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Gabe Cortese<\/b><\/h4>\n
Borrowing from the weight of religious paintings, Cortese\u00a0subverts religious motifs to create discord between spirituality and sexuality. His thesis work is particularly personal to him;\u00a0the figures in his work\u00a0reflect aspects of\u00a0his\u00a0partner, using his image as a lens to narrate\u00a0Cortese\u2019s\u00a0own experiences.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Danielle Culibao\u00a0Powell creates paintings\u00a0and collages\u00a0expanding\u00a0upon personal experiences of falling into,\u00a0or between, multiple cultures at once.\u00a0With a strong interest in\u00a0the\u00a0complexities that emerge from the collision of cultural history, contemporary identity and the process of merging one\u2019s life with another,\u00a0she\u00a0explores\u00a0cultural plurality and transcultural experiences within the home.\u00a0Reflecting on her experience\u00a0of\u00a0being the\u00a0first member of\u00a0her\u00a0family to be born outside of the Philippines and in an intercultural marriage,\u00a0Culibao\u00a0Powell\u00a0became\u00a0fascinated by how individual histories become a shared history within the context of a family.\u00a0Using Filipino patterns, Western symbolism and personal iconography, she builds imagery that\u00a0expresses\u00a0her\u00a0construction of a new life and new identity. Although her work is autobiographical in nature, she hopes audiences can relate to the universal\u00a0struggle\u00a0for intimacy.<\/p>\n \u201cI have had the privilege to work with the most amazing faculty and artists at this school,\u201d says\u00a0Culibao\u00a0Powell. \u201cBoth formally and conceptually, my work has\u00a0evolved\u00a0and it has been refined because of the generous insight of the professors I have worked with and the peers I have worked alongside.\u201d\u00a0After graduation, she plans to\u00a0continue painting, competing and exhibiting\u00a0and hopes\u00a0to teach at the university level again one day.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Reid\u2019s thesis work for\u00a0Paper House<\/i>\u00a0is built around his fascination with how people react to new and contradictory perspectives. After learning about\u00a0cognitive dissonance, which is the state of psychological discomfort when a person is confronted with information that goes against previously held beliefs,\u00a0Reid immediately recognized the significance of this concept in his own life. Taking the opportunity to create work that was meaningful to himself and a broad audience, he created\u00a0his thesis\u00a0work,\u00a0which he hopes audiences can use to relate to his personal struggles.<\/p>\n Reid credits his time in the MFA program for the strong relationships he has formed with colleagues and faculty.\u00a0After graduation,\u00a0he hopes to obtain warehouse or commercial space to set up collaborative artist studios.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tojar\u00a0embraces\u00a0her passion as a former professional pastry chef\u00a0to\u00a0create paintings of food to explore her cultural identity and personal histories.\u00a0Her understanding of\u00a0the physicality of food informs how\u00a0it\u00a0is\u00a0portrayed on a two-dimensional surface with paint for visual indulgence.\u00a0She is\u00a0particularly\u00a0interested in discovering metaphorical connections\u00a0between\u00a0food and other objects.<\/p>\n Through her experience in the MFA program,\u00a0Tojar\u2019s\u00a0best advice for incoming students is to be open to other possibilities and accept that\u00a0failure\u00a0is part of the\u00a0learning\u00a0process.\u00a0\u201cEverything you do will influence future work,\u00a0including the \u201cfailed\u201d attempts,\u201d she says.\u00a0Tojar\u00a0hopes to\u00a0employ what she has learned\u00a0during her time at UCF\u00a0to continue being an effective artist.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n For more information about\u00a0Paper House<\/i>, on exhibition online and at the UCF Art Gallery now through March 3, click here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Gabe](\"http:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2021\/02\/HE.PaperHouseInstall-19.jpg\")
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\nGabe Cortese\u00a0creates\u00a0oil\u00a0paintings and\u00a0charcoal\u00a0drawings depicting\u00a0codification\u00a0of queerness through\u00a0figuration\u00a0and symbolism.\u00a0As a queer artist,\u00a0Cortese\u00a0uses\u00a0his work\u00a0to\u00a0make sense of his experiences. His animated objects and flamboyant bodies form queer narratives that portray themes of tenderness, longing\u00a0and desire in comical and dramatic ways.<\/p>\n
\nDanielle\u00a0<\/b>Culibao\u00a0<\/b>Powell<\/b><\/h4>\n
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\nTim Reid<\/b><\/h4>\n
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\n<\/b>Experimental filmmaker and installation artist Tim Reid provokes viewers with his own experiences with insecurities, contradictions and hypocrisy.\u00a0Although his background is in film and video production, he has since shifted his focus during his time in the MFA program to creating installations and tangible objects.\u00a0He is particularly interested in learning unfamiliar materials while using them and understanding how the process of learning is more important than the\u00a0results.\u00a0Given his proclivity for trying new materials, it is no surprise that his advice for budding artists is to\u00a0try new things.<\/p>\n
\nAnnette\u00a0<\/b>Tojar<\/b><\/h4>\n
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