Opening First Thursday April 5, 5-8pm, ArtXchange Gallery presents Between and Within: A Tenuous Beauty. This exhibition by three artists (based in Rhode Island, South Korea and Seattle) explores the changing climate of nature’s textures from chaotic to serene, impacted by human development and the accelerating diminishment of natural resources. The complex choreography of the organic world is expressed through sensitive documentation of animal species and abstracted emotional landscapes, reminding us of humanity’s vital relationship with nature.
Jiyoung Chung is internationally recognized for bringing the utilitarian “Joomchi” tradition, a Korean method of hand-felted Hanji (mulberry) paper, into the world of contemporary art. Chung has authored several books on this technique, lectured at academic institutions and exhibited her work internationally, including being a featured artist at the upcoming Smithsonian Craft Show. She is interested in the struggle for our own humanity in this spinning world and “the whispers and breaths between us.” Chung’s work takes an X-ray lens to the filament layers of home-made paper and invests it with a textural poetry, reflecting the alternating strengths and holes in the essential relationship between humanity and nature.
Gilchun Koh, based on Jeju Island, South Korea, blends art and activism in his sensitive lithograph prints. Known for its majestic landscape of waterfalls, white sand beaches and a dormant volcano, Jeju is also home to migratory birds whose natural habitats are being impacted by militaristic activity between the US and China. Koh’s detailed images are a document, a visual report of the species being pushed out by human development on what was once a pristine natural reserve of water and land.
Seattle artist Alan Lau follows the changing choreography of nature as a map, leading his hand to create densely layered paintings of landscapes both real and imagined. Inspired by Asian brush painting techniques, he honors the subject matter of daily life in his abstract works, which explore the emotion and color of subjects including walking through impossibly green cabbage fields and the life and death cycle of tree leaves. Lau is a long-established member of the Seattle art community, from his three decade career as a visual artist and poet to his work as a journalist and art event organizer.
Between and Within: A Tenuous Beauty runs from April 5 – May 26, 2018. For the second month of the exhibition, Lau presents one of his signature multi-disciplinary art events, titled ‘Talking to Artists/Talking to Myself.’ At 5:30pm on First Thursday May 3 (free to attend), Lau will read pieces inspired by artists such as Ito Jakuchu, Manet, Giacometti, Alice Neel, Ai Mitsu, Ellsworth Kelly, Hisako Hibi and others. In addition, he will read a poem in tribute to the pianist/composer Thelonious Monk, collaborating with a special guest jazz bassist.
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