2020 Art Theory & Practice MFA Thesis Exhibition

2020 Master of Fine Arts degree candidates in the Department of Art Theory and Practice at Northwestern University—present their thesis projects, concluding two years of intensive artistic development. 

Imagine for a moment that you are a small mouse running through a room, where at first the walls were distant, and then gradually they become closer and closer. While you’re at it, imagine that this is all part of some occult ritual, full of ecstasy and sulfuric slime and the art of rope tying. The images are coming in through your heart and you have to work them out somehow. They are portraits of all the people you love, so you scrawl them on sticky-notes and tuck them in hard to see places. Because wouldn’t it be a tragedy to off yourself just before winning that designer gown on ebay? While you’re at it, you realize that your monstrosity is actually a radical thing. Instead of one mouse, you are many, and from your shared abjection you cobble together a collective strength. Which is something you’ll definitely need if the sun falls down. And while you’re at it, remember the butterfly. 

Work by Alex Bradley Cohen, Anya Smolnikova, Cindy Phenix, Joshua Kent, Jurrell Lewis, Kayla Anderson, and Lauren Wy.