THROUGH THE PRISM
CURATORIAL STATEMENT
Celebrating the power of diverse cultural influences in the art sector, Through the Prism features eight female artists from six countries spanning East to West of the globe—Cecily Brown, Jade Ching-yuk Ng, Sougwen Chung, Tracey Emin, Sunyoung Hwang, Eleanor Johnson, Mizuki Nishiyama, and Faye Wei Wei. Dancing between abstraction and figuration, the artists in the show explore kaleidoscopic identities in multicoloured compositions.
As modern society often puts considerable focus on assigning labels to our existence, it separates us by nationality, gender, skin-colour. However, identity is far from a singular, static concept; identity is like a prism with multiple refracting surfaces – when the light comes through, one can see its full spectrum of colours. Through the Prism brings together artists from disparate cultural backgrounds, displaying unique art objects that unveil kaleidoscopic roots. Devoted to exploring, understanding, and fusing contemporary cultural influences with art historical references, the works in the show are a celebration of mixed heritages and dimensional identity.
Mizuki Nishiyama, exhibiting for the first time in London, uses lyrical imagery to explore her Japanese-Chinese heritage and communicate the themes of human identity, fragility, and vulnerability. Bridging Eastern and the Western references, Nishiyama investigates her identity in her abstract figurative compositions. Tracey Emin, prominent member of the YBAs and renowned for her provocative works turning intimate autobiography into broader statements about life, exhibits a rare series of prints revolving around the exploration of the self, disclosing the artist’s deeply personal yet relatable experiences to illustrate the universality of humanity.
Hong Kong-born artist Jade Ching-yuk Ng’s paintings draw on art historical references and are rooted in the surrealist approach that reveals human encounters as prismatic experiences layered with symbolic imagery. Narrating physical encounters between herself and others, Jade is fascinated by the concepts of assembly and separation at different points in time. Faye Wei Wei, who also has roots in Hong Kong, features mythical iconography and folklore imagery in her ethereal, pastel-hued paintings that create a dreamlike dimension beckoning the viewer to enter. Eleanor Johnson’s gestural paintings weave together references from art history, folklore, mythology and contemporary sources, featuring a unique balance of positive-negative spaces where biomorphic forms are captured in the process of becoming. Each piece is grounded in a particular story that she often subverts or re-imagines, with a particular fascination for the classical tales of women.
Cecily Brown laces historical references from 17th Century French Classicism with Abstract Expressionism to create sensuous and dynamic paintings which merge different artistic styles. She once said, ‘one of the main things I would like my work to do is to reveal itself slowly, continuously and for you never to feel that you're really finished looking at something.’ Sougwen Chung reinvents the creative act, modernizing gestural movement while maintaining a classical palette, as evident in her figural fluids studies. Artist and former research fellow at MIT, she is a pioneer in her field, expanding the boundaries of collaboration between human and machine, creating AI generated figures which rest in-between portraiture and abstraction, digital and analog. The London-based, Korean artist Sunyoung Hwang renders her large-scale, gestural paintings in layers, compelling the viewer to look beyond the surface, while exclusively following an intuitive approach to painting which rejects any preliminary reference.
A meeting point between the East and the West, the past and the present, this exhibition recognises diversity embodied in abstract figurative painting today. Abstract figuration allows artists to create while transcending boundaries, striking the chord of universal relevance. Figures playfully oscillate between layers, at once revealing and concealing themselves, compelling the viewer to look beyond the surface. The arresting heroines who inhabit these works unequivocally express their own narratives, but they also serve as a prism through which viewers may reflect on the artists’ practice in relation to their own multifaceted experience.
Curated by Claudia Cheng
Gillian Jason Gallery, London, UK
05/05/22 – 11/06/22
