Hobart and William Smith Colleges

18 September 2026 • Faculty Opposites Attract

Curated by Elva Ye ’13, a new Brooklyn exhibition celebrates the contrasting artistic practices — and shared creative spirit — of professors Ted Aub and Phillia Yi.

For Elva Ye ’13, the opportunity to curate an exhibition featuring two of her former professors is more than a professional milestone. It is a chance to celebrate the artists and mentors who helped shape her experience at HWS.

Ye, an associate at FXCollaborative Architects in Brooklyn, is curating Attrazione Opposto, an exhibition of work by Professor Emeritus of Art and Architecture A. E. Ted Aub and Professor of Art and Architecture Phillia C. Yi. The exhibition, on view in the FXCollaborative Gallery through Nov. 6, marks Aub and Yi’s first New York exhibition and their first two-person exhibition devoted exclusively to their work together.

“I’ve been thinking about doing a show for Ted and Phillia here for years, so I’m thrilled that it’s finally happening,” says Ye. “I want the opening to be a celebration of two artists and professors who have given so much to their students. It’s a chance to honor their work and to thank them for the lasting impact they’ve had on so many of us.”

The exhibition’s title, Attrazione Opposto, loosely translated as “Opposites Attract,” reflects the contrasts that define both the artists’ lives and practices: female and male, East and West, abstract and representational, prints and sculpture — and, naturally, Venus and Mars. Rather than presenting these differences as contradictions, the exhibition explores how opposition can create energy, dialogue and attraction.

Members of HWS’ Department of Art and Architecture since the 1980s, Aub and Yi divide their time among Geneva, New York and Pietrasanta, Italy. Their artistic practices take markedly different paths.

Yi is known for large-scale woodcuts that combine painterly color, expressive surfaces, gesture and layered carving and printing. Drawing on questions of cultural identity and memory, she transforms traditional printmaking techniques into a distinctive and deeply personal visual language.

Aub, meanwhile, works primarily in sculpture, often beginning with the human figure and moving toward ambiguity, humor and perceptual play. Influenced by folk art, Surrealism and 19th-century “upside-down” images, his sculptures challenge viewers’ assumptions about orientation, recognition and meaning.

Placed in conversation, Yi’s expansive abstractions and Aub’s enigmatic figurative sculptures may initially appear worlds apart. Yet both artists share an interest in transformation, perception, tension and the unexpected. Their work demonstrates how contrasting artistic languages can remain distinct while continually informing and energizing one another.

For Ye, the exhibition brings that artistic dialogue together with a personal connection that began during her HWS years. A magna cum laude graduate, she double majored in architectural studies and studio art and was the recipient of the Eric Cohler Internship and Travel Fund, which supported an internship with Eric Cohler Designs Inc. in New York City and in Glasgow, Scotland. On campus, she was active in the Architecture Society, Arts Collective, HWS Live, Asian Student Union and International Students Association.

Ye went on to earn a Master of Architecture from the University of Massachusetts. Prior to joining FXCollaborative, she worked as a junior architect at CSS Architecture Inc. and an architectural designer at Fogarty Finger Architecture. A LEED Green Associate, she is also the co-founder of Canal Street Lab, a design and creative studio.

Exhibition Details
Attrazione Opposto is on view through Friday, Nov. 6 at the FXCollaborative Gallery, 1 Willoughby Square, 7th Floor, Brooklyn, N.Y.

An opening reception will be held Thursday, Oct. 1, from 5:30-8 p.m. Attendees must RSVP in advance to enter the building. For viewing by appointment, call 212-627-1700.

For more information, contact Elva Ye ’13 at eye@fxcollaborative.com.