Aug 31 - Sept 29 | Nina K Ekman x Catherine Ruane : Guardians of the Desert
META-MORPHOSIS
Curated by Yue Wu
The pop-up exhibition “Meta-Morphosis” orchestrates a constellation of sculptures, paintings, and installations that reflects a unique union of contemporary technology and modern intrigue. Vanguards in new media forms, these five artists present their futurist visions through tangible, collectible art objects, utilizing techniques and materials from 3D printing to porcelain, from resin to reflective pigments.
The digital age has inaugurated new aesthetics about transformation. The title “Meta- Morphosis” refers to the process of transformation, a change of physical form, structure, or substance. A caterpillar undergoes metamorphosis to turn into a butterfly; a digitally conceived idea undergoes meta-morphosis to embody a tangible entity. Artists in the exhibition have channeled their imagination into physical objects while contemplating the constant changes of living things. Through immersive encounters with over 20 pieces of works from five artists, visitors are invited to approach an array of variegated artworks with a heightened sense of digital awareness.
Exhibition Duration: Dec 17, 2022 - Jan 8, 2023
Artist Reception: Sunday, December 17, 3-6 pm
Opening Hours: Thursday - Sunday 12-5pm, By Appointments
Aria Xiying Bao
Aria Xiying Bao, a mixed reality designer and digital artist from Harvard GSD. Her practice field includes AR/VR design prototyping, wearable design, interactive installation and digital art creation. She was awarded with Red Dot Design Award, A’ Design Award, Core 77 and several other international design award. Her works were selected to be exhibit at 2021 Shanghai Biennale, 2020 Media Architecture Biennale, Suzhou Design Week, Aston-Martin Visual-Audio Exhibition. As the co-founder of XTENDED iDENTiTY, their collaboration includes Meta, Tencent, digital human imma, digital human AYAYI.
Clovis Schlumberger
Clovis Schlumberger, born in France, grew up in Los Angeles/California, drawing every day and creating stop-motion animations. Clovis went to France for college and was admitted to the school “Ecole des Beaux Arts of Paris”, where he experimented with figuration and composition, surrounded by the ghosts of the magnificent Masters of the past. He obtained a master's degree in fine arts.
Clovis's primary medium is painting, for its physicality and the deep sense of heritage it conveys. He has always been interested in semiotics and has created a visual alphabet based on human postures made of 26 “alphabetical” human body figures. The alphabet came alive during a group performance conceived for ‘La Nuit Blanche’, a Paris art show in 2018. After the human body alphabet, Clovis transitioned to codified human postures to express feelings, the subject of my “Geometric Explorations series”.
Leah Ying Lin
Leah Ying Lin is an artist and art director based in New York. In 2019, she graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in Architecture, meanwhile she also studied abroad in Rome for lighting design and in Kyoto for ceramics sculpture. Leah's works have been exhibited in Rome, Kyoto, Providence, New York and Los Angeles. Her work as an art director for independent short films have been nominated/awarded by various prestigious film festivals and screened in many countries. Because of her multidisciplinary practice, Leah Ying Lin has also a presence within the high-fashion circle, representing in global campaigns such as Balenciaga, and featured in Vogue, V Magazine, etc. Her artistic themes revolve around the suffering of individuals, and the absolute surveillance of society. Her work criticizes the idea of "ideal" society, forces us to look at people's ironic desire for ultimate happiness, and echoes the tension in the current political and post- pandemic environment. In her 2020 New York Solo Exhibition - Happy Living, Happy Life, Leah created a series of works that include sculptures, installations, short films and performance to create a surrealistic spectacle. In 2022, Leah Ying Lin began to focus on the new series of futuristic kinetic sculptures. Her new works image the late stage of the world, and explore human bodies and machinery, flesh and consciousness, rebirth and reconstruction.
Sunny Moxin Chen
Sunny Moxin Chen is a multi-disciplinary artist who currently lives and works in Boston, MA and New York. Chen's solo show was recently launched at the Distillery Gallery, Boston. Her work was selected in the U.S. national curated show at Main Street Arts (Clifton Springs, NY) and won the “Best in Show” prize. She has also shown works at the Abigail Ogilvy Gallery (Boston, MA), Morgan Lehman Gallery (NYC, NY), Curatorial Projects Space at School of Visual Arts (NY, NYC), Fowler-Kellogg Art Center (Chautauqua, NY), Piano Craft Gallery (Boston, MA), Project V Gallery (NYC/ online), Faye G., Jo, & James Stone Gallery (Boston, MA), Speedway Gallery (Cambridge, MA), Musa Collective (Boston, MA) and so on. She was recently selected as an artist-in-resident at Soaring Gardens (Laceyville PA) and Chautauqua Institution (Chautauqua NY). She holds MFA Painting from Boston University and BFA in Painting & Studio for Interrelated Media from Massachusetts College of Art & Design.
Lilith Chenjia Ren
Lilith Chenjia Ren is a visionary designer focusing on the representation and storytelling of space. Born in Suzhou, she graduated with an Honors degree of Bachelor of Engineering in Architecture (BEng) from both Xi’an jiaotong Liverpool University (XJTLU) and the university of Liverpool and Master’s degree from Southern California Institute of Architecture. Previously, she worked for both international companies Skidmore Owings and Merrill and local architectural firms such as BPlusU. Her works were exhibited in Venice, Beijing, Shanghai, and Suzhou. She is currently working as an Architectural designer in LA while doing some part-time freelancing.