Untitled MFA Invitational Exhibition Pairs Up-and-Coming Artists with Emerging Art Historians

Untitled is a unique traveling MFA invitational exhibition organized and curated by University of Virginia (U.Va.) graduate students Michael Maizels and Brittany Strupp that pairs up-and-coming artists from the mid-Atlantic region with emerging scholars, critics and curators. The exhibition grew out of the curators’ shared realization that while the art-world offers an increasingly robust support system for emerging artists, there was no substantial framework in place for connecting these early career artists with peers engaged in critical or curatorial practice. They recognized that their position within the art and architectural history program at U.Va. would enable them to create singular moments of interpretive dialogue between young artists and scholars.

Works by eight outstanding artists from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), the University of Maryland (UMD), and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) are included in the exhibition. An accompanying catalogue includes interpretive essays written by eight U.Va. graduate students in the history of art and architecture from a broad range of academic specializations. Structured to correspond with the work students were producing, the exhibition and catalogue explore the common theme of neo-surrealism and the visualization of invisible currents of psychic and physical energy that passes through individuals and their environments. For additional information, including a complete list of participating artists and scholars, please visit the exhibition website at www.untitledexhibition.com.


Untitled will open at Industry Gallery (Washington, DC) on July 9th and run through August 13, 2011 (open Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 4:00 pm). An opening reception will be held on July 9th from 8:00 pm until 11:00 pm in conjunction with the reception for Conner Contemporary's Academy show downstairs. The exhibition will then travel to U.Va.’s Ruffin Gallery (Charlottesville, Virginia), where it will be on view from on August 22nd through September 16th (open Monday through Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm). The opening reception in Charlottesville will take place from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm alongside the opening of a new exhibition at the University of Virginia Art Museum. Each of the exhibiting artists will participate of MFA programs and careers in the fine arts.