Under Scores: 2026 Weitzman Fine Arts MFA Exhibition

Ana González is a sculptor and interdisciplinary artist completing the University of Pennsylvania's renowned Fine Arts MFA program, where she has developed her practice within one of the country's most rigorous contemporary art contexts. Based in Philadelphia during her graduate studies, González works primarily in sculpture while engaging with installation and other experimental forms that push beyond traditional boundaries of the medium. Her work emerges from sustained research and formal experimentation, reflecting the critical foundation that defines the Weitzman program's approach to art-making. Like her peers in the class of 2026, González has cultivated an independent artistic vision grounded in intellectual engagement with urgent contemporary concerns, developing a formally ambitious body of work that demonstrates both technical sophistication and conceptual depth. What distinguishes González's sculptural practice is her ability to synthesize material investigation with thematic complexity, creating works that operate across multiple registers of meaning and perception. Her engagement with sculpture as a medium reflects broader conversations within contemporary practice about form, space, and embodiment, while her participation in the "slow blunt painful and incredibly inefficient" first-year exhibition demonstrated her willingness to embrace experimental methodologies and unconventional approaches to artistic problem-solving. González's work speaks to the sensitivity and formal command that characterizes the strongest emerging practices, suggesting an artist attuned to both the possibilities and constraints of three-dimensional thinking. For Philadelphia audiences encountering the Under Scores exhibition at Arthur Ross Gallery, González represents the vital moment when emerging artists launch their professional trajectories, offering viewers direct access to work at the forefront of contemporary sculptural practice. Her presence within this carefully curated selection of eight artists underscores the breadth of the Weitzman program and provides an opportunity to witness the critical rigor and conceptual ambition that define the next generation of artists shaping contemporary discourse. The exhibition itself marks a significant threshold in González's development, presenting work refined through years of dialogue, research, and formal experimentation to a public audience encountering fresh artistic voices ready to engage with the most pressing conversations in contemporary art.

Cacie Rosario Jackson is a dynamic sculptor whose practice is deeply rooted in the interplay of community, heritage, and spatial transformation, drawing from her multifaceted background in urban planning and cultural equity. Based in Philadelphia, where she is completing her MFA at the Weitzman School of Design, Jackson works primarily in sculpture, employing materials like reclaimed urban debris, cast resins, and textured metals to craft installations that interrogate the built environment's hidden narratives. Her style merges monumental forms with intimate, tactile details, evoking the rhythms of city life while exploring core themes of racial dynamics, equitable placemaking, and the sculptural potential of communal memory. Influenced by her Mexican American and African American lineage, Jackson's work reflects a commitment to elevating marginalized voices through three-dimensional storytelling, transforming abstract social concepts into tangible, immersive experiences that challenge viewers to reconsider the spaces they inhabit. What distinguishes Jackson's oeuvre is its distinctive visual language—a fusion of organic, flowing contours inspired by natural erosion and the sharp geometries of architectural remnants, creating hybrids that speak to both resilience and rupture. Her influences span the community revitalization strategies of mid-20th-century public art movements and contemporary intersectional theory, set against the cultural context of Philadelphia's diverse neighborhoods, where histories of migration and gentrification collide. In pieces that evoke layered topographies, such as undulating forms embedded with inscribed narratives or suspended lattices mimicking social networks, Jackson employs subtle kinetic elements to mimic the flux of human interaction, inviting tactile engagement that blurs the boundary between observer and artifact. This approach not only honors the unseen labor of communities but also critiques systemic inequities, positioning sculpture as a tool for dialogue and healing. In the "Under Scores: 2026 Weitzman Fine Arts MFA Exhibition" at the Arthur Ross Gallery, Jackson's contributions stand out as a vital pulse within the dynamic range of eight graduating artists' voices, offering Philadelphia audiences an electrifying encounter with sculpture's power to reimagine public space. Her installations, spanning the exhibition's two locations, will immerse visitors in provocative environments that echo the city's layered histories, prompting reflections on belonging and transformation amid the next generation's bold practices. Through these works, Philly viewers will experience not just aesthetic innovation but a call to embodied activism, making Jackson's presence a cornerstone of this compelling introduction to emerging talents.

Sol Kim is an emerging artist completing her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania's Stuart Weitzman School of Design, where she has immersed herself in the vibrant Philadelphia art scene. Primarily working in sculpture, Kim's practice also extends into photography and interdisciplinary forms, marked by a rigorous exploration of technology's intersection with human experience. Her style blends formal precision with conceptual depth, often employing sculptural elements to interrogate the human condition in an algorithmic age. Core themes revolve around subverting digital surveillance and categorization, drawing from the cold logic of computer vision systems to probe identity, perception, and vulnerability. Based in Philadelphia, her work reflects the Weitzman program's emphasis on sustained research and experimentation, transforming abstract technological processes into tangible, immersive forms that challenge viewers to reconsider their own visibility in a data-driven world. What distinguishes Kim's oeuvre is its distinctive visual language, which fuses sculptural materiality with photographic subversion, creating hybrid installations that mimic and dismantle the algorithms of machine recognition. Influenced by the cultural context of pervasive AI surveillance, her Sachs Program grant-funded project Human Condition exemplifies this approach—a photographic series that hacks computer vision protocols, exposing their biases in detecting and classifying human forms. These works evoke a tension between organic humanity and mechanical detachment, reminiscent of post-digital artists who critique tech's omnipresence, yet Kim's sculptures add a haptic dimension, perhaps rendering fragmented bodies in resin or metal to symbolize algorithmic fragmentation. This fusion not only critiques societal reliance on flawed detection systems but also invites tactile engagement, making the invisible infrastructures of vision palpably real. In the "Under Scores: 2026 Weitzman Fine Arts MFA Exhibition" at Arthur Ross Gallery and Gordon Gallery, Sol Kim's sculptures stand as a pivotal voice among eight graduating artists, offering Philadelphia audiences an electrifying encounter with the forefront of contemporary practice. Visitors will experience her pieces as provocative interventions—sculptural forms that disrupt gallery space, mirroring the exhibition's dynamic range of voices across two locations. Here, Kim's work underscores the MFA program's intellectual rigor, launching her career with formally ambitious pieces that sensitively engage urgent topics like technological dehumanization. Philly art enthusiasts will leave transformed, confronting their own "human condition" through her subversive lens, marking a compelling debut for this next-generation talent.