The culmination of the academic year at CalArts is normally marked by a multitude of thesis exhibitions filling the galleries and hallways on campus. Because of the pandemic, the CalArts Fine Art BFA cohort had to turn elsewhere to showcase their work. After much planning and development, the recently graduated artists are proud to present their group exhibition, Affection Artifacts, which opens at Coaxial Arts Foundation in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, August 7.
The show is comprised of each of the artists’ thesis works, which in some way reflects their struggles to stay connected and keep their practices going during what was a very alienating time.
The main organizers of the show are Dylan Jones (Art BFA 21), Charlotte Zhang (Art BFA 21), and Clara Lopez Menendez, the co-director of the Art Program. Participating artists (all Art BFA 21) include: Saliko Adams, Noor Ahmed, Josh Breen-Tucci, Josh Cloud, Dominique Go, Katie Inman, Dylan Jones, Jasmine Leung, Ethan Mcfarland, Dane Nakama, Ajani Russell, Raven Russell, and Charlotte Zhang.
Affection Artifacts work by Dylan Jones (Art BFA 21) | Image courtesy of the artists 
Affection Artifacts work by Dominique Go (Art BFA 21) | Image courtesy of the artists 
Affection Artifacts work by Katie Inman (Art BFA 21) | Image courtesy of the artists 
Affection Artifacts work by Josh Cloud (Art BFA 21) | Image courtesy of the artists 
Affection Artifacts work by Noor Ahmed (Art BFA 21) | Image courtesy of the artists 
Affection Artifacts work by Dane Nakama (Art BFA 21) | Image courtesy of the artists 
Affection Artifacts work by Charlotte Zhang (Art BFA 21) | Image courtesy of the artists 
Affection Artifacts work by Ajani Russell (Art BFA 21) | Image courtesy of the artists
More about the show:
Conceived as a teeming ecosystem, a set of lively conversations between work produced independently throughout the past year, the artists seek to reveal shared intimacies, dormant poetics, and new discursive paths by means of unanticipated proximity. Repositories of fantasy and memory – intimate, shared, dissonant, ecstatic – collide in an attempt to articulate all the ambivalent pleasures of sharing space with one another in times of extreme alienation.
In an email, Jones writes, “I’m planning on staying in LA for the time being, so I’m hoping this show is just a starting point for more collaboration. And more affection. Because being an artist is hard, we’ll all need that from each other, and others we meet here, to keep going.”
The opening reception on Aug. 7, begins at 5 pm, and will include food, drinks, and live music. Affection Artifacts runs through Aug. 22.
