Jennifer Ling Datchuk, “Blue & White: Bold Beauty”, porcelain, blue and white pattern transfer from Jingdezhen, China.

Co-Existence

Strohl Art Center, Chautauqua Institution

June 27 - July 21, 2021

This exhibition examines cultural signifiers and the notion of hybridity in works by four contemporary artists of Chinese descent who live and work in the U.S. Their varied practices interrogate the histories and metaphors of everyday objects like dishware, vases, plants, and ping pong paddles through a range of media including sculpture, photography, ceramics, and painting.

Artists: Cecile Chong, Jennifer Ling Datchuk, QiuChen Fan, Cathy Lu.

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Curatorial Statement:

This exhibition, entitled Co-Existence, was meant to coincide with Chautauqua’s week one theme of China and the World. Cecile Chong, Jennifer Ling Datchuk, QiuChen Fan, and Cathy Lu are all artists of Chinese descent who live and work in the United States. Their works examine Chinese and American cultural signifiers and interrogate the histories of everyday objects like plants, hair, paddles, and vases. They explore what it means to co-exist between two cultures. Despite their shared heritage, their works vary greatly in material and perspective.

Born in Ecuador to Chinese parents, Cecile Chong creates beautiful encaustic works addressing the process of cultural assimilation and the development of individual identity. She moved between Ecuador and China at a young age and describes the transitions as abrupt and disorienting. Her paintings have 25 to 30 layers of encaustic embedded with different materials within those layers, like rice paper, volcanic ash, circuit board materials, or figures from different books. Her work addresses the commonalities humans share both in our relationship to nature and to each other.

Jennifer Ling Datchuk uses porcelain and hair, examining the ways in which these materials express her Chinese American identity. She explores the emotive power of domestic objects and rituals that fix, organize, soothe, and beautify our lives. Her work has always dealt with identity, with the sense of being in-between, an imposter, neither fully Chinese nor Caucasian. She explores this conflict through her chosen media – porcelain, a nod to her Chinese heritage and a representation of “pure” white – the white desire found in both cultures.

QiuChen Fan’s series of paintings is a eulogy to all the house plants we’ve killed, and also a reflection on the relationship among human, nature and technology. Most of Fan’s works talk about people and related topics such as environment, contemporary life styles, social behaviors and consumer culture. Inspired by retro wallpaper patterns, the green plant here symbolizes nature, vitality, and endurance. While the smooth painted surface recalls the looks of digital collage, it is done in a traditional manner by hand with a brush.

Cathy Lu reinvents the iconic ceramic vase using discarded internet cables and zipties. Her work manipulates traditional Chinese art objects and symbols as a way to deconstruct the assumptions we have about Asian American identity and cultural authenticity.  This installation calls to mind ruins or excavation sites, a direct opposition to the very contemporary materials being used. Lu investigates how experiences of immigration, cultural hybridity, and cultural assimilation become part of the larger American identity.