SocialKonstruct

I suspect that he felt that going to SAIC would have opened up more doors of opportunity in the art world than MCAD would have?

I think much of it hinges on whether you want to enter into the contemporary art gallery system more easily. Gallerists (who often are not artists themselves) will see SAIC and are going to be partial to that.

I would vote heavily in favor of SAIC. But that's just me.

I actually think SVA studios have gotten a lot better since then. I have done their online residencies last summer and this winter.

It's hard to say... is there a final deadline for you to reply back to SVA? I would wait until SAIC drops their financial package tbh

I actually loved New Haven quite a bit. I enjoyed it better than Philadelphia. For me, I lived on Foster Street back in 2000-2001 and had no issues there.

Or could go to Rutgers and have your whole MFA paid for. And make it big like Matthew Day Jackson

Yes but hate crimes can be broadly extended to crimes even between Asian-Americans. Racism happens in my Taiwanese culture such as my mom's dislike of Koreans etc. Or the tension between Japanese-Chinese. Even a love triangle can be motivated by hate too.

A lot of folks tend to work 2-3 jobs after graduating with their MFA, usually adjunct professor jobs. In fact, I know of 3-4 folks who are in a few top galleries who are still paying off their debt after 15-20 years after the fact.

Also on a side note, I think that the MFA application process tends to be a huge me-me-me solipsistic activity. For me, being an artist has always been about finding your tribe (as universal as it gets) and helping others. One good outlet is at: https://www.paradicepalase.com/join which I found to be very awesome. And they are very helpful. In fact, they are doing a feature on me next month- https://www.paradicepalase.com/shows-and-programs-calendar/2021/3/16/316-virtual-visit-with-albert-abdul-barr-wang People think that the MFA program is just about their own portfolio but there is a myriad of factors. Being involved in the arts community is very important whether it's local or international. Granted they may not look at that but during the interview they will weigh in on that. The myth of the lone genius Van Gogh moody artist is just that... a myth.

Plus whatever happened at USC was 5 years old. In the art world that's a long time ago. Roski did everything to improve afterwards. And they have a very admirable program right now. SDS, such wonderful work. Wow. I am part of two artist collectives So I value group work.

Actually if you are interested in working together you can e-mail our team at gallery.office.space@gmail.com. We work with artists who have only BFA's or artists doing MFA's (not done yet). We aren't typical and we aren't elitist at all...

Yes, I am highly prolific tbh. I work in the studio all the of the time (and doing a SVA residency while taking 5 classes and co-running an art gallery) and this year has been prolific. I still have my Honors thesis to work on and finish this summer (maybe 400-500 pages long?) as well 2 photo series to finish up plus an art collaboration with two painters. Never unbusy here About the public environment, it all depends. Now that I have been focused on my sculptures and installation, I have been doing a lot of interventions into the public sphere.

And yes you hit the nail on the head. Yale's program is desirable because the pit crits are rigorous and nerve wrecking. No other program I know of has consistent and very often visits from all types of folks into your studio. For example, during my SVA online residency I get 3 crits/week and consistently. I ask for more opinions and am willing to show my work to anyone. It never stops. And I enjoy it. I don't see it as torture.

LoL, perhaps insightful :). I like to help out other artists (and as a curator I do that all of the time). Definitely your driving concept sounds very fascinating. Now about working in series, here is an example of a sustained exploration of a topic which is rooted in art history, the politics of labor, and commodification of form. https://albertabdulbarrwang.art/lowbrow-minimalism

I wish that I could dispel your bitterness and no worries. I think that you will fare well wherever you select. Actually I would love to see your work if you have a website. (Sorry right now I'm editing photos for my SVA residency class.)

USC had some solid graduates. For example, Edie Fake is just tbh just fucking brilliant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edie_Fake ... they are also one of the very few trans artists who is active in conceptual work combining animation, comic books, and queer theory. I dig what they are doing.

I can't disclose my sources but I definitely can tell you that LA galleries look very much at which school you go to. Otis, Calarts, and UCLA are pretty much the three schools they are looking at. And very rarely Art Design (usually that pull is somewhat harsher). And my friend she has been painting for nearly 30 plus years and is represented by a top notch gallery in LA. I trust her judgment as a professional painter. USC is going to be a better fit if you want to be in the LA scene. University of Washington ranking may be looked at if you want to teach but you want to exhibit, ranking isn't going to matter as much as geography. LA art critics and gallerists aren't going to drive (most likely) up to Wash state to look for artists or hot new talent.

Indeed, I do think that your style veers heavily towards neo-expressionism and I think your work is akin to that of Eric Fischl but a tad more contemporary in subject matter. As a conceptual artist, I think that finding topics which you like will help you to determine the trajectory of what you want to explore. I tend to work very much in series (and yep, one project took me over 10 years to figure out) and I am used to that as a photography person as my foundation... Often we tend to hop and skip from one thing to another but even the randomness of Picasso, art critics were able to discern certain patterns in his work such as his erotic drawings or images of violence etc. etc. But you would need a lot more work to have future critics tell you that you are up to something.

A lot of USC graduates bailed from it and tbh it will be another 1-2 decades before you will see USC come back up in the contemporary art world... UCLA on the other hand is pretty solid year after year... many argue even more innovative and better than Yale does in certain aspects.

I really like the technique of your work but conceptually I really do not know what direction your work is heading into without some type of statement. Some artwork may not be suitable like the painting of RBG which is a one-off and a committee will see that as a fan art piece. I think you are a very good painter technique-wise but will need to sustain long series of focalized ideas and develop those much more strongly.

I would be interested in seeing your work

And that's a tradeoff too. As a former epidemiologist I can DEFINITELY tell you that I won't ever miss working for a corporation ever again. Or government either. As an artist, I have happiness and freedom. Money ain't gonna buy that ya know?

Actually the medical and dental and law fields are ensured either :). One would be surprised at how often folks with MD or JD don't get jobs either :o. https://www.lawcrossing.com/article/5774/Unemployed-Law-Graduate-Continues-Hunger-Strike/ The problem is pretty much unless you are the top 1 percent of super rich folks you ain't surviving at the bottom.

Yep and goes to prove that Yale is still the heavyweight champ here :). But their program is very theory based and I really dig that. I love critical theory and honestly I even took a graduate level English critical theory class just to get readyyyyyyyy