Art enthusiasts have good reason to travel this spring with exhibitions by SVA faculty and alumni in Palm Beach, Florida; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Savannah, Georgia. 
A master of the craft of visual autobiography, T.J. Wilcox (BFA 1999 Fine Arts) offers “New Works,” collaged documentation of sights and memories in a triptych of double transparency images along with movie poster–sized images of the New York City skyline. In “New Works,” photographic stills offer panoramic visuals and a 360-degree view of Manhattan from the artist’s Union Square studio. Interspersed footage from six short films, including Manhattanhenge and Futura, compliment a pairing of contemporary collage works, all previously featured in “Up in the Air” at the Whitney Museum of American Art. On view at Galvak Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida through March 15.
Disrupting traditional definitions of authorship for over 30 years, MFA Art Practice and BFA Fine Arts faculty member Tim Rollins (BFA 1977 Fine Arts) and K.O.S (Kids of Survival) explore complex cultural themes and identity. In “RIVERS,” the artists explore themes specific to the American south with paintings informed by illuminating southern narratives. 
Martin Luther King’s speeches, Harriet Jacobs’s seminal text Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and W.E.B Du Bois’ Darkwarter, all serve as source material for “RIVERS,” an exhibition steeped in tradition. The exhibition also features a collaborative project created with junior high school students at the Esther F. Garrison School of Visual and Performing Arts in Savannah, based on Duke Ellington’s ballet score for “The River.” On view at SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia through June 1.
Michael Comb’s (MFA 1996 Illustration as Visual Essay) “Wild Card,” a fifteen-year exploration of male gender identity, examines cultural mythology as expressed through rites of passage and games, both real and imagined, physical and psychological. Comb’s three-dimensional designs investigate power and control while grappling with weighty issues of sexuality and accomplishment within the confines of competitive acculturation. In Eve 2012, Comb’s use of linden wood, birch wood and antlers to construct an ornate football helmet calls back to a desire to preserve natural materials and comments on the vanity of gaming sports. With vulnerability as the end goal, Comb’s work unpacks concepts of validation and the potential insufficiency of winning. On view at 21 C, Cincinnati, Ohio through June 30.
Image from top down: T. J. Wilcox, still from In the Air, 2013; Tim Rollins and K.O.S., Asleep on the Raft (after Mark Twain), indigo watercolor, matte acrylic, book pages on canvas, 2013-14; Michael Combs, How the West Won, carved linden wood, birch wood branches and antlers, 2012.