands as a …

Lost & Found, Minji Choi, Myeongkyo Kim

MA Projects

Lost and Found focuses on olfactory art and stimulates the sense of smell through
various means and materials. In this exhibition, diverse associations of the sense of smell are evoked through visual art. Through these fragrant works of art, personal, psychological, social, and cultural dimensions are conveyed and explored. The exhibition's title, Lost & Found, refers to the restoration of the sense of smell, which many people have temporarily lost due to the physiological and social effects of COVID-19.

Artificial Minds, Lara Bayer

MA Projects

This paper explores the artistic possibilities of artificial intelligence, as well as its ability to act as a creative being through its learned knowledge from the collective consciousness of human beings, whether this learned knowledge can be used by the AI to represent reality, and whether this can be problematic regarding learned biases from the preexisting ones of our own. Looking at the history of how far artificial intelligence has come within the creative artistic realm, examining the technical aspects of how exactly an AI is able to generate original art, and examining four artists that all collaborate with artificially …

Reclamation, Laura Day Webb

MA Projects

This exhibition will take the form of a group show of African artists who weave
/="/">cultural heritage with the contemporary, to challenge Western perceptions of African art and culture. Artists Wole Langunju (Nigeria), Prudence Chimutuwah (Zimbabwe), Lincoln Mwangi (Kenya), Moira Bushkimani (Kenya), and Angèle Etoundi Essamba (Cameroon) are confirmed to participate. In addition to the contemporary works by these artists on display, two Nigerian Gèlèdé masks have been generously loaned from the private collection of Olusanya Ojikutu, one from the early 20th century and, the other, whose dating is undetermined. In showcasing these works in tandem, the exhibition creates …

Fpi Art Initiative: A Romanian Perspective, Through The Looking Glass, Francesca Popescu

MA Projects

The FPI (Francesca Popescu Ife) Art Initiative is a curatorial business that focuses on creating pop-up exhibitions featuring emerging and mid-career artists from countries that are not as widely represented in New York or other major art markets. The foundation of this company is to form partnerships with real estate, hospitality, and public venues to host curated pop-up exhibitions throughout New York City and the Hamptons with future goals to expand nationally. The objective is to showcase artwork within a home environment where individuals and collectors interested in art and design can view and discover new artists exhibited within a …

Distorted Icons In Contemporary Art: An Examination Into How We Know What We Know And Why, Alessandra Ruggiero

MA Projects

The purpose of this exhibition, Distorted Icons in Contemporary Art: An Examination into How We Know What We Know and Why, is to explore the nature of icons, specifically contemporary renditions of modern or traditional icons. Colloquially, icons are a symbol of something well-known or an image that is easily recognizable. Traditionally, icons refer to religious figures, most commonly devotional paintings in Roman Catholic and Orthodox Greek churches and are used as a means of prayer to represent peace, piety and faith. However, what constitutes an icon in Western contemporary culture has changed significantly. Devotional images have been replaced by …

Index Of Mind, Ziqing Gao

MA Projects

Li Xiangming: Index of Mind, is an exhibition focuses on the artist’s recent productions and his contemplation of “object” and “its relations.” The collection demonstrates the artist’s freewill of creation and his hope of conveying his care and bring attention to the group of people who has been neglected in the trace of history. Li has not only been dedicated to express the living condition and mental state of a certain region, though to express the life and the will to live shared by all through his use of ordinary materials and subject matters with collective memories. This exhibition could …

A Body Of Work, Ali Edelson

MA Projects

“A Body of Work”, the working title for this curatorial proposal, examines how a group of emerging female artists represent the female form in their work. The representation of the female form, and more specifically the female nude, has long been a key part of art history. For many years, men took ownership over women’s bodies as a commodity, especially in the case of nudes. In the 20th century, feminist artists began to take more power over the ways in which the female form was portrayed by either refusing to commodify or sexualize it or taking ownership over it themselves. …

Gallery K : Business Plan, Shane Shenghan Kong

MA Projects

This business plan is to open a commercial art gallery in Vancouver, Canada. This business plan will elaborate on the art market in Canada, the art market in Vancouver, the gallery’s key partnerships, activities and resources, the gallery’s revenue streams and cost structures, the value propositions that the gallery offers as well as the potential challenges that the gallery faces. The key statistics from this business plan are gathered from Statistics Canada, ArtVenture’s Canadian Art Market Report 2018, Artsy.net, as well as from conversation with art dealers and gallery directors in Vancouver.

Humanizing The Tattoo: Looking Beyond The Skin's Surface, Julia Schuckman

MA Projects

Tattoos. Works of art on the skin, but what does it mean? One does not just brand themselves without a just cause. There is much that goes into a tattoo; selection of a design, collaboration with an artist, color selection, actual tattooing, and the aftermath/healing. This is the same process no matter the size of the piece. Even as a simple quote in black across a section of skin, there is more behind the ink and skin. There is an individual with a story. The exhibition, Humanizing the Tattoo: Looking Beyond the Skin’s Surface will explore the human relationship to …

Subversive Stitch, Kimberly Reinagel

MA Projects

WhiteBox Harlem is thrilled to present Subversive Stitch, a group exhibition featuring female contemporary artists that work in textiles, curated by Kimberly Reinagel. Presented at this show will be works by Eozen Agopian, Alexandria Deters, Zhen Guo, Lisa Kellner, Mariana Garibay Raeke, Kimberly Reinagel, Leila Seyedzadeh, Victoria Udondian and Christina Whitney Wong. This exhibition will look at the societal reassignment of the textile in the art market. Textiles throughout history have been primarily considered a "feminine" medium. Fabrics, fashion, embroidery and tapestry all connote a feminine background, and have thus notoriously not been received with much gravity. This exhibition is …

Untitled Art Fair Radio Panel Discussion, Dongyoon Park

MA Projects

Sotheby’s Institute MAAB students Dong Yoon Park and Nuria Richards are honored to announce the participation of a great group of speakers for a conversation about current issues in the arts, especially the impact of the global economy and social events on art production, institutions, and collections.

Have Traditional Auction Houses Been Affected By Online Ones?: The Case Of Phillips And Paddle8, Heejae Chung

MA Projects

There is always a strong demand for high quality art and collectibles. With the analysis of the case study and the interviews with experts from different auction houses, this paper will show whether the traditional auction markets have been affected by online ones.

Phillips is taking a strong hold over the middle market. In particular, Phillips’ Contemporary art department is known for focusing on younger artists, which represents lower prices than other areas. To compare in a fair way in terms of price and genre of artworks, Phillips’ Contemporary Art Day Sales in New York from 2006 to 2016 will …

The Space Of Art In The Digital Age, Ellie Isaacs

MA Projects

This journal article looks at the space of art in the digital age in order to establish whether virtual art practices will eventually render the physicality of art as obsolete. The article draws focus on the construction of virtual spaces to investigate the possibility of a consequential collapse in real space. Two key aspects that I have concentrated on are the social experience of these modes of artistic practice and the inversion of public and private spheres.