Vicci Jang "We Smile In The Dark"

We Smile In The Dark


June 14- August 3, 2013

Vernissage: June 14, 6pm





Victoria Jang received her BFA in Ceramics at the University of Washington.



She is currently residing in the Bay area, attaining her MFA at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco.



The primary focus of my work is the exploration of a family unit’s psyche. This exploration is achieved through the creation of simplified anthropomorphic forms with illusory surfaces, forms with starkly differentiated shells that flatten their ostensibly three dimensional structure. The whiteness of the eyes, teeth, and any body cavity appears wholly negative next to the saturated and pigmented surfaces that encompass these features.



I appropriate the cultural roles within each member of my family and displace them as singular entities to emphasize the fragility of the human condition.



The work illuminates certain aspects of the human experience that are inherent to all people. These aspects that generate the emotional hub of the work are instability, vulnerability, and isolation. The visceral blackness and shapeless forms within the work are associated with these mental states and are difficult to poignantly express; consequently, they are not introduced to the viewer boldly. These psychological binds must be expressed through ambiguity of aesthetic and conceptual masking. By employing the mechanisms of humor and humility along with the aforementioned contrast of form, the untainted surfaces attract and command the viewer’s attention, creating a conduit to the darker emotional truths at the core of the work.



Exposing and illuminating these negative emotions may seem like a bleak proposal, but the veracity of their presence among all people is unquestionable, and consequently, worthy of analysis. And although this body of work was developed through my personal relationships, this way of exploration and confronting difficult elements of human experience can be understood universally.



We are all trying to search for a connection not only with other people but with ourselves.