MFA Thesis Show "The Caprichos"
Barbara and Steven Grossman Gallery, SMFA
July 12–27, 2013
Reception + Artist Talks: July 11, 5:30–8 pm

Emily Lombardo's The Caprichos is a series of 80 etchings which are in direct conversation and homage to Francisco Goya's Los Caprichos, from 1799. Goya's series reveals the dark side of humanity during the Enlightenment, which for Spain was a time of economic humiliation and religious fanaticism. Goya's series reveals the problem of all culture movements to potentially give way to a level of fascism and inequity. The Caprichos continues this investigation in America 2013, through a contemporary feminist lens, in the exact tradition of etching and aquatint of Goya.

Lombardo is an artist who has been living and working in Boston for over 15 years. She received her BFA from The Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2002. She is currently finishing her MFA at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, where she is a Graduate Teaching Fellow in the Prints and Paper Area. Lombardo applies her vast knowledge of sculpture and printing for conceptual reasons, which allows her work to extend to a wide range of mediums. She is concerned with issues of appropriation, with specific attention to a high level of craft. This insures a contemporary dialog between her work and the work she is paying homage to. She recently exhibited her work at Steven Zevitas Gallery, June 10–17, 2013.

Image: Emily Lombardo, The Caprichos; 53 What a Diamond Skull!, 2013, etching, 9x6 inches.