Current Exhibition
UC Davis and SFSU University MFA Programs Present Solve et Coagula
September 22nd - October 18th
SWIM Gallery
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 2nd 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Featured Artists:
University of California Davis: Nick Block, Tara Daly, Levi Keatts, Davion Mack, Sean Olmstead and Marjorie Williams
San Franciso State University: England Hidalgo, Evie Hidysmith, Brennan Lynch, Camila Michaliszyn, Monica Crystal Ocegueda, and Mary Lou Grace Robison
The UC Davis Maria Manetti Shrem Art Studio Program and the San Francisco State University School of Art present Solve et Coagula, a two-part exhibition showcasing works created during the first year of each institution’s MFA program. Part two, et Coagula, opens on Thursday, October 2 at SWIM Gallery in San Francisco.
In a volatile and dangerous climate, where necropolitical forces undermine social cohesion and foster division, twelve emerging artists come together in two summer exhibitions: Solve and et Coagula. In these shows, current MFA candidates from UC Davis and San Francisco State University offer a collective response to an increasingly fractured world, forming meaningful connections through artistic expression. Through photography, tapestry, ceramics, paintings, and installation art, each artist creates enduring metaphors for transformation by drawing from alchemical tradition, mythological symbolism, and personal praxis.
Solve et Coagula, the Latin motto meaning “dissolve and coagulate,” and purported maxim of Alchemists, is the guiding principle behind the exhibitions which look to break something down into its most basic elements (solve) and to then have them come together (coagula) in a different form. This pair of exhibitions bring up questions about change. How do we reconcile our relationship to destruction and make sense of that which is inadvertent versus intentional? Does Solve always precede Coagula, or is it sometimes the other way around? When, why? Artists frequently are the vanguard against the entropic forces, but they are also masters of subversion, adept at wielding chaos, degradation, and decay to serve a kind of spiritual and intellectual discipline and order. This is the paradox of Solve et Coagula.