Opening Reception:

Friday, June 5, 5:30–7:30 pm at The Richard L. Nelson Gallery

Featuring work by: Jonathan Sprague, James Angello, Matthew Debbaudt, Wesley Miller, Matt Gilbert, Nuno Correia, Lauren Rayburn

The seven artists included in this year’s Art Studio Masters of Fine Arts exhibition, jjmwmnl., create works that demand time, blur boundaries, and spill over into the realm of the everyday. As we become increasingly preoccupied with the instantaneous and technological, their art offers a space of reprieve and reflection; these emerging artists encourage us to momentarily unglue our eyes from our devices and look anew at the world we inhabit.

All seven artists are committed to experimental processes, improvisational outcomes, and anti-hierarchical forms of making. Matthew Debbaudt, Wesley Miller, Lauren Rayburn, and Jonathan Sprague use two-dimensional media in order to conjure dynamic bodies, fluid texts, and abstracted landscapes. Charged issues of historical and contemporary violence, environmental ruin, and gendered and national identities percolate through their works’ surfaces. James Angello, Nuno Correia, and Matt Gilbert create environments and sculptural works with multisensory effects and strong psychological resonances. Their use of sight, sound, smell, and movement animates space and gives ordinary objects new life. jjmwmnl. provides a chance to absorb these diverse forms of artistic practice and participate in their experimental spirit.

The Art Studio MFA Program at UC Davis, is a two-year, critically engaged studio program that provides an opportunity for interdisciplinary study in the visual arts. As part of a small tight-knit community, students explore a wide range of media and approaches to studio practice. The Art Studio faculty share responsibility for the graduate program. Current faculty members include Tom Bills, Darrin Martin, Hearne Pardee, Lucy Puls, Annabeth Rosen, Youngsuk Suh, Robin Hill, Tim Hyde, and Gina Werfel. Graduate seminars provide the opportunity to study theory through the lens of studio practice as well as support students in their writing and studio-related research. Students also have the opportunity to work one-on-one with faculty through quarterly Independent Study classes.

The exhibition catalog, which includes images of the artists’ work, their writings, and a series of companion essays by Masters of Arts students in Art History, can be viewed here.