Designare, Intentio, Planum.
Wedge Gallery at Woodbury University presents a solo show of Helen Chung, Designare, Intentio, Planum.
Three bodies of work are exhibited in a boutique fashion of accessories, shoes and bags (which are usually acompanied together), except that the items displayed are only the containers of such objects.
The boxes and shopping bag sculptures engage in a dialogue between intuition and intention outlining two different processes: one with specific, planned outcome with precision in execution; and the other, an intuitive process that allows whim and chance, done with speed. The works ironically challenge our fixed notion of a container as merely external protection or subordinate transporting aid, not quite qualifying as an entity in itself.
The third series entitled “still life photography” undergoes both processes in the intentional search for a desired effect through the viewfinder coupled with an intuitive manipulation of the image. The end result becomes a document of sorts of the deconstructed bags’ complex forms as they blur the inside/outside feature inherent in containers. The photographic image helps rediscover the object through a simple change of medium, infusing it with its own subjectivity. The abstraction produced by taking close-ups and shots of the interior of the sculptures open up limitless transformation of the already transformed paper bags. You can see these works here.
The three bodies initially made for separate exhibitions, while using containers of fashion items, question the notion of lifecycle of manufactured goods— the notions of “newness” associated with a box, and the goods once worn becoming instantly “old”. Individualizing each shopping bag into a sculpture, making the disposable container the object of desire that will endure time, as well the hyper-personalized shoe boxes each mimicking the invisible content inside — also question the mass production of goods perpetually cutting cost at every corner, while the few giant global labels cause scarcity in the variety of products in the market place: Result is lack of individuality in products’ design and function, further contributing to our homogenized experiences of the physical world we live in.
Medium: butter board, glue, adhesive vinyl, gesso, acrylic paint, lacquer
Exhibition View: A Step Beyond at Ben Maltz Gallery 2019-2020
