Tribeca, New York
Group Exhibition
2025 Chubb Fellows Exhibition
New York Academy of ArtManuela Caicedo Benjamin Staker Brendan Sullivan The New York Academy of Art is pleased to present the 2025 Chubb Fellows Exhibition. Now in its 17th year, the Chubb Fellowship is the Academy's most prestigious postgraduate award, given annually to three outstanding MFA graduates. Chubb Fellows receive studio accommodations, a stipend, and opportunities for exhibition and professional development, including participation in the Chubb Lounge at Art Basel Miami Beach in December 2025. This year’s fellows—each with a distinct visual language—employ figurative art to investigate identity, memory, landscape, and cultural mythos: Manuela Caicedo (b. 1993, Bogotá, Colombia) works at the intersection of drawing, painting, and performance. Her richly atmospheric imagery draws from Colombian landscapes and folklore to explore mortality and mysticism. A 2024 MFA graduate of the New York Academy of Art, she was awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Grant, the Academy Scholar Award, and completed a residency at the University of Notre Dame Global Centre in Kylemore, Ireland. Her ongoing series Theater of Death is a poetic evocation of decay, ritual, and rebirth—where fire-born dragonas emerge from tropical gothic mists, and the viewer is left suspended in a dream between paradise and exile. Benjamin Staker (b. 1994, Washington) creates intimate scenes where flickers of lamplight, twilight, and inner illumination evoke the impermanence of mood and memory. A 2024 MFA graduate, he was awarded the 2025 Chubb Fellowship and completed residencies at Byrdcliffe (Woodstock, NY) and Kylemore (Ireland). His work has been shown at Ethan Cohen Gallery and George Adams Gallery. Staker's painting practice channels the sublime not through scale, but through moments of emotional disquiet and wonder. His chiaroscuro compositions mirror the shifting terrain of the psyche—where light disrupts shadow, and transformation arises from unease. Brendan Sullivan (b. 1990, Massachusetts) uses painting and sculpture to interrogate evolving notions of American masculinity. Drawing from his background as an athlete and laborer, Sullivan's figurative work probes the tension between vulnerability and strength. He received his MFA from the Academy in 2018 and was awarded the 2024 Eric Fischl Artist-in-Residence Award at West Nottingham Academy. His work has been exhibited at Fountain Street Fine Art and Bowersock Gallery, and will be featured in Studio Visit Magazine this fall. In his work, Sullivan reimagines traditional archetypes, using animal and human forms to challenge and reshape cultural expectations around masculinity and power. Founded in 1982 by artists, scholars, and patrons including Andy Warhol, the New York Academy of Art is a graduate school and cultural institution that combines rigorous technical training with a commitment to critical discourse and contemporary relevance. The Academy champions artists dedicated to mastering figurative and representational art in service of creative innovation. The Chubb Fellowship is made possible through the generous support of Chubb, the world’s largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. Operating in 54 countries and territories, Chubb brings financial strength, underwriting expertise, and global insight to a wide array of insurance products.