Current SVA faculty and alumni exhibitions explore everything from pop culture and car culture to the similarities between animals and humans.
BFA Cartooning faculty member Gary Panter’s “Dream Town” is a post-war treatment of 20th Century icons. An amalgam of pop culture references, Panter’s latest exhibition contains heroes, soldiers, wrestlers and monsters in moments of relaxation, victory and conflict. On view at Fredericks & Freiser, 536 W 24th Street, through September 27.
Justine Kurland (BFA 1996 Photography), known for her photographs of utopian American landscapes, presents “Sincere Auto Care,” an exhibition of documentary style photojournalism specific to car culture and residents of the open road. Juxtaposing two narratives, Kurland offers a perspective on romanticized associations with automobiles and the undercarriage lives of the mechanics that work on them. On view at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, 534 West 26th Street, through October 11.
George Boorujy’s (MFA 2002 Illustration as Visual Essay) striking large-scale paintings of North American animals with human-like characteristics inspire viewers to consider the ecology in environments like New York City. In “Taxonomy,” Boorujy’s preliminary clay models and 11-foot-long hyperrealistic drawings beg for eye contact and remind us of our own primal identities. On view at Arsenal Gallery, Central Park, 64th and Fifth Avenue, through November 13.
Image: Gary Panter, Ultima Lucha, 2014, acrylic on canvas, 35.5 x 21.5 inches.