Graduate New Forms

	Conventionally, art as a form of expression or communication tends to talk at its audience. By making participation absolutely necessary, art becomes a product of social interaction — dialogue versus monologue.  I work to create a live wire. When someone comes along to engage it, energy is passed, and the space between is charged. If no one engages, nothing happens, and there is no art.  Erte D'Garces, MFA 2009
	The issues I address range from class, to over-bearing mothers, to extreme narcissism and/or infantile refusal to face maturity and responsibility.  Because I studied philosophy for my undergraduate degree, my first attempts to explain these intentions are usually quotes or borrowed language from the texts I’m reading.  These ideas are put in contrast to new media I’ve seen and/or they are conveyed through relevant aesthetics that have caught my attention. I choose the aesthetics to reference in my work because of their cultural implications and I address class issues through my commitment to an accessible aesthetic.  Michelle Scourtos, MFA 2009
	…my work is a “wisdom work;” finding wisdom in “what is”, as opposed to what individuals think it “should be”. It is personal, seeking wisdom through the exploration of ideas, materials, mythology, and narrative.   My art poses many questions; the work defines these questions rather than answers them.  Small narratives are created which develop into a much larger dialogue with the viewer.  I explore ideas of boundaries and limitations on the fringes of the human condition and psyche. Albert Camus said “We have art in order not to die of life.” For me, this is the reason I make art...  Dean Ebben, MFA 2007
	Within the years, I have developed a strong interest in projects that bring together particular and universal undertones. As an example, in my MFA thesis project at Pratt Institute (2007), I was intended to relate the myth of El Dorado (the gilded one / the gilded man) with different elements that appropriate the original myth via two major fronts of consumerism—the automotive enterprise in North America and Hollywood’s film industry—and also, through other cultural sources that try to capture at a glance the glowing effect of the original myth. With this project I intended to build possible crossroads amid different cultural and historical contexts. Nicholas Consuegra, MFA 2007

_

_