Visual Arts

Aysha Hamouda: print(“Hello, World”)

June 3 – September 23, 2022

ILDIKO BUTLER GALLERY
Fordham University
113 W 60th Street
New York, NY

The gallery is open to the Fordham community 9am – 9pm seven days a week. Outside visitors should call ahead to inquire about current admission protocol.

Fordham University’s Ildiko Butler Gallery is pleased to present Aysha Hamouda: print(“Hello, World”). Through the use of ultraviolet light, ultraviolet-sensitive paint, and florescent yellow string, this site-specific installation investigates the idea of “collective dissociation” — a term Hamouda uses to describe the physiological and psychological effects of technologies related to the Internet, information, and the virtual world.

The artist states: “The allures of the Internet are created by algorithmic poems that project/manicure/curate custom realities for each user under the accepted and untamed credo of A Better,(Hyper) Individuated Experience. The web, prized for its global networking, has also come under heat for its main source of capital — its users’ devoted attention or DATA. Meanwhile, the web’s growth of information — factual, fictional, personal — is relentlessly on the rise. The result is a growing Virtual Collective: a cluster of hyper-individuated realities dissociated from one another and yet becoming, somehow, whole.”

Recalling work from the Light & Space movement, Hamouda’s installation plays with optics: The strings and painted wall appear, at certain vantage points depending on the viewer’s height, to flatten into a glowing blue two-dimensional rectangle behind a dense set of yellow horizontal lines. (The effect is even more pronounced when the installation is viewed head on through a camera lens.) From this perspective, every element of the piece exists in a form of controlled unity. However, as the viewer moves physically to other points of perspective, the installation reveals itself as a chaotic web with unexpected depth and complexity.

Titled after Brian Kernigham’s 1972 book A Tutorial Introduction to the Language B., which first introduced “Hello, World” to illustrate variables within programing, print(“Hello, World”) (a Python version of “Hello, World”) explores viewers’ perception of a kinetic, fragmented “whole” and poses the question: How do we construct a sense of grounding when confronted with the groundless? By giving physical form to the primordial skeleton of the virtual world — the rectangle, its pale bluish light — print(“Hello, World”) lays bare our innate human desire to impose structure, systems, and order on a reality infinitely more complex and in constant flux.

Aysha Hamouda (she/they; b. 1991, Switzerland) is an installation and multimedia artist based in the U.S. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including in Germany, Switzerland, China, and the United States. In 2019, she was part of Wavelength Reset, an international platform and traveling exhibition based in Shanghai, China. As part of that project, her work Input/Output was shown at the Times Art Museum in Beijing and the Artron Museum in Shenzhen. Hamouda received a BFA from Lyme Academy College of Fine Art in 2014 and an MFA from Syracuse University in 2018.

Sarah Hirzel: Overburden
June 3 – September 23, 2022
LIPANI GALLERY

The gallery is open to the Fordham community 9am – 9pm seven days a week. Outside visitors should call ahead to inquire about current admission protocol.

Fordham University’s Lipani Gallery is pleased to present Sarah Hirzel: Overburden, an exhibition of thirty-five digitally altered, pigment-printed drawings of the stuff we make, use, and leave in our wake in our time on this planet—hatchets, hairbrushes, computers, high rises, oil rigs, musical instruments, fireplaces, drainpipes, cars, boats, bones, furniture, roads, garbage—and of the organic matter that grows up among it.

Hung salon-style in an eclectic array of frames found by the artist in attics, thrift stores, and other out-of-the-way corners, the pieces in this show are by turns poignant, poetic, humorous, dark, and sometimes just simply odd, bringing together the mundane and the momentous in a kind of landfill logic both chaotic and stratified. In one piece, mounted in a small frame of carved black roses, a computer chip sprouts grass; in another, a battle between trumpets and leaf blowers rages; in yet another, the New York skyline morphs into a purple crystal.

Most people are familiar with the term overburden in its verb form—to load with too many things to carry. Fewer know its definition as a noun—rock or soil overlying a mineral deposit, archaeological site, or other underground feature. The works in this show plumb both meanings of the word, conveying the weight of accumulation yet retaining a sense of curiosity about what remains hidden, waiting to be discovered. Indeed, Hirzel likens her creative process to that of a detective searching for clues in a world that feels upside down, inside out, and still, somehow, strangely beautiful.

Sarah Hirzel is an artist and educator based in Massachusetts where she draws, wrangles a chaotic garden, hangs out with her family, and supports student artists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is a founding staff member of MIT’s Voxel Music and Arts Innovation Space and curates the MIT Wiesner Student Art Gallery. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Art and Wesleyan University, both located in post-industrial central Connecticut. You can find her in the household accent section of your local thrift shop.

MEN CRY
Martin Nuñez-Bonilla

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The Fordham University Galleries
Fordham University at Lincoln Center map
113 West 60th Street at Columbus Avenue
New York, NY 10023
fordhamuniversitygalleries
March 1 – March 20, 2022

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The Visual Arts Program at Fordham University is pleased to present MEN CRY, a video series by Fordham alumnus Martin Nuñez-Bonilla (’18). This moving compilation of interviews began with the seemingly simple question: When was the last time you cried?

In the words of the artist:

Four years ago, when I was a senior at Fordham, I spent a month talking to men about their feelings in the studio of the Visual Arts Complex at the school. Those interviews would go on to become MEN CRY, a video series in which people talk about their feelings and experiences with masculinity. What started out as a response to sexism and the violence that comes from emotional repression in men has turned into so much more. The project has reached across the country and continues to build community with people who want to encourage authenticity in a suppressive world. Masculinity is a topic that is so much more nuanced and wide-reaching than I could have ever imagined. This nuance has created the current moment, in which MEN CRY has evolved and I’m trying to figure out what comes next. 

Today, four years later, I’ve turned 25, experienced a pandemic, left a 9 to 5 job, and been formally diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety. This big moment in my life has inspired me to take a step back and examine my own habits, mental health, and masculine behaviors. It’s not enough to say the right things and be a “good guy” — I have to also challenge myself to improve.

I am in transition and the MEN CRY project is in transition, too. As I take this time to grow and explore, I also want to take the time to look back and appreciate the folks who have shared incredible stories and demonstrated such tenderness and love. I’d like to give a special thank you to everyone who was brave enough to cry, to laugh, and to feel on MEN CRY.
 JP Alba-Dennis
Dominick Alcantara
Jordan Almodovar
Daniél Alvarez
Miles Ballard
Arthur Banach
Mik Berry
Jason Bost
Isabella Breton
Michael Cole
Jose “Mozo” Cruz
Chandler Dean
Jack DeWahl
Sergio Echenique
Kelveen Fabian
Maribí Henriquez
Doug Horner
Amilcar Javier
Kyle Kilkenny
Lou Knows
“Juice” Mackins
Luis Mejicanos
Tony Quera
T Michael Rock
José Roldan Jr.
Dorien Russell
Vincent Rutherford
Ian Schafer
 Given how much love we’ve all put into this project, I hope you can walk away knowing: 

1. Emotions are important.
2. Mental health is important.
3. Progress is non-linear.
4. Tenderness is bravery.
5. Pink is a kickass color. 

Martin Nuñez-Bonilla is an Afro-Latino visual artist and public speaker based in New York City with a passion for masculinity reform, BIPOC equality, and vulnerability. He currently works with organizations, causes, and events on their visual materials and communications. He can be reached at martinnunezbonilla.nyc@gmail.com or via his website (www.mnbnyc.com) or Instagram (@mnbnyc).

MEN CRY is an unscripted video series and digital platform for exploring modern masculinity, sharing stories, and sharing resources for people of all genders. You can watch past episodes on YouTube, check out the Instagram Live series on @allmencry, or learn more at mencry.nyc.

If you are a student struggling with your mental or emotional health, or if you just need someone to talk to about the challenges you are facing, Fordham’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) offers free and confidential services on both campuses. To schedule an initial screening or walk-in appointment, please call or visit one of their offices (at Lincoln Center: 160 W 62nd Street, rm G-02, 212-636-6225; at Rose Hill/Westchester: O’Hare Hall Basement, 718-817-3725). If you are experiencing a mental health emergency during non-business hours, please contact the Public Safety Office at Fordham or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK. A representative from the CPS office will also be available outside the gallery from noon to 1pm on March 1, 3, 7, and 11 to answer any questions you may have.  

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Link to the exhibition
mencry.nyc

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Martin Nuñez-Bonilla can be contacted here.
For the Visual Arts Department Blog: click here.
For the Visual Arts Department Website: click here.

EXPERIMENTS WITH ART AND ACTION 
Organized by: Matthew López-Jensen

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The Fordham University Galleries
Fordham University at Lincoln Center map
113 West 60th Street at Columbus Avenue
New York, NY 10023
fordhamuniversitygalleries
February 14 – March 29, 2022

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The Visual Arts Program at Fordham University is proud to present Experiments with Art and Action, a selection of student artwork from Matthew López-Jensen’s course Art + Action on the Bronx River. First offered in spring 2021, this course is designed around direct experiences with the Bronx River, which flows only a few minute’s walk from the Rose Hill campus. The river is a critical urban landmark, a scenic dividing line that runs from Westchester County to the East River. Throughout the semester, students study the history of the river, its ecology, its relationship to surrounding communities, and its connection to New York City’s watershed. Walking, collecting, observation, and boating are used to direct students’ creative output, as can be seen in the works on view. The course also directly engages with the Bronx River Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting and protecting the river, and many of the pieces in this exhibition will be donated to the Bronx River Alliance for use as educational tools.  
 
Some of the works included are the product of collective action, like a bottle cap cleanup in Starlight Park. The 3000 caps were collected, cleaned, and transformed into a snaking sculptural object and percussion instruments. Other projects include handmade plant identification cards, site-specific maps of landscapes along the Bronx River, landscape and underwater photography, and documentation from performative actions. Each project is the result of students directly engaging with the Bronx River and the adjacent landscapes. The show includes contributions from Lily Ashendorf, Josephine Cohen, Liza Cohen, Grace Dailey, Lina Diamante, Baily Dolgon, Liz Galeano, Nora Hogan, Maggie Hunt, Mack Hurstell, Helen Hylton, Alexandra Klapak, Hanwen (Lina) Li, Zoey Liu, Nicolette Makris, Amelia Medved, Angela Payne, Alexia Ramos, Julia Reynolds, Tayler Rogers, Rosa Schembari, Emily Yankee, Gregory Yared, and Sophia Zehler.
 
Image: Zoey Liu. Untitled (Concrete Plant Park on the Horizon). 2021.

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Experiments with Art and Action Website

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For further information, please contact Matthew López-Jensen.
For the Visual Arts Department Website: click here.