Janine Brown
*Workers Comp (Ode to Federici), (detail), 2023*
Bio-rubber, shredded United States currency
12”x15”x 6”

School of Visual Arts (SVA) presents Liminal Forms, an exhibition of work by seven MFA Art Practice thesis candidates: Alison Pasquini, C Fodoreanu, Heather Link-Bergman, Janine Brown, Laura Valentina Cifuentes Almanza, Maria Dolores Gregori, and Maya Ballen.

Each rite of passage is marked by the transition between who one was, and who they will become. The seven artists in Liminal Forms each created work that explores or dwells in the in-between. Born of self-reflection and research, each presentation in the MFA thesis exhibition reveals the path of each artist’ own becoming. Liminal Forms displays the variety of the interdisciplinary master's program, including sculpture, painting, collage, digital art, installation, photography, and performance. Each artist presents a body of work that accumulates at least a year of investigation into a topic that is integral to their practice and worldview.

Alison Pasquini is a visual artist and educator living and working in New York City. She grew up in Massachusetts and earned her BFA in painting from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2014. Originally a watercolor artist, she developed a love of oil painting through her undergraduate studies. Her work has since expanded to layer acrylic, oil, and digital painting. Pasquini uses surrealism and biomorphism to investigate ecological concerns and create alternate realities. Her work explores our material relationship to the modern environment, and questions dualisms like artificiality and natural forces. Alison has exhibited at galleries and fairs in Boston, NewYork, Miami, London, and Rotterdam, as well as in private collections in the USA, Italy and France. Alison is currently an MFA candidate at the School of Visual Arts.

C Fodoreanu was born into a family with a long tradition of icon painting in Transylvania, Romania. He started painting before inherently transitioning to using lens-based modalities to create his art, from photography and collages, to sculpture, installations and videos, and creative writing (poems). His work pursues a poetry of light, and explores the human body as a metaphor for how humans relate to the surrounding nature, intimacy, personal boundaries, play, fragility of life, fleetingness of time, faith and divine intervention.
C Fodoreanu holds a BA in Philosophy from UC San Diego, an MD from Harvard Medical School, and is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from School of Visual Arts in New York. As a physician who studied philosophy, he developed an intimate knowledge of the human anatomy and psyche, and a keen psycho-social acumen. This affords him a unique position as an artist to relate, transcend, and personalize his understandings of humans and human nature into layered visual works. He is the author of three poetry books (Romanian), and his visual work belongs to private collections throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Heather Link-Bergman is an artist, educator, and designer whose creative practice spans collage, book arts, photography, communication design, installation, and social practice to explore individuals’ relationships with systems of belief, bureaucracy, capital, and material culture. Her professional practice is focused on public interest communications specializing in behavior change and communicating public policy. Her work has been presented at MCA Denver, Center for Visual Art, MSU Denver, Chicago Cultural Center, ICA Baltimore, and Art In Odd Places (AiOP): NUMBER, among others, and is held in various public collections including ICA Baltimore, The Joan M. Flash Artist Book Collection at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Chicago Public Library. In 2015, she co-founded isPRESS which offers publishing, design, and letterpress printing, specializing in short-run artist books, zines, and catalogs. Publications include Citizenship: A Practice of Society, co-published with MCA Denver, and self-published titles presented at numerous juried art book fairs and zine fests, including the Printed Matter Art Book Fair, Vancouver Art Book Fair, Canzine, DINK, and Tropic Bound. She lives in and works in Denver, CO, where she is Affiliate Faculty of Art at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Janine Brown
*Housebound*
Bio-rubber, financial statements, crochet thread.
10”x 34”x 10”

Janine Brown is a multidisciplinary artist based in Southern Connecticut and New York City. Her work is informed by her experience as a fashion designer from the Midwest and her experience in the domestic space as a female and mother. She draws on these experiences to question ideas and stereotypes of people, places, and things.
Brown's solo shows include an upcoming 2024 show at Silvermine Galleries (Connecticut), and past shows at Moorpark College Art Gallery (California); Gallery 825 (California); and the Westport Arts Center (Connecticut). Group exhibitions include “Public|Private” and “New Artifacts” at the SVA Flatiron Gallery (New York City, NY); “Tra 2 Mari” at the Museo Area Archeologica Arte Contemporanea (Cisternino, Italy -work in the permanent collection); “TenWomen” at Marie Baldwin Gallery (California); and "How We See Her" at the Foundry Art Center (Missouri).
A graduate of Iowa State University, the Fashion Institute of Technology, and New York University’s Stern School of Business, Brown is currently a Master of Fine Arts candidate in the School of Visual Arts Art Practice program. She maintains a studio in the America Fabrics Arts Building in Bridgeport, CT.

Laura Valentina Cifuentes Almanza
*Twerk Video Still*

Laura Valentina Cifuentes Almanza is a multi-disciplinary artist born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia. Her work encompasses a variety of time-based media, poetry, dancing, singing, material exploration, and textiles. She moved to the United States in 2016 and in 2020, she graduated with her Bachelor of Arts degree in Media Studies and Sociology from Loras College in Dubuque, IA. She graduated with distinction, and her outstanding academic performance earned her the prestigious title of Sociology Student of the Year. Her thesis documentary La Violencia Generalizada was later awarded an Upper Midwest Student Production Award for best College-Non Fiction- Short Form time-based media piece from the National Academy of Television Arts And Sciences. Laura is also part of the School Of Visual Arts MFA Art Practice’s 2023 cohort.
Laura's creative passion lies in bringing attention to societal issues by speaking through her own lived experiences and her identity as a Latina woman. She employs an extensive sociological research methodology in her artistic endeavors, as well as a lot of experimentation with her body. Furthermore, her politically-charged work with an intersectional feminist approach underscores the symbiotic relationship between individuals and society, and how their experiences are interwoven.

Maria Dolores Gregori
Silk Flower
oil on linen
38x30cm

Maria Dolores Gregori observes objects and their emotions within the home space documented on iPhone photography, gestural paintings and drawings that dwell in the in between of daydream and reality. Maria Dolores Gregori is a Spanish artist working in painting, drawing and photography. She received her BFA in Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles and an MA in Drawing in Fine Art Practice, Maria Dolores is currently an MFA candidate at the School of Visual Arts.

Maya Ballen is a Peruvian-based artist, architect, and educator. She studied architecture at the University of Buenos Aires while being part of TAC (Creative Actions Workshop), directed by artist Mirtha Dermisache. Maya graduated as an architect in Lima, Perú, and has worked for more than 20 years developing a diverse practice that moves between art, architecture, and teaching. Maya has exhibited her artwork at MATE (Museo Mario Testino, 2019), Lima Modern Gallery (2023, 2022), Galería Grau (2022), Galería John Harriman British Cultural Center (2022), Galerie Asterisk* (2022, 2013), XX BAQ (Quito Biennial, 2016), and Nuit Blanche in Lima (2013). She has designed art exhibitions at Proyecto Amil (a local and international artistic platform based in Lima), Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI), and the Peruvian art galleries pavilion at ARCOmadrid 2019, which had Perú as its guest country.

On View
July 12-July 23, 2023

Opening Party
Wednesday, July 12th
7–9pm

Performance by Laura Valentina Cifuentes Almanza
Friday, July 21st
7pm

Admission
Free

Location
51 Bergen St.

Gallery Hours
Thursday–Saturday: 1–7pm
Sunday: 1–5pm
Monday- Wednesday: By appointment only

School of Visual Arts MFA Thesis Show: Liminal Forms