Taking a quote from the evil stepmother in a Grimm’s fairy tale, the New York Academy reframes its new graduates’ bold attempts to address the state of storytelling in contemporary practice. The 2010 MFA Thesis Exhibition presents an abundant testament to the wisdom of careful study and hard thinking in the face of an art world that has nearly forgotten the special power of craftsmanship, and its capacity to deliver on the artist’s intentions.

For nearly a century the critical establishment has acted like an angry stepmother scolding its figurative artists like naughty children. It can be argued that figurative art has maintained its transgressive posture by resisting the critical norms of Modern and then Post-Modern thought.

These naughty children have returned.