Opening: Wednesday, May 15, 6-8pm.

Curated by Zoé Samudzi

What Lovers Do: RISD MFA Painting Thesis Exhibition features the Rhode Island School of Design’s 2024 MFA Painting cohort. Artists include Aiza Ahmed, Ashley N. Bergner, Aaron Feltman, Christopher Huff, James Ming Johnson, Boluwatife Oyediran, Gonçalo Preto, Dylan Sheahan, Lily Taylor, and Zainab Zulfiqar.

What Lovers Do is curated by scholar and writer Zoé Samudzi.

About:

Zoé Samudzi is the Charles E. Scheidt Visiting Assistant Professor of Genocide Studies and Genocide Prevention at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. She holds a PhD in Medical Sociology from the University of California, San Francisco in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. She is also a Research Associate with the Center for the Study of Race, Gender & Class (RGC) at the University of Johannesburg. Zoé is a writer and critic whose work has appeared in Art in America, Artforum, Bookforum, The New Inquiry, The Architectural Review, The New Republic, the Funambulist, and other outlets. She is an associate editor with Parapraxis Magazine, a contributing writer at Jewish Currents, and co-author of As Black as Resistance: Finding the Conditions for Liberation (AK Press, 2018).

Aiza Ahmed (b. 1997, Lahore, Pakistan) earned her BFA at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, in 2020. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Painting at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI, with an expected graduation year of 2024. Recent group exhibitions include Educate, Christie’s, New York, NY (2020); I Shouted my Laughter to the Stars, Aicon Gallery, New York, NY (2022); First Person, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, NY (2023); Going Dutch: A Rembrandt Soirée, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, NY (2017); Now Streaming, Rajiv Menon Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA (2024); In A Look, VM Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan (2021); Ladies Who Lunch, Dominion Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan (2021); among others. Upcoming group exhibitions include What Lovers Do: RISD MFA Painting Show, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY (2024); New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA), New York, NY (2024); and Twelve Gates Arts, Philadelphia, PA (2024). Ahmed’s first solo exhibition in India is scheduled in 2025 at Chemould CoLab, an extension program of Chemould Prescott Road. She is the recipient of several awards, including The Graduate Commons Grant Fellowship, Providence, RI (2024); the Rhode Island School of Design Fellowship, Providence, RI (2022); The Edith Stone and Walter King Memorial Prize, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (2019); and the David R. Bean Prize in Fine Arts, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (2018). Ahmed is an alumnus of the William Kentridge & The Centre for the Less Good Idea, Providence, RI.

James Ming Johnson (b. 1990, Bangkok, Thailand) earned his BA in Film and Media at Stanford University, Stanford, CA and is pursuing his MFA in Painting at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI, in 2024. Johnson previously studied at the Art Students League in New York, NY (2016), before attending the post-baccalaureate program at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA.

Lily Taylor (b. 1993, New York, NY) is an artist living and working in Providence, RI. Taylor recieved her BA in English from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, in 2016. Recent group exhibitions include Painting with Butter, Sol Koffler Gallery, RISD, Providence, RI (2023); Painting Triennial, Woods Gerry Gallery, RISD, Providence, RI (2022); and Hot Box, Flatiron Project Space, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY (2022).

Boluwatife Oyediran (b. 1997, Ogbomosho, Nigeria) studied Fine and Applied Arts at Emmanuel Alayamde College of Education in Oyo, Nigeria, in 2016. He is currently pursuing his MFA in Painting at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI, with an expected graduation year of 2024. Recent solo exhibitions include Point of Correction, Afikaris Gallery, Paris, France (2022); For Boiz Like Me Who’ve Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf, Gallery1957, Accra, Ghana (2022); Recent group exhibitions include The New African Portratiure: Shariat Collections, Kunsthalle Krems Museum, Donau, Austria (2023); Contemporary Redifined: Africa Today, Sotheby’s, Tel Aviv, Israel (2023); The Sound of Our Souls, UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles, CA (2023); Unlimited I, Gallery 1957, Accra, Ghana (2022); and 1-54 NYC, New York, NY (2022). Oyediran’s work resides in the collections of the Institute Museum of Ghana, Elliot Perry Collection, Amir Shariat Collection, and David Adjaye Collection. He is the recipient of several awards, including the Presidental Fellowship, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI (2024); and the Best Student in Drawing Prize, Emmanuel Alaymde College of Education, Oyo, Nigeria (2016). Oyediran is an alumnus of the Noldor Artist Residency, Accra, Ghana (2022); and an Artist-in-Residence, Gallery 1957, Accra, Ghana (2022).

Ashley N. Bergner (b.1995, Knoxville, Tennessee) earned her BFA at The University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN, in 2019. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Painting at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI, expected 2024.

Christopher Huff earned his BFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD, in 2020. He is currently pursuing his MFA in Painting at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI, with an expected graduation year of 2024. Recent solo exhbitions include Plaform Exhibition, Unit London, London, UK (2022); and Cathexis, Pinkard Gallery, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD (2019). Recent group exhibitions include In The Heat Of The Night, Andrew Reed Gallery, New York, NY (2023); Horizon Line, Andre Reed Gallery, Miami, FL (2023); Charm City, Asya Geisberg Gallery, New York, NY (2022); A Good Guest, Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Baltimore, MD (2020); among others. He is the recipient of several awards, including the MFA Gelman Scholarship, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI (2022); Nicolette Ausschnitt ’66 Scholarship Award, Rhode Island School of Design (2023); among others.

Gonçalo Preto (b.1991, Lisbon, Portugal) is an artist living and working in Providence, RI. Preto recieved his BFA Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2012. He is currently pursuing his MFA in Painting at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI, with an expected graduation year of 2024. Recent solo exhibitions include A Cadência de uma Chama, Galeria Madrogoa, Lisbon, Portugal (2024); Middle Finger Pedestrians, Galeria Madragoa, Lisbon Portugal (2019); LIMBO, Museu Carlos Machado, Ponta Delgada (São Miguel), Azores, Portugal (2019); among others. Recent group exhbitions include MICROPOLÍTICAS, CACE at Centro de Arquelogia de Beja, Portugal (2024); Blind Taste, ARBAG, Lisbon, Portugal (2024); Silvers in the Void, MAMOTH, London, UK (2023); In the Heat of the Night, Andrew Reed Gallery, New York, NY (2023); BIG OBJECTS, Marvin Gardens, New York, NY (2023); Figuration through Abstraction, Andrew Reed Gallery, Miami, FL (2022); among others. He is the recipient of several awards, including a Fullbright FCC Grant (2022); Rhode Island School of Design Fellowship, Providence, RI (2022); Hopper Prize Finalist (2023); among others.

Dylan Sheahan (b. 1996, Red Bank, NJ) earned his BFA from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in Dartmouth, MA. He is currently pursuing his MFA in Painting at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI, with an expected graduation year of 2024.

Zainab Zulfiqar (b. 1996, Lahore, Pakistan) earned their BFA at the National College of Arts in New York, NY, in 2021. They are currently pursuing their MFA in Painting at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI, with an expected graduation year of 2024. Recent group exhibtions include Liminal Spaces, Dastaangoi Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2022); Liberating Arts in Guantanamo Bay, IVS Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan; And so It Happened, T2F Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan; among others. Zulfiqar is the recipient of the Roger and Gayle Mandle Presidental Fellowship, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI.

Aaron Feltman (b.1998, Huntington, NY) is an artist living and working in Providence, RI. Feltman recieved his BFA at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, PA, in 2020. Recent group exhibitions include Biomes, CCS Bard Hessel Museum, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY (2024); A Room with a view, Vardan Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2023); In the Heat of the Night, Andrew Reed Gallery, New York, NY (2023); The Bathroom Show, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY (2022); and AXA Art Prize, New York Academy of Fine Arts, New York, NY (2020). Feltman is an alumnus of the Yale Norfolk Residency, Norfolk, CT (2019).