Dodd Students Finalists for the AXA Art Prize

Two students from Lamar Dodd School of Art, Interdisciplinary Art and Design undergraduate Maria Elias and MFA Candidate Jason Rafferty, are shortlisted as finalists for the AXA Art Prize and will exhibit at the AXA Art Prize Exhibition at The New York Academy of Art in New York, NY from November 1-17.

“AXA XL, a division of AXA, developed the AXA Art Prize in partnership with the New York Academy of Art. Over the past three years, the Prize has become one of the premier student art competitions in the U.S. and is open to figurative paintings, drawings and prints created by undergraduate and graduate art students.

For the fourth edition of the Prize, over 600 submissions were received from a record 147 undergraduate and graduate schools across the U.S. The final 40 works in the exhibition, which include paintings, drawings and prints, were chosen by an Exhibition Jury comprised of Ian Alteveer, Curator for Modern and Contemporary Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harry Cooper, Senior Curator and Head of Modern Art at the National Gallery of Art, Rita Gonzales, Head of Contemporary Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Ashley James, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

The first prize is awarded $10,000 and the second prize $5,000. This year, winners will be chosen by renowned artists Bo Bartlett, Rachel Feinstein, Elizabeth Peyton, Calida Rawles, and Peter Saul alongside Jennifer Schipf from AXA XL. Prize winners will be announced in November, 2021.”

Maria Elias is an interdisciplinary Mexican American artist that focuses on her culture, social justice issues, and honoring her family. Using surreal compositions and saturated colors, Elias creates scenes that juxtapose the beauty and ugly in her world.

Elias honors the immense progress her immigrant parents have achieved by depicting their intense work conditions and contrasting it with the fruits of their labor.

Jason Rafferty is an MFA candidate at the University of Georgia. His “Mythic Images” series explore the intersection of mythology with the everyday, seeking mythic significance behind mundane appearances. His MFA work draws upon his background as a climate activist to investigate the intergenerational response to climate change via mixed-media paintings and assemblages.

Captures a feeling of tragic loss. Loosely based upon the tale of the Gemini, a man stumbles upon a scene of death and questions remain unanswered.