Hunter College MFA Thesis Show 'Sundarpreis' Showcases Five Emerging Artists in Tribeca

The fourth of five thesis exhibitions for Hunter College's Spring 2026 MFA cohort, 'Sundarpreis,' ran from April 17 to April 30 at 205 Hudson in Tribeca. The show featured five artists: Theophilus Gaffney, Satabdi Suman Tripathy, Cailyn Dawson, Janina Butz, Claire Weaver-Zeman, and Olivia Lutz. Gaffney presented a multimedia installation including plasticine sculptures, flashe paintings, and a three-channel black-and-white video of Tarrytown, described as a 'queer in-betweenness' subverting minimalist and maximalist binaries. Tripathy displayed paintings using charcoal, acrylic, ink, and sand, alongside a wall-to-wall video 'Before the End of Forms' depicting consuming embers. Dawson contributed self-portraits, including 'Wanderer Above Canal St.' referencing Caspar David Friedrich, and 'From the Ground (Winter),' a monochromatic oil on wood panel. Butz exhibited freestanding sculptures made from painted rebar, metallic fabric, and unfinished steel, emphasizing weightlessness. Weaver-Zeman revived Italian Baroque intensity with oil paintings featuring ceramic and fabric frames, depicting devil-horned cherubs and skeletal figures. Lutz showed two divergent series on linen: large charcoal gesture-markings evoking mountain ranges, and a separate body of work. The exhibition was noted for its cohesiveness and the artists' evolution.