Press Release  February 21, 2023

SCAD Presents de:FINE ART

Courtesy of the artist and Petzel, New York.

Jorge Pardo, Untitled, 2022, set of 5 lamps: glass and hardware, dimensions variable.

Celebrated signature event features new exhibitions at the SCAD Museum of Art and programming with international contemporary artists, including a keynote conversation with honoree Jorge Pardo.

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA — The Savannah College of Art and Design presents the 14th edition of SCAD deFINE ART, the university’s annual program of talks, tours, and exhibitions featuring work by contemporary art’s most vital voices. This year’s dynamic programming, presented Feb. 28–March 2, includes a keynote conversation with renowned Cuban-American artist, sculptor, and 2023 SCAD deFINE ART honoree Jorge Pardo; a screening of Argentine-Israeli video artist Mika Rottenberg’s feature film REMOTE; and a keynote lecture by New York-based multidisciplinary artist Rachel Feinstein, among other illuminating gallery talks, panels, and conversations.

The programming complements new exhibitions on view at the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, featuring work by Pardo, Rottenberg, Feinstein, and other globally renowned artists including Ann Craven, Hassan Hajjaj, Chase Hall, Gyun Hur, Leung Chi Wo + Sara Wong, Josh Sperling, and Ana Bel Lee Washington — an international roster of artists representing countries and regions including Argentina, Cuba, Hong Kong, Israel, Mexico, Morocco, South Korea, the U.K., and the U.S. 

© Mika Rottenberg. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth.

Mika Rottenberg, Cosmic Generator (video still), 2017. Single-channel video instal-lation: color with sound, 26 min., 36 sec., dimensions variable.Commissioned by Skulptur Projekte Münster. Produced with generous support from Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark; Outset Contemporary Art Fund, London; and Polyeco Contemporary Art Initiative, Piraeus, Greece

Questioning our collective past and present with introspection and whimsy, the exhibitions capture the complexities of contemporary life and include an expansive site-related installation by Jorge Pardo (b. 1963, Cuba); a panoramic presentation of recent paintings by Ann Craven (b. 1967, Boston, Mass.); an installation and sculpture-centered survey of work by Rachel Feinstein (b. 1971, Fort Defiance, Ariz.); photographic work by Hassan Hajjaj (b. 1961, Larache, Morocco) and the artist duo Leung Chi Wo + Sara Wong (b. 1968, Hong Kong; b. 1968, Hong Kong); the first solo museum exhibition for Chase Hall (b. 1993, Saint Paul, Minn.), presented by SCAD MOA’s Evans Center for African American Studies; a collection of connected bodies of work by SCAD alum Gyun Hur (b. Daegu, South Korea; M.F.A., sculpture, 2009); a video installation by Mika Rottenberg (b. 1976, Buenos Aires); a two-part solo exhibition showcasing new work by Josh Sperling (b. 1984, Oneonta, N.Y.); and an ode to the artistic vision of Ana Bel Lee Washington (b. 1924, Detroit, Michigan; d. 2000, St. Simons Island, Ga.). Exhibitions programming also includes the group show Protégé, which celebrates the creative and professional relationships that grow and evolve between students and professors at SCAD and beyond, presented at the university’s Gutstein Gallery.

Courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery

Chase Hall, Our Final Plea on Ivory Keys, 2020–2022, acrylic and coffee on cotton canvas, 48 x 48 in.

 

“SCAD deFINE ART 2023 challenges students, collectors, and lovers of beauty to query the quotidian and question the quixotic. Glowing glass installations, fantasy-inspired painted panoramas, and three-dimensional dioramas immerse viewers in ethereal elegance. In addition to renowned artist Jorge Pardo’s magnificent work, SCAD deFINE ART guests will marvel at myriad other mediums and masterworks on display throughout SCAD MOA. Join us as we celebrate creators and inspire tomorrow’s innovators. SCAD defines art.”

– PAULA WALLACE, SCAD President and Founder
“We are so honored to showcase these incredible artists here at the SCAD Museum of Art. They have created a diverse group of important exhibitions of the highest caliber that I am certain will inspire audiences of all types. As always, the artists we work with bring such ambition, thoughtfulness, and creativity to their projects here. We are so excited to share their brilliance with our students and visitors.”

– DANIEL S. PALMER, Chief curator, SCAD Museum of Art

Many of the university’s top-ranked degree programs — including sculpture, painting, fibers, photography, film, architecture, production design, and furniture design — are represented in this year’s exhibitions and programming. SCAD students and community members can engage with the artists during the three-day event through gallery talks, conversations, master classes, collaborations, and public art.

An opening reception takes place in Savannah at SCAD MOA, Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 6:30 p.m. 

For more information, visit scad.edu/defineart.

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