Hunter College MFA Open Studios

written by Don Porcella in New York

I went to the Hunter College MFA Open Studios on Friday night. This is an annual event held every Spring and Fall. It is an opportunity to see some of the future stars of the Art World and to buy their work at the student run auction. In recent years, Hunter MFA Program at 450 West 41^st Street, NY, NY has vaulted to the very top of Master of Fine Arts programs in the world. Hunter College continues to see annual enrollment and applications increase every year because it offers artists a great opportunity to be discovered.

The highlight of this Spring’s Open Studios was the art of Carly Haffner. She makes wildly imaginative paintings, drawings and sculpture while at the same time saying something much deeper about the world we live in. Carly Haffner’s art exists somewhere between a minimal palette, where line takes the predominant role and other works where color is employed to “pump up” the playful feel of the work thus drawing the viewer in to the deeper message. Themes that run through her most recent work are: figures with heart hands, unicorns eating grass near a toxic dump, overly excited bananas and polluting cardboard cars. Haffner work offers a timely and open narrative to play out and engage the viewer.

Banana Boy, Acrylic on wood Moog, Giff, Acrylic on wood

Super! Acrylic on wood Car Pile, Cardboard and mixed media