Ashley Mercurio, ‘22, and Maria Falanga, ‘22, displayed their thesis exhibitions in the Community Space Gallery at the Buffalo Arts Studio from May 13 through May 18.
Ashley Mercurio presented ‘Prefekt’
Ashley Mercurio’s work forefronts haphazard process, where image contours are loosely structured and then fleshed out with a variety of collage, paint, and assemblage approaches. For ‘Perfekt,’ Mercurio began with an origin work, a large-scale mixed media work structured largely by a pattern of irregular fabric patches. From this work, she subdivided it into eight sections, traced the contours of each, and then made a series of eight companion works based on the contours of the original work. Additionally, she extended the collage and paint process to a set of irregularly shaped sculptures. ‘Perfekt’ is a tongue-in-cheek reflection of an unwieldy and improvisatory process.
Maria Falanga presented ‘Attraverso il Tempo’
Maria Falanga has developed a signature portraiture stylization involving hard-edged and intense color shapes with an irregular geometry and unpredictable color substitutions. The work in ‘Attraverso il Tempo’ involves a series of portrayals of three generations of Falanga’s family. The images shift from achromatic to full-color in line with their chronology. Additionally, Falanga makes allusions to her relatives’ survival of WWII through sculptural enlargements of candy, like that which was tossed to civilians.
