NEW YORK
False Body
University of Connecticut MFA Graduates Exhibition
July 27 - 30, 2020
Opening Reception: Monday, July 27, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Open Tuesday, July 28, Wednesday, July 29, and Thursday, July 30 from 12:00 - 6:00 PM
Zürcher Gallery New York presents False Body, a group exhibition featuring recent MFA graduates of the University of Connecticut: Shadia Heenan Nilforoush, Olivia Baldwin, Elizabeth Ellenwood, and Chad Uehlein.
In the natural world, a false body is a form of defense and escape. A squid releases ink replicating its shape, causing confusion to predators. In False Body, video, photography, drawing and painting, veil, morph, trace, and disguise.
Shadia Heenan Nilforoush roots her practice in performance and video, mapping family archives, personal histories and polarized identities. Olivia Baldwin traverses sculpture and painting, casting color across walls, floors, and ceilings. Elizabeth Ellenwood walks the beach, catalogues collected detritus and photographically urges marine conservation. Chad Uehlein utilizes humor in combination with drawing, repurposing, and responding to devise solutions for hope and opportunity.
Shadia Heenan Nilforoush is a multidisciplinary artist working in video and performance to reconcile polarizing identities. Shadia is the recipient of the Crandall-Cordero Fellowship, the Barbara Bullitt Christian Memorial Award and is a 2020 US Fulbright semi-finalist. Her work has been exhibited in shows including Plexus Projects, Artspace, Atlantic Wharf Gallery, and the Multicultural Caucus for the Society of Photographic Education. She received her BFA, with a minor in Psychology, from the Hite Art Institute at the University of Louisville and a MFA in Studio Art at the University of Connecticut.
Olivia Baldwin’s practice interweaves painting and sculpture. Her work has been exhibited in venues in Austria, Italy, and throughout the United States, including A.I.R. Gallery, Boston University’s Faye G. Jo, and James Gallery, and Jane Lombard Gallery. She has attended residencies at the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild and Vermont Studio Center. Baldwin is a recipient of a 2018 Wood/Raith Living Trust Fellowship, and a 2019 recipient of an Assets for Artists Capacity Building Grant (MASS MoCA). Baldwin received her BFA in Painting, and BA in English/Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her MFA in Studio Art from the University of Connecticut.
Elizabeth Ellenwood uses photography to visually explore and bring attention to critical environmental issues. Elizabeth is a recipient of a 2021 U.S. Fulbright Student Research Grant and an American Scandinavian Grant to continue her work in Norway. Her work has been supported by a Connecticut Sea Grant Art Support Award, the University of Connecticut Zachs Award, and a Denis Roussel Merit Award. Her work was recently exhibited at The Newport Art Museum, Panopticon Gallery and The Vermont Center of Photography. Elizabeth received a BFA in Photography from The New Hampshire Institute of Art and a MFA in Studio Art from the University of Connecticut.
Chad Uehlein is a multidisciplinary artist finding solutions to imaginary problems. His studio practice spans a range from printmaking to installation and video. He has been the recipient of a Doctoral Student Travel Fellowship and a Gillette Study of the Arts Abroad Scholarship to Austria. Uehlein has exhibited at the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery in Connecticut, the Mazmanian Gallery in Massachusetts, and performed at Dusklit Interactive Art Festival in upstate New York. He received his BFA in Printmaking, with a minor in Art History from the University of Akron’s Mary Schiller Myers School of Art and a MFA in Studio Art at the University of Connecticut.