We’re pleased to announce our Summer 2020 Artist in Residence, Katya Grokhovsky. Katya Grokhovsky was born in Ukraine, raised in Australia and is based in NYC. She is an artist, independent curator, educator and a Founding Director of The Immigrant Artist Biennial (TIAB). Grokhovsky holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a BFA from Victorian College of the Arts and a BA (Honors) in Fashion from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. 

Grokhovsky has received support through numerous residencies and fellowships including SVA MFA Art Practice Artist in Residence, Kickstarter Creator in Residence, Pratt Fine Arts Department Artist in Residence, Wythe Hotel Residency, Art and Law Fellowship, The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) Studios Program, BRICworkspace Residency, Ox-BOW School of Art Residency, Wassaic Artist Residency, Atlantic Center for the Arts Associate Artist in Residence, Studios at MASS MoCA, VOX Populi Curatorial Fellowship, BRIC Media Arts Fellowship, Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, NARS Residency, Santa Fe Art Institute Residency, Watermill Center Residency and more. She has been awarded the Brooklyn Arts Council Grant, NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship, ArtSlant 2017 Prize, Asylum Arts Grant, Chashama space to create grant, Australia Council for the Arts ArtStart Grant, NYFA Mentoring Program for Immigrant Artists, Freedman Traveling Scholarship for Emerging Artists and others. Her work has been exhibited extensively and has been reviewed in The New York Times, Hyperallergic, The Brooklyn Rail, LA Weekly, Huffington Post, Observer, Artnet, ArtNews, AUTRE, Contemporary Art Review LA, FRONTRUNNER Magazine, Performance is Alive, ArtBorne Magazine, Expose Magazine, Bad at Sports, BUST Magazine, Arte Fuse, L Magazine, Bedford + Bowery and others. 

We asked Katya to answer our AP Questionnaire.

What was the last thing you made?

The last thing I made was a digital mixed media painting on my laptop.

What was the last thing you read?

An article in New York Times Magazine titled “The Slur I Never Expected to Hear in 2020” by Cathy Park Hong.

What was the last exhibition you saw? I don’t remember what I physically saw last out in the world, but I just spent some time online in the exhibition: Louise Bourgeois Drawings 1947 – 2007 in the viewing room of Hauser and Wirth.

What motivates your practice?

My innate mysterious and insatiable drive and desire to make art.

How has your practice changed?

My practice is constantly evolving and cannibalizing itself, morphing from medium to medium, genre to genre, from painting to performance, to sculpture, video and installation.

Who do you most admire?

Revolutionary, ungovernable women who fight for justice, change histories and worlds and live their lives as they see fit.

Your favorite artwork made before your lifetime?

One of my all time favorites is a painting by Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes, 1620-21.

Your favorite artwork made during your lifetime?

"Artists translate experience into forms that provide new ways of making connections, seeing and understanding the world, so we all reflect some kind of truth about the moment we live in. Artists are uniquely poised to make change because we are trained to look, think critically and be sensitive to how what we put into the world is received. At the same time, we can have extreme demands on our time and often navigate uncertain employment, housing, studio space and basic resources. So much of what we achieve is connected to the real-world resources we have access to, which varies widely. I think we should each use whatever power, privilege and agency we have for good." 

A Celebration of the Life and Work of Tim Rollins

Monday, April 30, 2018 | Doors open at 6:30PM | Program at 7:00PM          SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd Street New York, NY 10011

Join us in celebrating the life of SVA alumnus and faculty member Tim Rollins (1955-2017), an inspiring and groundbreaking artist, educator, and activist whose visionary work touched and changed so many lives. The program will include contributions from artists, collaborators, art historians, and friends of Tim. A reception will follow.

This program is open to the public, however seating is limited and advance registration is required. To register, click here.

"Growing up in the Denton area of Texas as a queer, South-Asian Muslim, Khan learned a lot about how her body is read in America: as a site for projections of both desire and hatred, sexualization and expectations of modesty; with a supposed 'homeland' to which she doesn’t actually belong. Now an artist at a pivotal point in her career, that continued experience of alienation and bodily policing both haunts and fuels her work."