Alum Combines Work in Pace Gallery with Master's at Columbia

Congratulations to alum Matthew Cross, Class of 2012 and an Art History Major, who has assumed a new full-time position at New York's Pace Gallery. Pace is a leading contemporary art gallery representing many of the most significant international artists and estates of the 20th and 21st centuries. Matt’s gallery work includes market research; analysis of auction results; editing of press releases; and central gallery communications.

Matt is excited about Pace's current showing of Hiroshi Sugimoto's "Still Life," an exhibition of photographed dioramas, and his work towards the Fall 2014 showing of photographer Paul Graham's "Does Yellow Run Forever?". Matt was able to join us on campus this past April for the 2014 Art History Alum Reunion and Art History Forum in the newly renovated Duke Hall, where he shared his experiences in graduate school and in the professional world.

This Fall Matt returns to Columbia University to complete his graduate studies for a Master's degree in Modern Art: Critical & Curatorial Studies. His coursework and research focuses on the History of Photography, Critical Theory, and Conceptualism. Matt’s MA thesis will consider the medium of 21st century photography and the question of how time is conceived, as in the work of Moyra Davey and Hiroshi Sugimoto.

At JMU, Matt was President of the Art History Association and the winner of the 2012 Art History Forum Award. At JMU Matt also served as an intern in the Madison Art Collection (2010-2011,) and as Director of the artWorks Gallery (2011-2012.) Matt's professional experiences after JMU include internships at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Richmond's 1708 Gallery.