School of Visual Arts (SVA) presents "Relations," an exhibition of photography, sculpture and drawing by SVA students and recent alumni featuring artworks commenting on the nature and scope of human relationships. Curated by Richard Brooks, assistant director of student galleries, the exhibition will be on view August 2 -18 at the SVA Gallery, 209 East 23 Street, New York City.

Victoria Batey finds inspiration for her colored pencil and pen drawings in mail-order catalogs, gossip magazines and popular culture advertisements. Along with these sources, the artist draws on her own past relationships to create witty, whimsical tableaux exploring her desires. Batey is a 2012 graduate of the MFA Fine Arts Department.

Ania Moussawel presents a series of color photographs chronicling her mother's struggle with cancer. The artist states, "When my mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, I continued to capture her image during numerous surgeries and recovery. Using a soft palette and available light, the images depict my mother and her interiors as they reflect on her life and treatment." Moussawel is a 2012 graduate of the MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Department.

Blake Ogden presents four works from his ongoing photographic project Emily, focusing on the artist's niece and family. Shot from close range, the intimate color prints reveal moments of vulnerability, familial love, and childish mischief. Ogden is a 2012 graduate of the MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Department.

Combining faded photographs of his childhood home with fragments of common construction material, Rivers Plasketes creates mixed-media collages. The artist begins his works with tattered images of furniture and domestic interiors, then overlays bits of tile, plywood and cutout tool forms to evoke nostalgia for the past. Plasketes is a student in the BFA Visual and Critical Studies Department.

Courtney Spieker's wall sculptures explore her relationship with her grandmother. Using plaster casts of her own hands, the artist places her grandmother's personal objects in the sculpted hands to interact with the past and honor family memories. Spieker is a student in the Visual and Critical Studies Department.

Ksenia Tavrina's photographic series alone | TOGETHER focuses on single New Yorkers living alone. Working with natural light, the artist captures her subjects at home, engaged in everyday activities, to suggest the commonalities of contemporary urban dwellers. Tavrina is a student in the MPS Digital Photography Department.

Amani Willett's photographs are a meditation on starting a family in a time of social unrest and uncertainty for our country. Representing various pictorial approaches, including intimate family portraits, moody evening shots and close ups, the artist's work consists of fifteen small pictures exhibited on a twenty foot-long shelf to form a story of beauty, tenderness and unease. Willett is a 2012 graduate of the MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Department.

Exhibition

Relations

SVA Gramercy Gallery