The new pop-up exhibition “Meta-Morphosis” in Venice features five Gen-Z artists
Venice, CA (January 5th, 2023)– The new pop-up exhibition “Meta-Morphosis” is currently on view at Yiwei Gallery on Abbot Kinney Blvd. of Venice , Ca and will run through Jan.8th. Curated by Yue Wu, a young scholar from Harvard University and an emerging curator specializing in future-facing art, the exhibition orchestrates a constellation of sculptures, paintings, and installations that reflects a unique union of contemporary technology and modern intrigue. The exhibition features five Gen-Z artists who are vanguards in new media forms; they will present their futurist visions through tangible, collectible art objects, utilizing techniques and materials from 3D printing to porcelain, from resin to reflective pigments.
Curator Yue Wu introducing Lilith Chenjia Ren’s 3D-printed sculptures to visitors
The digital age has inaugurated new aesthetics about transformation. The title “Meta-Morphosis” refers to the process of transformation, a change of physical form, structure, or substance. A caterpillar undergoes metamorphosis to turn into a butterfly; a digitally conceived idea undergoes meta-morphosis to embody a tangible entity. Artists in the exhibition have channeled their imagination into physical objects while contemplating the constant changes of living things. Through immersive encounters with over 20 pieces of works from five artists, visitors are invited to approach an array of variegated artworks with a heightened sense of digital awareness.
Lilith Chenjia Ren, SEW/MEND, 45* 49 * 53cm, PLA, ABS, Plaster
Lilith Chenjia Ren, SHRIMP, 29_ 23_ 15cm
At the entrance, a contorted amphibian-like creature rests amid a metal skeleton. This is a 3D-printed and hand-painted sculpture by Lilith Chenjia Ren, a visionary designer focusing on the representation and storytelling of space. Born in Suzhou and recently received her Master’s degree from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (Sci-Arc), Lilith masterfully employs 3D printers to recreate the wildest monstrous dreams. Rooted in the melancholy of resistance to imposed norms, Lilith’s digital art and sculptures attempt to exemplify a set of particular cases of unrevealing the multicity (multiplicity) of post-factual reality. Instead of creating a fictional wonderland, she focuses more on reconstructing reality, projecting the spontaneity of ordinary life, which means the design ties closely back to everyday life, reserving recognizable elements and consciously evoking an uncanny feeling by incorporating forms of familiarity.
From Left to Right: Works of Sunny Moxin Chen, Leah Ying Lin, Clovis Schlumberger
Artist Leah Ying Lin with Sculptures ∞ Transcendence, 9''x9''x50'', Ceramics, Resin, Acrylic∞ Fatalist, 24''x13''x9''; Ceramics, Resin, Acrylic
Leah Ying Lin, Sculpture: ∞ Rebirth, 11‘’ x 13’’ x 9’’, ceramics, resin, acrylic
Upon entering, viewers are first attracted by three intricate and vulnerable ceramic sculptures by Leah Ying Lin. These sculptures with rusted metallic finish envision the border state between death and rebirth in the post-AI society, translating the five elements of life into corresponding materials, forms, and techniques in art. Leah is an artist and art director based in New York. In 2019, she graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in Architecture and also studied in Kyoto for ceramics sculpture. In 2020, she held a solo exhibition in New York and created a surrealistic spectacle with sculpture, installations and film. In 2022, she began to focus on a new series of futuristic kinetic sculptures. Her new works image the late stage of the world and explore human bodies and machinery, flesh and consciousness, rebirth and reconstruction. These sculptures in the exhibition explore the perception of virtual and physical space and examines the relationship between nature and artificiality.
Sunny Moxin Chen, Floating Being I 30" x 60" mixed media on acrylic panel
Next to Lin’s black sculptures hangs a sculptural assemblage of vibrant colors. Titled “Floating Beings,” the work is a textural, colorful network of objects, epitomizing Sunny Moxin Chen’s nomadic life path. Having lived in Moscow, Beijing, San Jose, and recently graduated from Boston University’s MFA program, Sunny is on a constant move. On four pieces of laser-cut acrylic panels whose shapes are maps of the city where Sunny has dwelled, she assembled small objects full of personal memories, including a flight ticket, a tea bag, a piece of letter, and a single ear plug. Art Critic Maya Rubio comments on Sunny’s work, “as shapes morph into different objects and spatial dimensions, we consider how Chen’s experience adapting to various cultures felt similarly.” During the installation, Sunny “rooted” the work to the wall by extending the plasters to the wall, which turned the gallery itself into another temporary home for the artist’s transient presence. The site-specific character can be found in her other sculptural paintings in the exhibition. In her paintings, she restructures social media moments into dazzling visual turmoils, as a contemporary vanitas warning of the transience of life. On to the paintings’ sculptural surface, she also added the sand from Venice Beach, which is within walking distance of the gallery.
Curator Yue and Clovis Schlumberger giving gallery tour at the opening
Opposite in space, the other wall hangs the painting series “Our Own Device” by Clovis Schlumberger, providing a witty summary of the techno-human relationship in the digital era. Through immersive encounters with over 20 pieces of works from five artists, visitors are invited to approach an array of variegated artworks with a heightened sense of digital awareness.
Exhibition: Meta-Morphosis
Curated by Yue Wu
Artists: Aria Xiying Bao, Clovis Schlumberger, Leah Ying Lin, Lilith Chenjia Ren and Sunny Moxin Chen
Dec.17, 2022 -Jan.8, 2023
Venue: Yiwei Gallery, 1350 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291
