New American Paintings/Blog


MFA Annual Deadline Extended! by New American Paintings
November 1, 2011, 8:45 am
Filed under: Competitions, MFA | Tags: , , , , ,

MFA ANNUAL EXTENDED DEADLINE: November 7th, 2011

We are currently accepting submissions for what has become our most anticipated publication of the year. The MFA Annual will feature painters that are currently studying to receive a Master of Fine Arts or recent MFA graduates. Even more exciting, we have an amazing juror for this year’s competition. New American Paintings is thrilled to have Alma Ruiz, Senior Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, ready to review submissions and select the best and most promising artists to watch.

If you have received your MFA in 2011 or you are a current candidate, you are eligible to enter! The extended deadline is November 7th, 2011 (Midnight EST). So apply online now! Or, visit competition page and follow the instructions. Submitting is easy! Just have four jpegs, less than 1200 pixels at their greatest dimension, and a credit card for the entry fee.

You may download a PDF of our postcard announcement here (ignore the original deadline). Good luck!



Attention MFA Students and Current Year MFA Graduates! by New American Paintings
September 30, 2011, 11:17 am
Filed under: Competitions, Los Angeles, MFA | Tags: , , , , ,

MFA ANNUAL DEADLINE: October 31, 2011

We are currently accepting submissions for what has become our most anticipated publication of the year. The MFA Annual will feature painters that are currently studying to receive a Master of Fine Arts or recent MFA graduates. Even more exciting, we have an amazing juror for this year’s competition. New American Paintings is thrilled to have Alma Ruiz, Senior Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, ready to review submissions and select the best and most promising artists to watch.

If you have received your MFA in 2011 or you are a current candidate, you are eligible to enter! The deadline is October 31, 2011 (Midnight EST). So apply online now! Or, visit competition page and follow the instructions. Submitting is easy! Just have four jpegs, less than 1200 pixels at their greatest dimension, and a credit card for the entry fee.

You may download a PDF of our postcard announcement here. Good luck!



Piles and Textiles: Studio Visit with Erin Payne by New American Paintings
August 25, 2011, 10:30 am
Filed under: Los Angeles, MFA, Q&A | Tags: , , , , ,

Erin Payne (NAP #93) paints what she terms “piles” – they are piles of jumbled and indefinable fabric and scattered memories.  Upon first glance, they reminded me of many fond piles from my own life: blankets abandoned from a childhood fort, wet and sandy towels left at the beach, and the ever-growing laundry that accumulate magically by week’s end.  I also saw them as shells of things that once were, but were now abandoned and I was excited to learn more about her process and inspiration. -Ellen C. Caldwell, LA Contributor


Spire, oil on canvas, 24 x 24, 2011

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Radiant Fields: 7 Questions for Benjamin Edmiston by openstudiospress


Benjamin Edmiston, Boxer’s Nose, Snake Brains, 2011 | Gouache, acrylic and silkscreen on paper. Courtesy the artist.

Currently featured in #93, the MFA Annual edition of New American Paintings now on newsstandsBenjamin Edmiston‘s latest work — elaborate paintings, drawings, and collages — is also on view at Nudashank in Baltimore as part of the group show Radiant Fields (also featuring Edward Max Fendley and Steven Riddle). The show opened over the weekend, so I took the opportunity to catch up with Edmiston to play a severely abridged game of 20 Questions. His thoughts on influences, music, and beer (and lots of pictures) after the jump.  —Matthew Smith, DC Contributor

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#93: MFA Annual, Juror: Randi Hopkins, ICA/Boston by openstudiospress

Cover: Michael Hilsman

The MFA Annual edition of New American Paintings has quickly become our most popular issue of the year—and rightly so. For nearly two decades, our mission has been to put the work of emerging contemporary artists in the hands of readers, collectors, curators, and painting enthusiasts, and where better to find young, emerging work than in some of best studio programs the country.

We’re very proud to feature our talented friend Randi Hopkins, Associate Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, as this edition’s juror. Randi has had extensive experience working directly with emerging artists for several years, and her selections make for one of the most exciting group of MFA candidates we’ve published to date. Also included is a Q&A with Randi in the back of the book, in which she talks Rauschenberg, Monet, and Eddie Martinez.

The Spotlight feature for this edition focuses on San Francisco’s Ruth Laskey, previously featured in the 2005 MFA Annual and a recent recipient of a prestigious SECA Art Award from SFMOMA for her handmade linen work. Laskey moved from painting to weaving during grad school, and her work elegantly re-examines the traditional practice of painting.

This is an exciting moment for contemporary painting, with artists—young and old—re-evaluating the use of their materials and investigating the limits of the medium itself. The works contained in this issue reflect some of the most talented and exciting perspectives from emerging young artists in the country. To see a complete list of the artists featured in this year’s MFA Annual, and see images of their work, click the link below to keep reading!  —Evan J. Garza, Editor-at-Large

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