Memories of Now: Laguna College of Art + Design’s MFA graduate work on display at the Laguna Art Museum
By MARRIE STONE
“To love at all is to be vulnerable,” C.S. Lewis wrote in his 1960 spiritual guidebook The Four Loves. “Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken.”
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Photo by Jeff Rovner
Magnolia Lefleur’s “Vulnerable Roles”
Magnolia Lefleur reformatted Lewis’ quotation into her 2025 oil painting, Vulnerable Roles, in the form of an eye chart. It proves an apt lens to view this year’s LCAD MFA show, Memories of Now, on display at the Laguna Art Museum through September 14. Love and vulnerability are two prominent themes that recur across much of this work, alongside loneliness, solitude, curiosity, wonder and even disgust at American greed and consumerism. More than two dozen works (including oils, watercolors, acrylics and sculpture) by eight artists explore these ideas, albeit in wholly unique ways.
The annual MFA show, now in its fourth year at LAM, remains one of my favorite exhibitions. Partly because of its sheer scope and surprising vision, but also because I’m curious what up-and-coming artists make of this cultural moment.
In contrast to the three retrospectives installed on the main floor, the work upstairs represents the future. And it depicts a broader view of contemporary American life. Our great national experiment of fashioning our country as a melting pot has come to fruition. How is that experience translated in the minds of its immigrants? After all, five of these eight graduates are born of immigrant parents or immigrated here themselves.
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Photo by Marrie Stone
“Memories of Now” is on display through September 14.
LCAD’s 2025 MFA graduates (L-R): Magnolia Lefleur, Tomas Ogle, Matteo Di Ventra, Jonathan McHugh, Ler Chaang and Shenho Hshieh. (Not pictured Averi Endow and Nikita Young.)
Last Saturday night, seven of the eight artists sat for a 90-minute panel discussion on their processes and influences, what they learned over the past two years, what keeps them motivated and how their subconscious seeps into their work.
“Historians and critics often talk about artists like an extinct species,” said Peter Zokosky, chair of LCAD’s MFA Drawing + Painting. “They’re trying to figure them out. Sometimes we can just ask living artists questions. They’re often quite articulate about what they’re doing.”
Such was the case Saturday evening, when several insights struck me as profound and certainly beyond the scope of what I could glean simply by looking at a canvas. LCAD, they said, taught them a new language through which they could express something that couldn’t be communicated any other way.
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Photo by Marrie Stone
Saturday evening’s panel (L-R): Nikita Young, Shenho Hshieh, Tomas Ogle, Magnolia Lefleur, Ler Chang, Matteo Di Ventra, Jonathan McHugh answer questions from moderator and LCAD’s MFA Drawing + Painting program chair Peter Zokosky
MFA programs are often critiqued for producing artists or writers who emerge sounding alike. Spend two years huddled in the same classrooms, studying under the same professors and working in adjoining studios, and your classmates might rub off on your work. Especially when there are only eight of you.
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Not so for these graduates. Talk to them for a few moments or glance at their work – you’ll have no trouble distinguishing them. Their artistic voices are uniquely their own.
To prove my point, meet this year’s LCAD masters (introduced alphabetically):
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Photo by Marrie Stone
Chinese artist Ler Chang came from the video game and animation industry. Her surreal scenes – dancing skeletons, an ominous mushroom cloud threatening an escaping rocket and a haunting split-screen image of a rat-infested warehouse aside the natural world – reflect Chang’s disappointment in humankind. “Art is my tool and weapon to change the world,” she said.
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Photo by Jeff Rovner
Ler Chang’s 2024 oil painting “The Life”
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Photo by Marrie Stone
Matteo Di Ventra’s work has already appeared in multiple galleries on the West Coast. His thesis focused on functional objects (sinks, toilets, water pipes) to encourage our contemplation of aesthetics.
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Photo by Jeff Rovner
Matteo Di Ventra’s “Nude in Room.” Di Ventra says he frequently paints portraits of his wife in an attempt to understand her.
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Photo by Jeff Rovner
Japanese American Averi Endow’s county fair series criticizes the “peculiar absurdity” of American excess. “The Fair, a strange alternative universe of indulgence and the relentless pursuit of more, embodies the ethos of capitalist society, revealing the never-ending chase for external satisfaction and the need to WIN – big stupid prizes.”
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Photo by Marrie Stone
As the son of Taiwanese immigrants, Shenho Hshieh explores themes of solitude and anxiety stemming from his upbringing. Hshieh combines the abstract and literal, layering scenes to depict private moments often invaded by family.
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Photo by Marrie Stone
The daughter of a Trinidadian father and Panamanian mother, Magnolia Lefleur uses her work as a “psychological manual” to illustrate ancestral wisdom and her own experiences. “This above all: to thine own self be true.” This Shakespearian line is one of Lefleur’s guiding principles.
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Photo by Marrie Stone
Jonathan McHugh layers watercolor, ink, colored pencil, torn paper, oil and other media to create complicated collages that – on superficial viewing – are serene abstract seascapes. Careful attention rewards the eye when you realize the depth and complexity that went into each image. “I tear and reassemble many paintings to emphasize the fragility of these landscapes as they are increasingly impacted by human activity.”
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Photo by Marrie Stone
For Tomas Ogle, what began as a single painting grew into a thematic triptych. These wholly imagined scenes explore ideas of terrestrial existence, harmony, unity, the universe and humanity’s place amongst it all.
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Photo by Marrie Stone
South Korean immigrant Nikita Young worked in both fashion and business before becoming a sculptor and now, an oil painter. Her work is imbued with themes of self-discovery and solitude. “Still images can contain a lot of intellectual and emotion movement,” Young said. “Work doesn’t need to be loud to be heard.”
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Photo by Jeff Rovner
Nikita Young’s 2024 oil painting, “The Giant in Me”
Over the next six weeks, these artists are offering a series of two-hour workshops at LAM designed to introduce the public to their knowledge and offer them the opportunity to hone their skills.
Saturday, May 24, Tomas Ogle allows attendees to create an acrylic artwork while learning color composition.
Saturday, May 31, Magnolia Lefleur teaches how to uncover subconscious thoughts through the lens of personal art.
Saturday, June 7, Jonathan McHugh explores the expressive potential of watercolor, ink, paper and texture.
Saturday, June 14, Averi Endow offers an introduction to touch drawing.
Sunday, June 22, Matteo Di Ventra teaches quick study portraits.
Saturday, June 28, Ler Chang introduces attendees to markers and coloring outside the lines.
All workshops take place from 1-3 p.m. Advance tickets are recommended. Museum members: $45; non-members: $55. Enjoy a 20% discount with purchase of the series. For more information, visit LAM’s website here.
