Three-person exhibition at Eli Klein Gallery, New York.
SEP 7 - Oct 26, 2024
Curated by Phil Cai
Floor sculpture: 5’X7', clay, ashtray, incense, carpet
Video: color, sound, 21: 56min
Poetry: 14”x11"x3", wood, printed cards
2021
Exhibited in Columbia MFA Visual Arts First-year Exhibition at Lenfest Center For The Arts, New York (June 2021)
A floor sculpture that documented intense marks created by a human body and a domestic object, a video that recorded 22 minutes of repetitive actions and the artist’s voice, a poetry that is handwritten on bright pink card and made available for taking home - the installation aims to reveal personal archaeology from a childhood memory that is shared with the father who passed away.
The death of the father has created physical absence, loss of history and narratives, and has left problems, questions, doubts, and emotions behind. As a kid, Yang has witnessed her father throwing a glass ashtray on the floor with great anger. Yet this particular moment describes the father with the personalities that are deviated from the mother’s recollection of him as a sweet, gentle, and concerned person. As the title says, Yang designed the performance with an intention of gaining a deeper understanding of the dad and his emotions-she threw 6 glass ashtrays into the clay until each one breaks down. After the performance, she then wrote poetry to express the realizations gained from it.
Chinese festival paper, screenprint on paper, gouache, mineral oil
Dimension variable
2019
Publication: Click here to read art historian Yubai Shi’s review of this series of works, Affective Interpretations of the One-Child Policy, published in Venti Journal in 2020.
Two projections in basement
Video: color, 19:38min
Performance: poetry reading
2021
This project has been exhibited in I Thought It Was A Drought (June 2021) and was shown in the basement of Yonkers Community Action Program Arts Education Center, NY.
Yang regards dust as both a material and a conceptual entrance. “Dust is invisible yet inevitable. From the beginning to the very end, it is here in the cosmos and carries all the time, space, history, memories, and narratives.” Two projections were shown in the basement of an abandoned community school at Yonkers. Yang shoots the videos of moving dust through a microscope. It moves at changing speed. Some part of it seems like a search for something, and some remind of animals. The projections trigger dialogs with the arch, the bricks, and the existing dust in the basement, and find a new meaning for them. She read her poem Composition when surrounded by the installation.
Dust, particles from domestic life, things ground into particles, wood, adhesive
4’x2’ each
2021
Exhibited in a group show I Thought It Was A Drought (June 2021) at Yonkers Community Action ProgramArts Education Center, NY.
A mixture of dust writes a sentence and a poem. The affirmative sentence “A speck of him is here” speaks to a man’s presence in the form of dust. It can also be thought of as a possible presence of an imagined presence. The poem (Landing), written by the artist, is made difficult to read by the overlapping layers. Echoing the idea of landing, two panels are placed on the ground. As dust travels in the air, the work loses dust and collects dust throughout the exhibition.
Monotype, dust gathered from the street, things ground into particles, menthol cellulose, mohawk paper, kitakata paper
Dimension variable
2021
The series of monotypes are made with actual dust and dirt. Dust is “the most invisible” visible matter to human eyes; we usually see it as larger beings. Color psychology influences how one perceives colors: some cultures make connections between blue and water, red and blood, green and forest… Through monotype techniques, some small particles stick to the print, others leave negative shapes. Some prints are ghosts (“ghost prints”), and each print documented multiple layers of history.
Dust and particles collected from New York City, clear plastic, adhesive, plastic bag, Mohawk paper, pen, colored pencil
Edition Variable of 33, 5”x7” each
2020-2021
The artist’s life in New York City during COVID-19 inspired her to create this project. Where does the dust come from? With the micro-macro concept, the dust is telling stories of environmental, social, political, and cultural history. The gathering is an action of archiving substances from places. It constructs images from the evidence of specific times and places, which carries intriguing past narratives.
This growing number of slides is made with dust collected from New York City since 2020 and is meant to be projected with a film carousel. Up to the current moment, there are 156 slides.
Ground fine particles of everyday objects in specimen cups, labeled with markers
16”x5”x4”
2021
Drawing on photograph (ongoing project)
2021-2023
