The Academy Blog

Click here to view the exhibition panel discussion with curators Peter Drake and Clifford Owens and artists Kathia St. Hilaire and Alison Elizabeth Taylor.

We Are Family assembles eighteen contemporary artists to reflect on notions of family we are born into and family we choose. In Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, Raymond Williams traces the social formation of the term ‘family’ from the 14^th century to its modern English usage, and to which he grafts the word ‘familiar’: “The associated adjective ‘familiar’ appears to be somewhat earlier in common use, and its range of meanings reminds us of the range of meanings which were predominant in family before [the mid-17^th century.] There is the direct sense of the Latin ‘household,’ either in the sense of a group of servants or a group of blood-relations and servants living together in one house. ‘Familiar’ related to this…where the sense is of being associated with or serving someone…But the strongest early senses of ‘familiar’ were those which are still current in modern English: on terms of friendship or intimate with someone.” We Are Family is strangely familiar.

Erich Fromm offers an epistemology of family in The Art of Loving: An Enquiry into the Nature of Love that might be more useful to think (and feel) about our cultural yearning for a sense of family, our longing to belong to the familiar, and our motivation to be loved: “to avoid alienation and isolation…to overcome human separateness as the fulfillment for the longing for union.” (Since the deadly, mutating coronavirus-19 made its first appearance, our fear and anxiety of alienation and isolation has intensified.) 

We Are Family embraces intersectionality, avoids saccharine sentimentality, and repudiates an archaic (and oppressive) ideology of “family values.” In this group exhibition, the modern family is visible (and celebrated) across social constructions of class, race, sexuality, and gender, in order to impart a sense of what Cornel West refers to as “non-market values of love, care, and trust” that inspires our longing to belong both born and chosen family.

We Are Family // Eazel Trailer from New York Academy of Art

Tour the virtual exhibition via Eazel below

@eazel.art / #Eazel

The health and safety of our staff, artists, and guests is our top priority. Based on the latest guidance from federal, state, and local health officials on preventing the transmission of COVID-19, we will require attendees to provide valid proof of vaccination upon entry, wear a mask, and follow all other safety protocols while visiting the exhibition. Proof of vaccination may include a CDC vaccination card or an NYS Excelsior pass.

The Academy’s acclaimed exhibition series “Eye to Eye” returns this month featuring the collection of art publicist Gina Nanni and the late writer and tastemaker Glenn O’Brien. The Nanni-O’Brien Collection encompasses nearly 600 artworks including over 50 rare Jean-Michel Basquiats. The exhibition will showcase works by Academy student artists selected by Nanni, paired with pieces from a selection of artists including Andy Warhol, Ross Bleckner, Zanele Muholi and Carroll Dunham.

Now in its third iteration, “Eye to Eye” features a selection of works by Academy MFA students, personally chosen by a major art collector, paired with pieces from the patron’s own collection selected by the student artists themselves. In previous years, the series has featured the collections of Laura Skoler and John Thomson and exhibited artists ranging from Louise Bourgeois to Marlene Dumas alongside student works. The exhibition acts as a reflection of the collector’s eye and a commentary on artistic influence and relative value. “Eye to Eye” will be on view through March 6 at the Academy.

Gina Nanni and Glenn O’Brien’s collection as selected by New York Academy of Art students (left column) and New York Academy of Art student works selected by Gina Nanni (right column)

Eye to Eye // 2022 Eazel trailer from New York Academy of Art

Tour the virtual exhibition via Eazel below

@eazel.art / #Eazel

The health and safety of our staff, artists, and guests is our top priority. Based on the latest guidance from federal, state, and local health officials on preventing the transmission of COVID-19, we will require attendees to provide valid proof of vaccination upon entry, wear a mask, and follow all other safety protocols while visiting the exhibition. Proof of vaccination may include a CDC vaccination card or an NYS Excelsior pass.

The health and safety of our staff, artists, and guests is our top priority. Based on the latest guidance from federal, state, and local health officials on preventing the transmission of COVID-19, we will require attendees to provide valid proof of vaccination upon entry, wear a mask, and follow all other safety protocols while visiting the exhibition. Proof of vaccination may include a CDC vaccination card or an NYS Excelsior pass.

Shipping is generously provided by Cadogan Tate

Join us on Thursday, December 2 for a reception in our booth with the curators from 5-6:30pm.

Shipping is generously provided by Cadogan Tate

Join us on Wednesday, December 1 for a tour with Brooke Shields on Instagram Live on Mandarin Oriental, Miami’s IG account @mo_miami.

The Chubb Post-Graduate Fellowship is the highest honor the New York Academy of Art can bestow on its students. Under the program, the Fellows have the opportunity to expand the breadth and depth of their artistic prowess while serving as teaching assistants and mentors to a new crop of talented figurative artists. Chubb Fellows also receive studio accommodations, exhibition opportunities, and a stipend.

Lydia Baker (b. 1990, Virginia) is a draftswoman, printmaker, and painter.  Baker received a BFA in Communication Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2013 and an MFA in painting from the New York Academy of Art in 2020. She is a recipient of the New York Academy of Art’s Post-Graduate Chubb Fellowship, NYFA’s City Artist Corps Grant and an IEA Art Heals Grant. Her work has been featured by numerous publications including Art Maze Magazine, Friend of the Artist, Artsy, and Juxtapoz. Baker has exhibited her work throughout the United States, recently at Sugarlift Gallery and through the Chubb Insurance Viewing Room at Art Basel. In the summer and fall of 2021, she will be an artist-in-residence at the High Line Nine x Sugarlift Gallery in NYC and at the Saltonstall Foundation in Ithaca, New York.

Shiqing Deng (b. 1992, China) is a Chinese painter. She is a graduate of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, and received an MFA at the New York Academy of Fine Art, where she was awarded the Terra Foundation Artist Residency in Giverny, France. She won first prize in the Art Renewal Center’s International Salon art competition, “Best of Show’’ of International Biennial Portrait Competition, and Honorable Mention of The Bennett Prize. Her work has been exhibited at the United Nations, Sotheby’s in New York, and the National Museum of China in Beijing, as well as in group shows and art fairs in New York and Miami.

Hannah Murray (b. 1994, United Kingdom) is a painter from London. She received a B.A. in Fine Art from Leeds Beckett University in 2015, a Certificate in Interior Design from the KLC School of Design and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Secondary Education from University College London.  In the UK, she has exhibited multiple times with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, as well as at the Tate Modern. Her awards include the Young Artist Award from the National Open Art Competition and First Prize in the Portrait Category of the annual painting competition of Artist Magazine. At the New York Academy of Art, where she received an MFA in Painting in 2021, she was awarded the Academy Summer Residency in Leipzig, Germany and an Elizabeth Greenshields Grant, and was named an “Artist to Watch” by Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine.

Wilba Simson (b. 1990, Australia) is an Australian painter, draftsman, video artist and sculptor. In 2013 he received a B.A. in Communication and Design from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, where he received the KW Doggett Prize for best folio and HardiGrant Publication Award. After graduation, he worked as a graphic designer and participated in the Summer Undergraduate Residency Program at the New York Academy of Art, which he then attended for his MFA. At the Academy, where he received an MFA in painting in 2021, he was an Academy Scholar and received an Academy Trustee Scholarship.

Zachary Sitrin (b. 1992, New Jersey) is a painter who lives and works in Brooklyn. He received a BFA from Rutgers University in 2014 and worked as a set designer before receiving an MFA in Painting with a concentration in Anatomy at the New York Academy of Art in 2019. Sitrin is a recipient of the Altos de Chavon Artist Residency in the Dominican Republic and the 2020 Chubb Fellowship at the New York Academy of Art. He has participated in projects with Repertorio, a UK based art advisory firm. In January of 2022, Sitrin will be an artist in residence at Palazzo Monti in Brescia, Italy. Sitrin’s work has been featured in publications such as The New York Times and The Hollywood Reporter. His work can be found in various collections throughout the US and Europe.

Jed Smith (1992, Colorado) is a painter and printmaker from Colorado. He received a B.A. in Anthropology and Studio Art from Fort Lewis College in 2015, where he won numerous prizes in art and was awarded the David Olseth Art Scholarship, the Edith McPherson Scholarship and the Division of Wildlife Joe Shoemaker Memorial Scholarship. After his undergraduate studies he worked as a curatorial assistant at the Center for Southwest Studies and Southern Ute Museum, and received a full-tuition scholarship to study at the New York Academy of Art’s Summer Undergraduate Residency Program in 2018. He received his MFA in Painting at the New York Academy of Art in 2021, where he was awarded the Leslie T. and Francis U. Posey Foundation Scholarship, an Academy Trustee Scholarship and the Academy Summer Residency in Leipzig, Germany. His artwork has been featured editorially in Juxtapoz and ARTSY Magazine.

View the virtual exhibition here

View the 2021 exhibition catalogue here

For complete details on the competition visit axaartprize.com and follow the AXA Art Prize on Instagram and on Facebook.

AXA XL, a division of AXA, developed the AXA Art Prize in partnership with the New York Academy of Art. Over the past three years, the Prize has become one of the premier student art competitions in the U.S. and is open to figurative paintings, drawings and prints created by undergraduate and graduate art students. Exhibition Jurors included curators from esteemed art institutions and museums such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

The first prize is awarded $10,000 and the second prize $5,000. This year, winners will be chosen by renowned artists Bo Bartlett, Rachel Feinstein, Elizabeth Peyton, Calida Rawles, and Peter Saul alongside Jennifer Schipf from AXA XL. Prize winners will be announced in November, 2021.

The health and safety of our staff, artists, and guests is our top priority. Based on the latest guidance from federal, state, and local health officials on preventing the transmission of COVID-19, we will require attendees to provide valid proof of vaccination upon entry, wear a mask, and follow all other safety protocols while attending the 2021 AXA Art Prize Exhibition. Proof of vaccination may include a CDC vaccination card or an NYS Excelsior pass.

2021 Finalists