MassArt Burnouts - Painted portraits by 3 MassArt Alums
MASSART BURNOUTS is an eclectic group of portrait painters who collectively studied at Massachusetts College of Art for a total of 21 years. They do not officially represent MassArt, but they did serve their time there. The MassArt Burnouts are proud to hold their group exhibition of painted portraits at the Washington Street Gallery in Somerville.
Charles Saccoach is a multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker with roots in Boston. He earned his BFA in Film Production from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2008. While working day jobs to stay afloat, Charles immersed himself in the city’s underground music scene—playing in experimental rock and noise bands, and later exploring DJing and electronic music. His first love is drawing. Deeply inspired by graffiti, comics, anime, and surreal and fantasy art, Charles’ visual work blends dreamlike imagery with spontaneous technique. He often experiments with automatic drawing, channeling his narcolepsy and hypnagogic hallucinations into vivid, subconscious expressions. Over the years, his work has appeared in both solo and group exhibitions, revealing a restless, exploratory spirit committed to pushing boundaries across mediums.
Originally from Ireland, Shay Culligan studied fine art at the National College of Art & Design in Dublin. He emigrated to Massachusetts in the 1990s where he completed his education at MassArt in Boston, graduating with his BFA in 1998. Specializing in oil on canvas, Shay has exhibited his art all over the USA, plus Canada, Ireland, the UK, and the Netherlands. He is an outspoken critic of the lucrative visual art establishment, with controversial views which he suspects may have held him back. Shay favors representational art over pure abstraction, though he does allow some distortion in his painting. He long ago stopped chasing commercial success in the visual art world, because Shay believes that it is not a merit-based culture. Now he only paints for himself settling for the therapeutic satisfaction that comes from the creative process, exhibiting whenever possible, and gladly accepting the occasional commission or sale.
Joshua Ferrao is a local artist, photographer, and musician, based in the Boston area. Born in India and based in Jamaica Plain, he began honing his natural talent to draw through the use of comic books, sci fi and fantasy art. During college he split majors in painting, art education, photography—building a dark room in the home of his parent’s basement—and then finally getting into music production and playing. Still drawing and illustrating, Josh also uses digital mediums like Procreate. Answering the call back into the painting world for this show with his old friends from Mass Art, Joshua chose acrylic to showcase his fascination and admiration of women surviving through to the future celebrating their natural beauty, strength, and resilience. Major painting influences include Frank Frazetta, Jan Saudek, Caravaggio, and Richard Kern, among others.
