SAMSARA exhibit

December 8, 2024 at Privi Gallery lower east side,

Paintings influenced by the interpretation of Poyen Chen’s photos distorted by a series of experimental camera lenses

The Distortion of Longing

Distance, Longing, and Intimacy were at the arteries of this series. Unbeknownst to me at the time, these paintings transmuted the emotional turmoil arising from a struggling long-distance relationship with my girlfriend at the time. She was stuck in China after her visa expired while I was in New York. We were deeply in love and longed for each other, yet we still had so much to figure out within ourselves. My concept of intimacy was greatly distorted during this period, initially exploring these feelings with my series Facetime, and then, by pure synchronicity, I was approached to contribute to a show using distortion lenses designed by photographer Zaal and designer Luciano Picone. I accepted.

The creation process immediately echoed this theme of distance, since I was out of town attending my exhibit “Home” in Malibu, California, I couldn’t retrieve the lens and already wanted to get started, I had Zaal deliver the lens to my friend Poyen Chen, a Taiwanese photographer who I had been wanting to collaborate with for a while, he was studying in NYC at this time and showed interest in working with me after I told him about the lens. The collaboration was initially blind; I didn’t know what photos he would take, but I trusted him. Once I returned to my studio in Brooklyn, I gathered the pictures he had printed in black and white and further processed them with the distortion lenses. Experimenting with a new pallet and the lenses, I painted “polar hug,” “close distant reach,” and “aimless touch,” as seen above.

The paradox of being emotionally close yet physically distant from someone I loved so deeply bled deep into these paintings without my conscious intention. Seeing this was especially intriguing because I hadn’t communicated any of this to Poyen before he took his photos. It was just pure serendipity and the magic of art.