Three SVA alumni are documenting America’s cultural landscape in visionary ways.
Brian Finke (BFA 1998 Photography) presents a photography exhibition chronicling the practices and pursuits of the oldest, and often the most imperiled, law enforcement agency in “Brian Finke: U.S. Marshals.” The series follows the patrol force in a host of cities, both on the Texan border of Mexico and in locations such as New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. This is Finke’s fifth solo exhibition at ClampArt and coincides with his fourth monograph (Powerhouse Books, 2014). On view at ClampArt, 531 West 25th Street, through December 20.
Marianne Vitale (BFA 1996 Film and Video) presents her new sculptures, “Nine Worthies,” using material from railroad yards across America and placing them in a new context. These steel structures, which once bore the weight of millions of tons of cargo, now appear in Vitale’s work—some sleek, some brutal and overpowering. Certain sculptures tower totem-like, standing at 12 feet tall. On view at Zach Feuer Gallery, 548 West 22nd Street, through December 20. (Other pieces from the same series are also part of “Archeo,” an exhibition atop the Chelsea High Line at 24th Street and Tenth Avenue, through March.)
Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao (MFA 2005 Photography, Video and Related Media) presents “Assembled Realities,” a new exhibition of his large-scale photos offering a decade’s worth of his work. Spanning across all five boroughs of New York City, subjects include the Queens communities along the number 7 train, the Bronx’s Grand Concourse, Coney Island in Brooklyn, as well as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The works are composites, hundreds of frames compressed into one image, a process that takes up to two weeks for each final product. On view at the Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue, through February 15.
Photo: Brian Finke, Untitled (U.S. Marshals, New York City, #209).