Right Window is pleased to present a selection of photographs, prints, paintings, and sculpture by San Francisco based artist, Takming Chuang, organized by Kevin Killian.
For Chuang, the body is a concrete medium to examine abstract, existential insterests. He merges histories of artistic tradition to observe physical complexities and he adapts various methods of creative production to materialize his research. Through an experimental approach, Chuang works simultaneously across multiple channels to attain vitality within the nature of impermanence.
The title of the exhibition, Body Blocked, refers to Chuang’s adaptation of block printing methods to produce a new series of prints and photographs. The artist applies the weight of his body onto an arranagement of brass fragments. After hours of pressure, an impression is left upon the skin. Subsequently, the impression is transferred onto paper with block printing ink to capture an image of the fleeting moment. In November 18, 2012 Ass, the transfer process was repeated seven times until the markings faded. A documention photograph, scaled to the artist’s body, completes the installation.
In a similarly intimate process, the artist demonstrates the physical nature of the body through a series of metal sculptures titled Pumped. Chuang exercises vigorously and during periods of rest, brass plates are adhered to bare skin until they absorb the warth of his body. Evidence of vitality materializes as a subtle patina on the metal’s surface.
A seminal group of work in early 2011 transformed his painting practice and initiated Chuang’s multi-media projects. The Body Parts and Life Cycle series are comprised of re-purposed paintings. Chuang tore painted canvases from their stretchers and soaked them in water. Within Body Parts, the canvases are molded to the body and dried slowly against bare skin. After hours of contact, the cast hardens and lends form to the stillness of the breath and other internal mechanisms that generate body heat. Within Life Cycle, re-purposed paintings are torn apart, soaked in water, stretched, rolled, shaped, or beaten before they are hung to dry. They are the most representational within his abstract vernacular, inspired by preservation techniques of organic matter.
All the works shown are on view together for the first time, tracing the trajectory of his diverse practice.
Body Blocked
February 3 - Febuary 26, 2013
Right Window, 992 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
review
For Chuang, the body is a concrete medium to examine abstract, existential insterests. He merges histories of artistic tradition to observe physical complexities and he adapts various methods of creative production to materialize his research. Through an experimental approach, Chuang works simultaneously across multiple channels to attain vitality within the nature of impermanence.
The title of the exhibition, Body Blocked, refers to Chuang’s adaptation of block printing methods to produce a new series of prints and photographs. The artist applies the weight of his body onto an arranagement of brass fragments. After hours of pressure, an impression is left upon the skin. Subsequently, the impression is transferred onto paper with block printing ink to capture an image of the fleeting moment. In November 18, 2012 Ass, the transfer process was repeated seven times until the markings faded. A documention photograph, scaled to the artist’s body, completes the installation.
In a similarly intimate process, the artist demonstrates the physical nature of the body through a series of metal sculptures titled Pumped. Chuang exercises vigorously and during periods of rest, brass plates are adhered to bare skin until they absorb the warth of his body. Evidence of vitality materializes as a subtle patina on the metal’s surface.
A seminal group of work in early 2011 transformed his painting practice and initiated Chuang’s multi-media projects. The Body Parts and Life Cycle series are comprised of re-purposed paintings. Chuang tore painted canvases from their stretchers and soaked them in water. Within Body Parts, the canvases are molded to the body and dried slowly against bare skin. After hours of contact, the cast hardens and lends form to the stillness of the breath and other internal mechanisms that generate body heat. Within Life Cycle, re-purposed paintings are torn apart, soaked in water, stretched, rolled, shaped, or beaten before they are hung to dry. They are the most representational within his abstract vernacular, inspired by preservation techniques of organic matter.
All the works shown are on view together for the first time, tracing the trajectory of his diverse practice.
Body Blocked
February 3 - Febuary 26, 2013
Right Window, 992 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
review