Calm Before/After The Storm

Arne Hendriks, Hector Llanquín, Mary Mattingly, Zhen Zhen Qi & Yang Wang, Rachel Rossin, and The Exchange Library by Kristyna & Marek Milde

New York’s Freest Art School, BHQFU, presents Calm Before/After the Storm, the second exhibition collaboratively curated by the 2015-2016 Foundation University Gallery (FUG) Fellows. Calm Before/After the Storm highlights artists who expand boundaries and provide alternatives to expected norms by catapulting innovation over protocol. By bringing tools, skills, and ideas from a myriad of backgrounds into the world of art, these creators find themselves between two worlds, giving them the freedom to make work that changes the way audiences approach both art, and dystopian futures.

We are living in a contradictory time, waiting for an event that might influence a collective action. Or perhaps it is an event that has already occurred, which has created an instability that affects us all. The visibility of these events are made ever more opaque as they become routine. These artists work with a nuanced form of time, with practices that push boundaries to recognize new alternatives to art making.

Dystopian futures, both projected and dangerously near, saturate our imaginations and realities. Individuals working in organizations engineered to fix these problems often seem to be caught within the walls of their domains. Overwhelmed by the standards and expectations in their fields, those who try to create outside of given boundaries may find it difficult to gain recognition and audiences for their new approaches.

Art however, like other creative fields, allows creators the flexibility to present alternatives to contemporary ways of thinking and doing; alternatives that may not have been possible within their disciplines. It is for this reason that more and more creators are turning towards art to present alternatives. The Bruce High Quality Foundation University Gallery (FUG) Fellows find this a pertinent time to present the work of artists who not only work between two domains, but do so in an effort to change the course of ecological, social, and political norms.

The 2015-16 FUG Fellowship members are:

Joygill Moriah

Sarah Sandbach

Alya Albert

James Allister Sprang

Pauline Miller

Kenya E Johnson-Freeman

Conor Messinger

Sarah Kisner