Derek Au, Eliza Au, Yewen Dong, Sin-ying Ho, Jing Huang, Nuokan Huang, Wanying Liang, Shiyuan Xu, ChengOu Yu

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Journeys features the ceramic works of nine artists who were either born in China or are of Chinese descent. The exhibition explores themes of identity in a multicultural world, examining both the juxtapositions and intersections between Eastern and Western cultures. Duality and the vacillation between two worlds is present within each artist’s body of work as well as throughout the exhibition.

The passage of time is captured in the crumbling facades of Yewen Dong’s two large-scale wall works. These unfired clay tiles explore the residual traces of touch and memory. Memory also plays a role in the floral porcelain pieces by Wanying Liang. Liang’s works give form to her memories of childhood in China, the questions she has for her mother, and personal struggles with her own body. The physical and mental distance between past and present drives the work of Jing Huang as she constructs ambiguous landscapes that are neither here nor there. Eliza Au utilizes computer-aided methods to reference historical architecture. Au’s wireframe-like pieces explore the limits of interior and exterior space, strength and fragility, and reference both mathematics and the patterns of religious ornamentation. In his series “Simulant,” Derek Au toys with concepts of authenticity and tradition with his use of alternative materials to mimic traditional Chinese porcelain and glaze. Fragility and strength, order and chaos, simplicity and complexity are all present in the amoeba-like forms of Shiyuan Xu. Xu’s porcelain structures reference cellular organisms and the rhythms of growth in response to internal and external forces. The relationship between position and perspective is central to the work of ChengOu Yu as he explores the way experience is distorted based on location. The tiny pottery landscapes of Nuokan Huang feel both contained and limitless – delicate scenes of personal space and boundless imagination. In contrast to the minuscule works of Nuokan Huang is the human-scale vessel of Sin-ying Ho. Ho’s work is covered in cultural, religious, and economic symbolism and touches on themes of dislocation, globalization, and identity. Journeys encompasses an intense blend of imagery combined with traditional and contemporary fabrication techniques and embodies a complex collision of cultures.

Joann Quiñones’ exhibition is based on the concept of the grotto, an artificial or natural cavern used for both sanctuary and devotion. Rich in iconography and symbolism, La Gruta/The Grotto holds figurative sculptures, including “relics,” that explore the intricacies of race, class, gender, sexuality and religion — concepts that are highly ritualized. The work in the exhibition is an invitation to contemplate narratives of the domestic, family, and womanhood and how they are complicated by a history of slavery, stolen labor, and racism, particularly in the U.S. and the Caribbean.

In addition to these concepts, the materials selected by the artist have historical and personal significance. According to Quiñones, “I work with all materials, but consider ceramics and fibers to be foundational to my process and thinking because of their long history and aesthetic traditions in places like West Africa, Spain and the Americas.”

Joann Quiñones (they/them) is a mixed media artist who creates figurative work in order to explore Afro-Latinx identity. They were selected as an Emerging Artist of 2020 by Ceramics Monthly, were a Manifest Gallery Annual Prize Finalist, and received an Honorable Mention for the James Renwick Alliance Chrysalis Award. Their work has been shown nationally, including in the 2020 NCECA Annual Exhibition, The Burdens of History. Quiñones has an MFA in Studio Art from Indiana University, Bloomington, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa. They are currently an Assistant Professor of Sculpture at Alfred University, NY.

For high-resolution images, click here. Artist bio and additional images are available on our website. For a PDF of the press release, click here.

{not} Quiet on the Western Front includes work by west coast artists from the Belger Collection who helped define the Funk Art movement. Funk came onto the art scene like a car wreck with its anti-formalist aesthetic, tongue-in-cheek commentary, irreverent character, and humor. Invoking a sense of cathartic release to the violent times of the 1960s, it was an alternative to mainstream art that made political commentary on war, gender, racial tension, and other social threats palatable. While its point of origin can be traced to 1950s northern California, the attitudes and approaches of Funk artists spread to other parts of the country and lives on in work by contemporary artists today.

Artists in the exhibition include Robert Arneson, Clayton Bailey, Viola Frey, David Gilhooly, Robert Hudson, Ed Kienholz, Ed Massey, Ron Nagle, H.C. Westermann, and William T. Wiley.

This exhibition is dedicated to William T. Wiley, a founder of the Funk Art movement, and a core artist of the Belger Collection. After a long and successful career, which included teaching at the University of California – Davis, he died on April 25, 2021, at the age of 83. He will be missed.