Joy Wong’s Sore, Sorry, an oil, acrylic on latex house paint is one of the works the MFA candidate exhibitions at the McIntosh Gallery.

ART NEWS

Joy Wong and Sharmistha Kar, two MFA candidates in the Department of Visual Arts at Western University are set to present their works to their peers in a series of MFA Candidate Exhibitions.

BY ARTCENTRON

MFA Candidate Exhibitions

ONTARIO, CANADA– Two Masters of Fine Arts candidates in the Department of Visual Arts at Western University are set to present their works in two concurrent exhibitions at the McIntosh Gallery. The MFA candidates are Joy Wong, based in Toronto,  Ontario, and Sharmistha Kar, from Kolkata, India. Each exhibition will run from  August 10 to September 8, 2018.

Joy Wong:  skim

Joy Wong’s exhibition is titled Skim.  In this exhibition, Wong examines dirt as the liminal space layered with ideas and thoughts. The removal of one layer of dirt reveals another center.

Wong’s Skim considers the dirt surrounding us as the ‘inbetweenness’ of skin, boundaries, and thresholds. Thus, he examines what it means to have dirt and be a body. For Wong,  “To skim is to discard “impurities”, to take the top off, to reveal below.”

Many of the works in skim consist of plastics, latex, and refuse. On one level, the works explore materiality and corporeal ambiguity, revealing literature on the abject and grotesque. On another level, the works reveal the subliminal aspect of the dematerialization of the discarded materials.   From the pleating, folding, and delicate netting of the decomposing materials,  a tender meditation on beauty emerges.

Joy Wong

Based in Toronto, Ontario, Wong holds a BFA from York University and is currently an MFA candidate in the Department of Visual Arts at Western University. Wong was recently named as a finalist in the 2018 RBC Painting Competition. skim is her MFA thesis exhibition.

Sharmistha Kar:  Next to a River – Embroidery as Map and Shelter

Sharmistha Kar, Who Walks Always Beside You (detail), 2017. Hand embroidery on fabric, 190 x 135 cm. Courtesy of the artist.

Sharmistha Kar’s presentation is titled  Next to a River – Embroidery as Map and Shelter. The show is a meditation on ideas of belonging, migration, and identity. Kar’s MFA candidate exhibition features textile works adorned with hand embroidery.  His artistic practice forges connections between traditional craft and regional and personal histories.

In his works for this MFA candidate exhibition,  Kar explores intricate and layered surfaces form tactile maps, embroidered landscapes, and tented shelters to make statements about the notions of temporary presence. The works also act as records of migration and experience.

About Sharmistha Kar:
From Kolkata, India, Kar holds a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Hyderabad, and is currently an MFA candidate in the Department of Visual Arts at Western University. Next to a River – Embroidery as Map and Shelter is her thesis exhibition.

Are you going to see the two MFA candidate exhibitions at the McIntosh Gallery? Share your thoughts and comments.