Alum Returns to Campus to Exhibit Fantasy-Inspired Work

Tony Bragg ’02 says he’s attempting to build a fantasy world through his collection of drawings now on display in Flickinger Arts Center’s Taylor Gallery.

His show, Good News in a Bad News World, features drawings that are inspired by “a hypothetical novel” he is writing. “I’m actually writing it, but it’s not meant for publication,” Bragg says. This fantasy world operates on “its own internal logic and rules of physics while investigating personal and public problems.” 
 
“Much of the drawing’s source material are reordered and rearranged,” he adds. “They are at times irrational and ridiculous with an unstable and surreal internal logic – echoing the inherent issues and incongruity of recalling history or projecting the future.”
 
Bragg spent four years on The Hilltop where he participated in both visual and performing arts and excelled in endurance sports including cycling, Nordic skiing, and cross-country. Bragg describes the experience of returning to campus to show his work as, “weird…and interesting. As a student, I took art classes but never really thought of myself as an artist.”
 
“Tony was a very involved art student,” says Dean of Faculty Julie Haskell. “His creative vision was always very strong and clear. I knew I could rely on him to pursue that vision throughout his work.” 
 
After Kimball Union, Tony received an MFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA from Maine College of Art. He is the recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including the 2015 Amelia Peabody Award for Sculpture and The Emerging Artist Grant. He has shown his work in cities including New York, Chicago, Miami, and Providence, Rhode Island.
 
Bragg advises students considering a career in art to “work really hard. Success happens at a different rate for everybody. Work different jobs. If you go to art school, take classes in other subjects. Be patient, spend a ton of time in the studio, but also get out and see the world.”


Taylor Gallery is currently closed in response to COVID-19
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