VONN CUMMINGS SUMNER | Creative Boom

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Vonn Cummings Sumner uses Krazy Kat to explore the natural world in his new series of paintings

© Vonn Cummings Sumner

American artist Vonn Cummings Sumner has revisited the classic cartoon strip character Krazy Kat in his latest solo exhibition, Second Nature, which is currently on view at Morton Fine Art’s Washington, D.C. space.

WRITTEN BY: DOM CARTER

20 MARCH 2023

Krazy Kat is the legendary creation of cartoonist George Herriman, who entertained newspaper audiences daily during the strip’s original run from 1913 to 1944. Thanks to its surreal humour and innovative use of the comic strip format, Krazy Kat is often regarded as the greatest comic series of all time and continues to influence artists to this day.

One such artist is a Los Angeles-based painter and professor of art at Fullerton College in Southern California, Vonn Cummings Sumner. Having previously used Krazy Kat in paintings created during the pandemic, his latest series of works titled Second Nature sees the character follow in everyone else’s footsteps by once again stepping outside and exploring the world around them.

Depicting Krazy Kat walking through forests, swimming in pools and riding horses, Second Nature also sees the enduring figure explore iconography from Western art history. Retaining the sense of existential reverie and anarchy in the original strip, the exhibition also gives Vonn a chance to respond to the current world and follow up on themes he’d established in his previous Krazy Kat paintings.

© Vonn Cummings Sumner

© Vonn Cummings Sumner

The reason for Vonn’s continued fascination with Krazy Kat is partly down to the innocent and hopeless romantic qualities of the character itself. Without a set gender or even a set species, Krazy Kat acts as the perfect blank canvas onto which different topics and concerns can be projected.

“Herriman described Krazy as a ‘sprite’ – so there is something almost mystical or mythological about Krazy: an ideal empathetic effigy,” Vonn tells Creative Boom. “Also, the strip began in 1913, and there is some anarchic kind of energy that it communicates; it’s non-conformist, to say the least. Therefore, it became a kind of cult favourite among artists and writers, intellectuals and eccentrics during the 20th century. So, for me, there is an association with a certain strain of American bohemian counter-culture.”

When he first started using Krazy Kat in his paintings back in 2020, Vonn started to think more deeply about the unique opportunities it presented. “I realised that Krazy Kat is a human-animal hybrid, which is arguably the oldest/most-used subject or theme in human art, going all the way back to cave paintings. I think Krazy Kat (and a lot of our cartoon characters) is part of that lineage.”

© Vonn Cummings Sumner

© Vonn Cummings Sumner

The character made a strong impression on Vonn when he first encountered him. He can even remember exactly where he was. “I was an 18-year-old freshman at UC Davis, sitting in the back of Prof. Wayne Thiebaud’s ART 148/Theory & Criticism class,” he reveals.

“He started class one day with an image of a Krazy Kat comic strip projected on the screen and spoke with obvious affection for this odd, dense, unorthodox cartoon that painters had loved: Willem de Kooning, Richard Diebenkorn, Picasso. That had a huge impact on me, being introduced to Krazy Kat in that setting, at that impressionable stage.

“After class, I went straight to the campus library and checked out their only book on Krazy Kat, an anthology with an introduction by E.E. Cummings. I was obsessed from then on, reading everything I could get my hands on – drawing from it, copying the drawings. There was a real sense of discovery, a whole world of creativity, poetry, humour, and history. Profoundly pleasurable!”

Copying the strip could only satisfy Vonn for so long, though. Even though he loves it and is informed by art history, he says he has no interest in simply recreating something or indulging in nostalgia. “I want to make paintings that are relevant to people now, to communicate something about being alive now,” he explains.

© Vonn Cummings Sumner

© Vonn Cummings Sumner

“Painting is not so much about ‘self-expression’ to me as it is about a kind of self-discovery or self-questioning. So in a way, I am using Krazy Kat as a proxy, a stand-in for myself or for all of us in a larger sense, perhaps. I think that if I try to go too directly towards an issue or subject, then it comes out too literal, too predictable, and too cliche. But, if I can come at something sideways – from an odd angle – then I feel like I can touch on some deeper things. Krazy Kat is so specific and so unusual that it becomes a way of talking about things with some extra layers and some humour.”

Another reason why Vonn finds Krazy Kat so interesting to paint is that everything keeps changing. “The world has obviously been going through many big shifts and changes – culturally, technologically, politically, pandemically, environmentally, etc. – and in the Krazy Kat strip, everything is changing all the time.

“For example, from frame to frame, within each strip, the time of day will change, the landscape/background will change, and the language will change. In Herriman’s Krazy Kat, everything is subject to change all the time. So it feels very appropriate to have Krazy Kat help me process the world.”

© Vonn Cummings Sumner

© Vonn Cummings Sumner

It’s not just the world that’s changed; Vonn’s art style has had to adapt as well. By putting Krazy Kat in the natural world, Vonn has changed not only his colour palettes but also the kinds of situations and settings that the character will experience. And from there, the dynamic of the artwork followed.

“In these paintings, I am trying to find a balance between specific landscapes that I have known intimately in my own life and archetypal/mythological/art-historical landscapes – combining my personal sense memories with the collective cultural memory of art,” he reveals.

“That is the goal, at least. These things are hard to talk about, but essentially when I am painting, I am searching for a feeling, and that feeling is something like ‘strangeness’ or ‘mystery’, something that feels familiar and yet mysterious at the same time.

“There is a richness, I believe, from the kind of rhyming that can happen with other paintings and stories from art history. Just like a writer writes in the context of all the other things they have read, or a musician composing in relation/reaction to all of the music they have heard/played – I am making paintings in the context of all the other paintings that I have seen. I get a lot of creative energy from that interaction.”

© Vonn Cummings Sumner

© Vonn Cummings Sumner

As for why Krazy Kat continues to appeal to wider audiences after all these years, Vonn reckons it’s because the strip is so inventive. “I would place Herriman up there with Louis Armstrong and Walt Whitman on the shortlist of American originals. I could go on and on about that with comic lovers.

“But from a more general audience point of view, I think there is something special about Krazy Kat as a character, and I think it has something to do with ambiguity and vulnerability. Krazy Kat is not a ‘cat’ and not a ‘human’, and not a ‘boy’ or a ‘girl’ in any kind of set way. That kind of non-binary ambiguity has great energy somehow. It is very inclusive, allowing anyone to identify and empathise with Krazy.

“The world around Krazy Kat is full of change, danger, and conflict, but Krazy stays totally sincere and open-hearted. Who wouldn’t love that?”

Second Nature is on view until 8 April 2023 at Morton’s Washington, D.C. space (52 O St NW #302).

Available artwork by VONN CUMMINGS SUMNER

JENNY WU | Stirworld

Art

6mins. read

Jenny Wu’s sculptural paintings are an extension of her time-based practice

The exhibition Ai Yo, by Chinese artist Jenny Wu at Morton Fine Art, is a seamless flow of composition, colour, control, and a chance at intersecting maths and art.

by Dilpreet Bhullar

Published on : Mar 06, 2023

Morton Fine Art, an art gallery based in Washington DC, United States, is showcasing Chinese multimedia artist Jenny Wu’s sculptural paintings, rooted in her time-based practice, with the exhibition, Ai Yo! Displaying close to 20 new works by the artist, the exhibition underscores her engagement with latex print. Overriding ‘mastery’ with ‘discovery,’ the works act as sites to survey the nuances of composition, colour, control, and chance. For Wu, who is academically trained as an architect, conceptual ideas of construction and embodiment run deep, setting the tone for the final composition of her sculptural paintings. Consequently, what viewers witness in the exhibition are artworks that serve both as ‘built objects’ and ‘records of labour, gesture, accident,’ questioning the conventional framework of paintings and sculptures. 

Briefly Inhabit a Fictional World, 2022, latex paint and resin on woodImage: Courtesy of Morton Fine Art and Jenny Wu

Each work is made with a silicon surface, over which Wu dispenses thick coats of latex paint. As soon as a layer of paint dries, the Chinese artist pours the next layer of latex. What we see, then, is a spectrum of colour that Wu breaks into small cuts, highlighting colourful cross-sections, often touched by chance elements like cracking. Furthermore, these cross-sections act as building blocks of relief. The final composition of wood panels is put together by these pieces. Interestingly, the play between ‘serendipity and planning’ removes hints of the original setting of paint, recontextualising it in a new form. 

Hello to That One Person Who Nods Along Encouragingly During Presentations, 2022, latex paint and resin on wood panelImage: Courtesy of Morton Fine Art and Jenny Wu

Wu’s artistic practice is “underpinned by transformation and embodying time,” states a press release; in an interview with STIR, Wu elaborates on this, “The original format of the paint is liquid, but through the process of pouring, waiting, pouring again, waiting again, and then finally cutting and glueing, the paint is transformed into a solid form. What started as separate colours on different buckets, ends up having a conversation on these wood panels. Each time a layer of paint dries, it records time spent. The layers are not always the same thickness, and sometimes the paint cracks during drying or the next layer will steep through the previous one. All of those elements are on full display in the finished work.”

It’s Not Finished But I Am, 2022, latex paint and resin on wood panelImage: Courtesy of Morton Fine Art and Jenny Wu

The material, latex, has an inherent quality of being fragile, bound to throw challenges to visual artists who employ it as a key element. Wu confirms that in the early stages of her career as an artist, she found the crack extremely challenging, but gradually she learned to let the paint be—appreciating and embracing moments of imperfection. “I am also learning how different paint sheen, room temperature, and airflow can affect the cracking. Liquid latex paint might be fragile, but thick, dried latex paint is very dense and hard to cut by hand. My purlicue muscle has grown a lot on my right hand,” admits Wu. 

Jenny WuImage: Courtesy of Morton Fine Art and Jenny Wu

Significantly, the titles of the sculptural paintings are central to the practice. Functioning as reflections of the methods Wu undertakes, to reorient the essentials of the material, for instance—Too Heavy to Carry to the British Museum; 70 Year Old Intern Waiting for His First Real Job; Hello to That One Person Who Nods Along Encouragingly During Presentations. Social networking sites such as Twitter, too, have been a source for the titles of the works. The humour and constructive value in the title of the art exhibition—Ai Yo! is unmissable. It carries regional expression and context, for the artist who hails from Nanjing in China, where the meaning of Ai Yo! is determined by a way of articulation, translating to anything between ‘impressed’ to ‘suspicious.’ 

Furthermore, when sculptural paintings are abstract and the titles are non-descriptive, Wu opines, “The idea that titles should create more space, and not point out the obvious, emerged a decade ago, when I bought house paint and came across paints named Va-Va Voom or Yeah Baby. The titles come from social media posts, usually comments on life in Washington D.C. at times having rings of academic or sometimes political. The titles function as a personal, minimal diary, emerging around the time I nearly finish a piece. Hello to That One Person Who Nods Along Encouragingly During Presentations is about appreciating that person and being that person for others.”

Jennny Wu at work

Video: Courtesy of Morton Fine Art and Jenny Wu

An artist and educator, Wu’s artistic practice is recognition of the ‘sensational and perceptual properties of materiality,’ only to recontextualise it in a new light to see the unseen. Wu is hopeful that the audience will see the intersections of maths and art while watching the sculptural paintings in the exhibition. Exploring patterns and moments of surprises within, experiencing the in-betweenness of painting and sculpture, exploring space from the physical work to its title, recalling the passing of time. “At the end of the day, I can have intentions and goals, but once you stand in front of the art, you are creating a new relationship between you and the work, and I can never be part of it,” shares Wu. 

The exhibition Ai Yo! by Jenny Wu is on view at Morton Fine Art, Washington DC until March 8, 2023.

About Author

Dilpreet Bhullar

Contributor

Writer and researcher, Dilpreet Bhullar shuttles between New Delhi and Mumbai, India. With an MPhil in Comparative Literature (University of Delhi), she has been the recipient of the Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability Fellowship (Columbia University, New York) and International Centre For Advocates Against Discrimination Fellowship, New York. Her writings have appeared in Art Basel, Ocula, Routledge, criticalcollective.in, thirdtext.org, to name a few. Currently, she is the Editorial Manager of the magazine TAKE, which is dedicated to South Asian contemporary arts.

Available artwork by JENNY WU

VONN CUMMINGS SUMNER | The Daily Heller | Print Magazine

The Daily Heller: Krazy Kat’s Existential Public Persona

by Steven Heller

Posted 6 days ago  ∙  11 min. read

Second Nature is a curiously familiar solo exhibition of brand-new paintings on paper and canvas by artist Vonn Cummings Sumner. Familiar, that is, if you’re a follower of George Herriman’s influential comic strip character Krazy Kat and her unrequited love for brick-throwing Ignatz the Mouse.

Born of COVID-19, Sumner turned his pandemic loneliness to the form of Arizona’s most renowned “wandering avatar.” The seasons changed, the days turned into nights and nights into mornings, as Sumner imagined a 21st-century Krazy in verdant dales, wide-open spaces and art historical–seeded landscapes, evoking longing for a connection with nature without Ignatz, brick or jail in sight. Sumner’s sixth solo exhibition with the Morton gallery, Second Nature will be on view through April 8 at 52 O St. NW, #302, in Washington DC.

Introduced to Krazy Kat by his longtime mentor Wayne Thiebaud (1920–2021), reviving the character enabled Sumner to focus on existential concerns and painterly notions of color, composition, gesture and mark-making. “Lightened by the exhibition’s … moments of enigma, color and joy, Second Nature finds Krazy Kat (and Sumner) on a heavy, if much-needed retreat.” The work’s employ of a familiar, beloved character can have that effect on all.

I very much enjoyed the following conversation with Sumner, if only to focus on something other than the strife caused by real (and fake) post-COVID ‘Merica. Second Nature is neither real nor fake, but it sure is refreshing.

Kat Hole, 2023. Oil on panel, 18 x 18in. Courtesy of Morton Fine Art and the artist

I’m assuming you are a comics fan. Or is it just Krazy Kat that captures your fascination?
Yes, of course. I am a lifelong comics fan. My favorite, as a kid in the ’80s, was the X-Men. I also loved the Marvel Universe comic books that just had a page for each character. When I was a kid, I was making my own comics (which weren’t very good). My friends in elementary school were into it too. We would sit around and draw from comics together. We had subscriptions at the local comic book store, where we would go once a month when the new issues came out. I loved a lot of the weird stuff, though. From Mad Magazine’s comics to Groo the Wanderer. And there was one called Plop! Then I got older and discovered R. Crumb, and then Dark Horse Comics and other things. I was obsessed with Daniel Clowes for a while; he was very influential on me. Art Spiegelman, of course.

Melancholy Kat, 2022. Oil on panel, 18 x 18 in. Courtesy of Morton Fine Art and the artist

You remove Krazy’s cohorts from your work, substituting other artistic features like landscape and pattern. What is your motive for devoting your energies to transformation?
It’s very appropriate that you use the word “transformation”— that feels right. This is hard to articulate, but I have this gut feeling that if I included Ignatz or Offisa Pup, then it would be a totally different kind of thing. I’m not interested in reenacting the comic strip literally; it’s more I feel connected to Krazy Kat, like Krazy is an old friend, a timeless soul. It’s like Krazy Kat comes from another time, but is also timeless somehow. As a painter, I am interested in the world as it is now; how we make beauty and meaning and life now. So I am trying to summon the spirit of Krazy Kat, to accompany me in this time and to see what happens in this context, here and now. Personally the fast few years have been a time of pretty intense transformation. And globally, of course, the past few years have been transformational (for better or worse). Krazy Kat comes from that world (of the strip) where things are transforming all the time, so this pairing feels appropriate somehow. Sometimes I think: What if Krazy Kat were the last being on earth? Or, what if Krazy Kat was the first of a new species, after a mass extinction? Sometimes I think of Krazy Kat almost like a child, mimicking what we do. None of it is that literal, of course, since it is a visual medium and I am working largely by following instincts, impulses, intuitions—trying to stay ahead of my rational mind so that the paintings remain a little bit of a mystery even to me. You are right, though, I am searching for some kind of transformation via Krazy Kat.

Your reinterpretation of Krazy Kat is an inspiring take on a classic character who is particularly associated by art historians with the early marriage of cartoon and modern art. Where did your passion for Krazy come from?
I think that is part of why Krazy Kat feels right to me, to paint this character that is intertwined with the development of modern art in general, and especially in the U.S., the link to the Armory show of 1913. It’s all connected, artistically. My passion for Krazy comes from my time at UD Davis: I was an 18-year-old freshman, sitting in the back of Prof. Wayne Thiebaud’s ART 148/Theory & Criticism class. He started class one day with an image of one of the Krazy Kat comic strips projected up on the screen, and spoke with obvious affection for this odd, dense, unorthodox cartoon that had been beloved by painters: Willem de Kooning, Richard Diebenkorn, Picasso. That had a huge impact on me, being introduced to it that way, in that setting, at that impressionable stage.

River Bather, 2023. Acrylic on paper, 22.5 x 30.25 in. Courtesy of Morton Fine Art and the artist

You’ve captured the spirit of Krazy without copying the tropes. In your paintings, she is her own character in a new but not entirely alien landscape. Why did you adapt her in this way? What inspired you to take Krazy out of her natural environment?
Long story short: I had been painting figures for several years, pretty realistically, and most of the time I was painting myself—or at least using my own body/face as a “figure” that I would costume in different ways. Eventually I got really sick of painting myself and needed a change. I painted a series of trashcans and dumpsters—often on fire—on sidewalks and alleys. In a few of those paintings, I included an ‘alley-cat’—again, realistically. One of my painter friends, Randall Cabe, was doing a studio visit with me. We were talking about those paintings and he said he really liked how the cats functioned like a “figure” to help bring the viewer into the space. He knew my love of Krazy Kat, and the connection to Thiebaud, and he said, “why not make that cat into Krazy Kat?” So I did it a couple of times, just to make my friend laugh. I painted Krazy Kat in the alley and on the sidewalk. Then I showed those first two paintings to Thiebaud and he said such interesting, encouraging things that I felt like it was worth exploring some more. Then the pandemic hit and it was during that first week or two of lockdown that it just seemed obvious/inevitable: a Krazy Kat for a crazy time. 

Horse and Rider, 2023. Oil on canvas, 48 x 65 in. Courtesy of Morton Fine Art and the artist

You’ve also reconfigured Krazy, elongating her, seemingly taming her while maintaining the essence of the original (especially the ‘Z’ tail). She seems more mature. What went into your decision to create this physical type?
I think it relates back to Herriman’s strip, actually: If you look at Krazy Kat from the beginning, around 1913 to the end in the early 1940s, there is quite a shift in how he draws Krazy. So that is built into the character, in a way—the ability to shift and change and transform. Again this all feels appropriate on a gut level. So then I was painting Krazy Kat—and partly it is just my own mistakes, or limitations, in trying to depict them—but at some point I will just go with it, and accept the way that I have painted them. And then that leads to the obvious question: Why not give Krazy a little more anatomy/structure? All the countless hours that I put in drawing from the model then comes into play. I kind of can’t help but make Krazy a little bit more “human.” To do otherwise, to just be totally faithful to the cartoon, would be too “cute” in my opinion. I am not going for cute. I am interested in the human-animal hybrid tradition of art, going back to the caves, the Lion-Man Hohlenstein-Stadel sculpture, all the way through the great Egyptian versions, the Hindu and Buddhist versions. I’m very interested in Krazy Kat as a kind of modern extension of that tradition—the human/animal hybrid is one of the oldest and most popular themes in the history of art, and that is definitely part of the point of the whole project for me.

What’s Up Kat…, 2023. Acrylic on paper, 22.5 x 30.25 in. Courtesy of Morton Fine Art and the artist

I love the nuanced and overt parodies (especially the Bugs Bunny reference). When Herriman drew Krazy there was wit and humor but not parody per se. What are you saying about art, life, comics and existence through your Krazy Kat?
Thank you. I hadn’t thought of it like that yet. That is a really interesting question. I think that has to do with the times—the difference between Modern and Postmodern, perhaps? But also it has to do with the medium: A cartoon strip has its history/language/conventions and a painting has its history/language/conventions. I hold humor very high in the hierarchy of artistic values. And Thiebaud used to say that an artwork without a sense of humor was probably lacking a sense of perspective. So on a very basic level, I take humor very seriously, and I trust it: If a painting can make me laugh, that is enough. I trust that. As for larger messages or explanations, I think that is better left up to each viewer.

How long will you continue to make this otherworldly Krazy Kat?
As long as it feels right. I don’t have a set timeline or anything. Painting, art, etc., doesn’t run on the clock. Sometimes I like to think that Krazy Kat is with me, visiting me, like a spirit or a muse. These are the things that artists should never talk about, haha! We get very carried away.

Krazy Desert, 2021–2023. Oil on panel, 18 x 18 in. Courtesy of Morton Fine Art and the artist

I own a latter-day daily original (four-panel) Krazy Kat, hanging on the wall in front of me. It seems like Herriman drew it on the fly. In fact, I think he’d disavow it now. How do you think Herriman would take to your interpretations?
Wow, that is really cool, I would love to see it. Wayne had some originals in his collection, which he showed to me. In addition to the amazingly skillful drawing, of course, I was struck by how big they were!

As for your very interesting question, that is very funny to contemplate! The greatest compliment, of course, would be to get his positive stamp of approval. But he might take issue with all of the liberties that I am taking! I understand that Herriman himself did some plein-air painting in the Southwest, and was a great admirer of painting, of course. I think he even did a painting or two of Krazy Kat? He was very hard on himself, very humble and self-depricating. My hope is that, at least, Herriman would see that I have genuine respect and affection for Krazy. But as a painter, I also have to be willing to offend, make mistakes, do it ‘wrong.’ That is the spirit of freedom that Herriman infused the Krazy Kat comic strip with, so I hope he would understand.

Moments after finishing the interview, Vonn sent in a bonus response. . .
I’m still thinking about those questions and wanted to pass along some thoughts spurred by our conversation.

We are wired, it seems, to want to think of the world as stable and knowable—but of course it’s not. Everything is changing all the time, and we actually seem to know very little. Krazy Kat seems fine with that changability, that instability. I’m trying to learn from Krazy, in a way, trying to absorb that ability to accept and navigate the instability of life. Humans like to convince ourselves that we know what we’re doing and we make all kinds of laws and rules and systems to reinforce that illusion; which, of course, is the human-folly that Herriman was commenting on in a very sophisticated way, with humor and affection and almost unparalleled inventiveness. That is very appealing to me, that kind of theater of the absurd. I loved Beckett and all of the more contemporary things influenced by his work, including Bugs Bunny and Charlie Brown. The Great Pumpkin is like Waiting for Godot for children! So I do think that very serious and profound ideas can be approached through things like cartoons and comics and paintings. It’s all about the human-scale, the intention. I’m wary of getting too pretentious, and it’s also probably folly to ask too much of paintings, but these are some of the things I think about. Albert Camus said something to the effect of “humans are the only animal that doesn’t know what it is”—Krazy Kat is like that, somehow. The tension is that humans seem very uncomfortable with that uncertainty, while Krazy Kat seems perfectly fine with it.

Posted in Designer InterviewsThe Daily Heller

Steven Heller

Steven Heller has written for PRINT since the 1980s. He is co-chair of SVA MFA Designer as Entrepreneur. The author, co-author and editor of over 200 books on design and popular culture, Heller is also the recipient of the Smithsonian Institution National Design Award for “Design Mind,” the AIGA Medal for Lifetime Achievement and other honors. He was a senior art director at The New York Times for 33 years and a writer of obituaries and book review columnist for the newspaper, as well. His memoir, Growing Up Underground (Princeton Architectural Press) was published in 2022. Some of his recent essays are collected in For the Love of Design (Allworth Press).

Available artwork by VONN CUMMINGS SUMNER.

JENNY WU | Ai Yo! | Solo Exhibition at Morton Fine Art

Morton Fine Art is pleased to announce Ai Yo!, a solo exhibition of sculpturalpaintings by artist Jenny Wu. Continuing an innovative latex paint and time-based practice theartist has been implementing for nearly a decade, Ai Yo! features Wu further exploringcomposition, color, expertise, control, chance and surprise—favoring discovery over mastery.Long interested in tactility, in-betweenness, embodiedness, and construction (Wu has abackground in architectural studies), the exhibition questions our basic assumptions about whatpaintings and sculptures can be. Wu’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, Ai Yo!, will be on viewfrom February 8 – March 8, 2023.

Visit our Website

Ai Yo! Sculptural Paintings by JENNY WU February 8th – March 8th, 2023 Opening reception 4-6pm on Saturday, February 11th, 2023. The artist will be in attendance. Please RSVP to info@mortonfineart.com. Contact the gallery for viewing by appointment, price list, additional information and acquisition. (202) 628-2787 (call or text)info@mortonfineart.com Available Artwork by JENNY WU

It’s Not Finished But I Am, 2022, 36″x24″x2.5″, latex paint and resin on wood panel

Briefly Inhabit a Fictional World, 2022, 18″x18″x2.5″, latex paint and resin on wood panel

About Ai Yo!

Underpinned by transformation and embodying time, material characteristics and chance, Wu’s sculptural paintings operate as both built objects and records (of labor, gesture, accident). Generating degrees of liminality, Wu’s body of work is an engine to multiplicity. To create each work, Wu pours thick coats of latex paint onto silicone surfaces, allowing each layer to dry completely before adding another layer of latex in turn to dry. The results are rich and vividly varied strata of dried paint, which Wu then cuts to reveal layers of colorful cross-sections, often touched by chance elements like cracking. Using these cross-sections as her base units, Wu assembles her paintings, building up relief and composition—piece by piece—on wood panels. Both the cross-sections and their eventual sculptural forms veer towards an order out of serendipity and planning. Following prearranged patterns, Wu erects pulsing grid-forms and mesmerizing reliefs of playful, shimmering paint, completed with a top coat of glossy resin to amplify her vibrant palette. Transforming latex paint from its original, liquid form—before fashioning it within new contexts and forms—the artworks acknowledge an abiding passion for the sensational and perceptual properties of materiality. 70 Year Old Intern Waiting for His First Real Job, 2022, 36″x24″x2.5″, latex paint and resin on wood panel

The Analysis is Severely Limited By My Lack of Understanding What I Am Doing, 2022, 36″x24″x2.5″, latex paint and resin on wood panel

Titles play an important role in Wu’s practice, in some cases mirroring her process of cutting and rearranging layered materials: Too Heavy to Carry to the British Museum(2022);70 Year Old Intern Waiting for His First Real Job(2022); Hello to That One Person Who Nods Along Encouragingly During Presentations(2022). Sourcing her titles from Twitter (including a number of Donald Trump’s tweets, an approach that ended in 2020), Wu’s titling compounds the humorous and constructive elements explored in Ai Yo!, the meaning of which too is both layered and specific. A regional expression in Nanjing, China, Wu’s hometown, “Ai Yo”’s meaning depends on how you say it, ranging from “impressed” to “suspicious.” Existing only as an expression, there is no character for “Ai Yo”; it can only be said and spoken. Unfixed and open, “Ai Yo” accrues yet an additional context in Wu’s selection of it as her exhibition’s title.

Hello to That One Person Who Nods Along Encouragingly During Presentations, 2022, 36″x12″x.25″, latex paint and resin on wood panel

Balancing clarity and surprise, Ai Yo! is the result of countless juxtapositions and an expanding set of contexts.

Available artwork by JENNY WU

About JENNY WU

Jenny Wu is an artist and educator. She is currently a visiting assistant professor of fine art at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. Wu’s work acknowledges the sensational and perceptual properties of materiality and then transforms the materials from their original forms and purpose to present them within new contexts. Her work has been reviewed by the Washington Post. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums including Katzen Museum, Huntington Museum of Art, Reece Museum, Vilnius Academy of Arts in Lithuania, and CICA Museum in South Korea. Wu has participated in numerous Artist-In-Residence programs across the country; and has been awarded fellowships from Vermont Studio Center and the Pollock Krasner Foundation. Wu was born in Nanjing, China. She holds a B.A. from William Smith College in Studio Art as well as in Architectural Studies, and an M.F.A. in Studio Art from American University. She has been represented by Morton Fine Art since 2021.

About Morton Fine Art

Founded in 2010 in Washington, DC by curator Amy Morton, Morton Fine Art (MFA) is a fine artgallery and curatorial group that collaborates with art collectors and visual artists to inspire freshways of acquiring contemporary art. Firmly committed to the belief that art collecting can becultivated through an educational stance, MFA’s mission is to provide accessibility to museum-quality contemporary art through a combination of substantive exhibitions and a welcomingplatform for dialogue and exchange of original voice. Morton Fine Art specializes in a stellarroster of nationally and internationally renowned artists as well as has an additional focus onartwork of the African and Global Diaspora. Morton Fine Art founded the trademark *a pop-up project in 2010. *a pop-up project is MFA’smobile gallery component which hosts temporary curated exhibitions nationally. Gallery hours: By appointment only. Morton Fine Art 52 O St NW #302 Washington, DC 20001 (202) 628-2787 info@mortonfineart.com www.mortonfineart.com For further information and images, please contact Amy Morton:info@mortonfineart.com ###

Interlocutor Interviews | JENNY WU | Ai Yo!

INTERLOCUTOR

Feb 14

Exhibition Feature – AI YO! by Jenny Wu

Exhibition Features, Multidisciplinary Artists

Photo by Jarrett Hendrix

Morton Fine Art is pleased to announce Ai Yo!, a solo exhibition of sculptural paintings by artist Jenny Wu. Continuing an innovative latex paint and time-based practice the artist has been implementing for nearly a decade, Ai Yo! features Wu further exploring composition, color, expertise, control, chance and surprise—favoring discovery over mastery.

Long interested in tactility, in-betweenness, embodiedness, and construction (Wu has a background in architectural studies), the exhibition questions our basic assumptions about what paintings and sculptures can be. Wu’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, Ai Yo!, will be on view through March 8, 2023 at Morton’s Washington, D.C. space (52 O St NW #302).

Photo by Jarrett Hendrix

CURATORIAL STATEMENT by Amy Morton

Engaged in an innovative hybrid sculptural painting practice, Jenny Wu is a rigorous, focused and accomplished artist with a humble nature and good sense of humor.  Her practice acknowledges—and embodies—the sensational, perceptual and temporal properties of her materials, particularly her enlivening applications of latex paint and glossy coating of resin. Having cultivated a deep material wisdom, Wu is able to transform her materials from their original forms and then crucially present them within new, engrossing formal contexts. Deeply admiring Jenny’s vision and art practice, I am thrilled to be able to continue to share this transformative body of work with Ai Yo!, Wu’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.

Briefly Inhabit a Fictional World, 2022 – Latex paint and resin on wood panel – 18 x 18 x 2.5 in.

Hello to That One Person Who Nods Along Encouragingly During Presentations, 2022 – Latex paint and resin on wood panel – 36 x 12 x 2.5 in.

ARTIST STATEMENT by Jenny Wu

I could never sit still when growing up, and my mother found an alternative method to make me sit still—classical art lessons. These childhood lessons  built a foundation  that has led to my current cross-disciplinary practice in painting, sculpture, installation, video, and participatory projects. My work acknowledges the sensational and perceptual properties of materiality and then transforms the materials, from their original forms and purpose, to present them within new contexts. 

My current sculptural paintings transform liquid paint into sculpture, a process derived from making oil on canvas paintings and discovering the many layers of oil paint beneath the surface. Those layers of oil paint embody linear time, repetitive processes, and material characteristics. Now, I exemplify the layering by pouring a thick coat of latex paint one color at a time on a silicone surface, letting each color dry completely, and repeating the process many times. The colors of each layer are premeditated. I later cut the dried paint to reveal the layers of cross-section, which I then use to assemble sculpturally on a flat surface. The cross-section juxtaposes order and chaos: the consistent order of paint from old to new, and the imperfection of subtle differences in thicknesses. Each piece follows a specific pattern, uniting the differences to present a systematic imagery. Resin coating is added later on to amplify the colors, as well as to protect the paint. These works question our basic assumptions about what we consider paintings can be and what sculptures can be.

The Analysis is Severely Limited By My Lack of Understanding of What I am Doing, 2022 – Latex paint and resin on wood panel – 36 x 24 x 2.5 in.

Have Not Overthrown a Government Since 1954, 2022 -Latex paint and resin on wood panel – 36 x 24 x 2.5 in. 

Ai Yo!, will be on view through March 8, 2023 at Morton’s Washington, D.C. space (52 O St NW #302).

Check out our coverage of other current and recent art exhibitions

All images courtesy Morton Fine Art and the artist

Available artwork by JENNY WU

JENNY WU | Morton Fine Art | See Great Art

ART IN THE NORTHEAST FEMALE ARTISTS

Jenny Wu art exhibition at Morton Fine Art D.C.

BY CHADD SCOTT POSTED ON FEBRUARY 8, 20230 COMMENTS

Jenny Wu headshot. Courtesy Morton Fine Art and the artist.

Morton Fine Art presents “Ai Yo!,” a solo exhibition of sculptural paintings by artist Jenny Wu. Continuing an innovative latex paint and time-based practice the artist has been implementing for nearly a decade, “Ai Yo!” features Wu further exploring composition, color, expertise, control, chance and surprise—favoring discovery over mastery. Long interested in tactility, in-betweenness, embodiedness, and construction (Wu has a background in architectural studies), the Jenny Wu art exhibition questions our basic assumptions about what paintings and sculptures can be. Wu’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, “Ai Yo!,” will be on view from February 8 – March 8, 2023 at Morton’s Washington, D.C. space (52 O St NW #302).

Underpinned by transformation and embodying time, material characteristics and chance, Wu’s sculptural paintings operate as both built objects and records (of labor, gesture, accident). Generating degrees of liminality, Wu’s body of work is an engine to multiplicity. To create each work, Wu pours thick coats of latex paint onto silicone surfaces, allowing each layer to dry completely before adding another layer of latex in turn to dry. The results are rich and vividly varied strata of dried paint, which Wu then cuts to reveal layers of colorful cross-sections, often touched by chance elements like cracking.

Using these cross-sections as her base units, Wu assembles her paintings, building up relief and composition—piece by piece—on wood panels. Both the cross-sections and their eventual sculptural forms veer towards an order out of serendipity and planning. Following prearranged patterns, Wu erects pulsing grid-forms and mesmerizing reliefs of playful, shimmering paint, completed with a top coat of glossy resin to amplify her vibrant palette. Transforming latex paint from its original, liquid form—before fashioning it within new contexts and forms—the artworks acknowledge an abiding passion for the sensational and perceptual properties of materiality.

Titles play an important role in Wu’s practice, in some cases mirroring her process of cutting and rearranging layered materials: Too Heavy to Carry to the British Museum (2022); 70 Year Old Intern Waiting for His First Real Job (2022); Hello to That One Person Who Nods Along Encouragingly During Presentations (2022). Sourcing her titles from Twitter (including a number of Donald Trump’s tweets, an approach that ended in 2020), Wu’s titling compounds the humorous and constructive elements explored in “AiYo!,” the meaning of which too is both layered and specific.

A regional expression in Nanjing, China, Wu’s hometown, “Ai Yo”’s meaning depends on how you say it, ranging from “impressed” to “suspicious.” Existing only as an expression, there is no character for “Ai Yo;” it can only be said and spoken. Unfixed and open, “AiYo” accrues yet an additional context in Wu’s selection of it as her exhibition’s title. Balancing clarity and surprise, “Ai Yo!” is the result of countless juxtapositions and an expanding set of contexts.

About the Artist

Jenny Wu is an artist and educator. She is currently a visiting assistant professor of fine art at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. Wu’s work acknowledges the sensational and perceptual properties of materiality and then transforms the materials from their original forms and purpose to present them within new contexts.

About Morton Fine Art

Founded in 2010 in Washington D.C. by curator Amy Morton, Morton Fine Art (MFA) is a fine art gallery and curatorial group that collaborates with art collectors and visual artists to inspire fresh ways of acquiring contemporary art. Firmly committed to the belief that art collecting can be cultivated through an educational stance, MFA’s mission is to provide accessibility to museum-quality contemporary art through a combination of substantive exhibitions and a welcoming platform for dialogue and exchange of original voice.

Morton Fine Art specializes in a stellar roster of nationally and internationally renowned artists as well as has an additional focus on artwork of the African and Global Diaspora.

Available Artwork by JENNY WU

JENNY WU | Ai Yo! | Washington City Paper

Ongoing: Jenny Wu’s Ai Yo! at Morton Fine Art Gallery

Is it architecture? Or painting? Perhaps some tapestry of the two? And does genre even matter? What is this instinct to sort, to categorize? Is it intrinsically human, or an invented construction? These are some of the many questions prompted by Jenny Wu’s colorful and layered pieces, on view this month at Morton Fine Art. Wu’s collection, titled Ai Yo!, is both a celebration of multiplicities and a reflection of liminality. Like many artists, Wu begins with a wood panel canvas and paint. But she immediately diverges. Like a pastry chef or chocolatier, Wu pours liquid latex paint into silicone molds repeatedly over extended periods of time until she’s built her own new kinds of ‘paint chips.’ She splices them together with her precise, yet whimsical hand, to reveal brilliantly colored miniature confections, each barring their own signature markings. She then assembles these to create her cheekily titled works (yet another invitation for complexity), such as “Hello to That One Person Who Nods Along Encouragingly During Presentations” or “Spent $50.4 Million on TV Ads to Brag About Giving Local Businesses A Total of $100,000.” In one piece, titled “Too Heavy to Carry to the British Museum,” hot pink and tangerine strips (think sour rainbow candies) stacked like books leave enough negative space for the glossy yellow underlayer to shine through. And in another joyful, defiant, complicated piece, lavender, turquoise, and bubblegum paint layers fit snugly next to each other, like sugar-high kids on a Friday night sleepover. When you step back, the interplaying modules evoke a well-loved floor rug, or a cross section of some distant technicolor planet’s malted core. Another title Wu selected reads: “It’s Not Finished But I Am.” The exhibit is on view through March 8 at Morton Fine Art Gallery, 52 O St. NW, #302. mortonfineart.com. Free, by appointment. —Emma Francois

Jenny Wu’s “It’s Not Finished But I Am,” 2022; latex paint and resin on wood panel, 36 x 24 x 2.5 in. Courtesy Morton Fine Art and the artist

Available Artwork by JENNY WU

di Rosa Museum of Contemporary Art | ADIA MILLETT | A Force of Nature

JULY 23 – OCTOBER 30, 2022

adia millett: a force of nature | opening july 23

“the land at di rosa… changing like the direction of the seasonal smoke, reveals to us that with death comes new life.” -adia millett

Adia Millett: A Force of Nature presents new paintings, textiles and sculptural installations by the Oakland-based artist, created in response to di Rosa’s distinctive landscape. “The land at di Rosa,” Millett writes, “lush with soaring vultures, cracks in the decomposing earth, traces of snakeskin, and endless layers of shadows, arouse our creative minds to remember where we come from. The multitude of colors, changing like the direction of the seasonal smoke, reveals to us that with death comes new life.”

Ranging across diverse media, Millett’s practice is rooted in “taking things apart, removing, replacing, cutting, pasting, sewing and building.” Evoking “the mended shapes of an old quilt, or polygonal segments of a cathedral window,” the works suggest “the importance of renewal and rebuilding, not only through the artistic process, but also through the possibility of transformative change.” Human beings, like earthquakes, forest fires or floods, are also forces of nature.

Millett earned her BFA from UC Berkeley followed by an MFA from CalArts. Her work has been exhibited at institutions including the Studio Museum in Harlem; the Craft and Folk Museum in Los Angeles; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Atlanta; the Santa Monica Museum of Art; and the Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans.

related programs

July 23: opening reception

October 29: Artist talk

Adia Millett, Snake in the Fire, 2022.

“The countless creatures I witnessed living on the land, including a baby rattler, became mirrors. We are able to see ourselves in other living beings. As they navigate the land, so do we. I imagine the young snake using its senses to transition from the challenges of one season to another. Here the triangle-shaped painting, not only integrated the shades of red to symbolize fire, but blue, green, yellow, and gold, for the water, air, and earth. Like the snake, we move, shed, and thrive.”

Quilted Ancestor: Earth (unfinished)

The three Quilted Ancestors titled Sun, Moon, and Earth were created to bring the fabric to life. As a viewer, we can begin to imagine a ghost, spirit, or loved one beneath the shrouds. In turn, the titles suggest that we can then image our planet or the moon as an entity, or family member. The quilts are covered with pieces of fabric that reveal the layers and complexity of who we are.

The Collective ( 1 of 10)

The Collective is a series of ten abstract forms, slightly resembling the shape of a figure or mummy. These forms are designed to float amongst the wall, each one unique and still connected to the others. Millett does not see these as body forms, but rather an energetic trace within the body. Like all the work in this exhibition, they are emblematic of transition, elevation, and the many dimensions of who we are.

Grandmother is perhaps the most personal piece in this exhibition. It starts with a piece of an unfinished quilt top from Millett’s grandmother. Adia adds hand-stitching in and around it and moves outward creating a mandala of feathers, most of which were collected from the land at Di Rosa. Earth tones surround what Adia calls a “medicine wheel”. Being the great-grandchild of Indigenous and African American slave foremothers, Adia uses her art to pay homage to the woman who came before her. The vast elements of the earthwork as a connection point to her matriarchal lineage.

di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art 5200 Sonoma Hwy, Napa, CA 94559 | 707-226-5991 | Hours | Contact

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Available Artwork by ADIA MILLETT

VONN CUMMINGS SUMNER featured in East City Art

MORTON FINE ART PRESENTS VONN CUMMINGS SUMNER KRAZY TIMES

By Editorial Team on October 4, 2021

Vonn Cummings Sumner, Krazy Times, 2021, 24″x24″, oil paint on panel.

On View: October 9 – November 3

Vonn Cummings Sumner’s contemporary depictions of Krazy Kat’s titular character build upon the comic strip’s longstanding influence on the art world at large.

Available Artwork by VONN CUMMINGS SUMNER

About Krazy Times
Morton Fine Art is pleased to present Krazy Times, a solo exhibition of new paintings and watercolors by artist Vonn Cummings Sumner, on view from October 9–November 3, 2021. Reflecting the artist’s longstanding interest in the career of famed American cartoonist George Herriman, Sumner’s recent works render the eponymous protagonist of Herriman’s Krazy Kat comic strip in settings and circumstances evocative of contemporary life.

Sumner was first introduced to Krazy Kat while under the tutelage of painter Wayne Thiebaud, whose love of Krazy Kat was shared by peers such as Philip Guston and Willem de Kooning. Appearing in newsprint from 1913 to 1944, Krazy Kat remains a keystone in the history of American cartooning, memorialized in part by the works of those it influenced. In the present decade, Krazy Kat has long since ceased publication; yet, the reinvigoration of its visual vocabulary by Sumner highlights its utility as a vehicle for investigating 21st-century themes.

Drawing from the original comic strip’s mediations on humanity—previously executed through tragic humor in a series of panels—Sumner depicts the titular character of Krazy Kat being followed by ghosts, peering at balloons floating just out of reach, and gazing at his reflection in a cerulean blue oasis, among other narratives collapsed into a singular image. Rendered in oil on panel as well as ink, gouache and pencil on paper, Sumner removes Krazy Kat from the landscapes of the comic strip, instead presenting such encounters in fields of seemingly endless white. In this sort of alternative dreamscape devoid of horizons, Sumner enables Krazy Kat to act as a projection of the artist or the viewer, embodying allegorical scenarios akin to lived experiences.

Partly created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sumner describes Krazy Kat as an “empathetic effigy” for processing a moment of great global change and loss. Sumner asks, “What do you paint when reality seems to be an absurd satire of itself?” Naturally, the answer is Krazy Kat, upon whom Sumner bestows new life. Bringing forth Krazy Kat’s curiosity and innocence, Sumner intertwines existential feelings with an earnest playfulness, producing accessible avenues into thoughtful contemplation. While the contemporary moment warrants heaviness, Sumner’s Krazy Kat paintings offer welcome reminders of optimism, inspiring joy in the face of Herculean challenges.

About VONN CUMMINGS SUMNER
Vonn Cummings Sumner grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and attended the University of California, Davis, where he studied closely with the celebrated painter and teacher, Wayne Thiebaud, among others. Vonn has exhibited nationally and internationally since 1998, and his work has been featured or reviewed in many publications, including: New American Paintings, Elle Décor, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, L.A. Weekly, Art Ltd., Riviera magazine, Hi Fructose, Juxtapoz, Cartwheel Art, The Painter’s Table, Boom magazine, and Quick Fiction. Vonn’s work has been the subject of two solo museum shows: The Other Side of Here, at the Riverside Art Museum in 2008, and Stages, in 2011 at the Phillips Museum of Art in Pennsylvania. In 2021, his work was featured in the first museum survey tracing the influence of Wayne Thiebaud on contemporary art at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis.

Vonn currently lives and works in Santa Ana, CA, and is a Professor of Painting at Fullerton College.

He has been represented by Morton Fine Art since 2010.

About Morton Fine Art
Founded in 2010 in Washington, DC by curator Amy Morton, Morton Fine Art (MFA) is a fine art gallery and curatorial group that collaborates with art collectors and visual artists to inspire fresh ways of acquiring contemporary art. Firmly committed to the belief that art collecting can be cultivated through an educational stance, MFA’s mission is to provide accessibility to museum- quality contemporary art through a combination of substantive exhibitions and a welcoming platform for dialogue and exchange of original voice. Morton Fine Art specializes in a stellar roster of nationally and internationally renowned artists as well as has an additional focus on artwork of the African Diaspora.

Morton Fine Art founded the trademark *a pop-up project in 2010. *a pop-up project is MFA’s mobile gallery component which hosts temporary curated exhibitions nationally.

Gallery hours:

• By appointment only.

Mask required.

Morton Fine Art is located at 52 O St. NW #302.

Available Artwork by VONN CUMMINGS SUMNER

KATHERINE TZU-LAN MANN’s solo “Water Ribbon” highlighted in Baltimore Fishbowl

• Culture
• News

BmoreArt’s Picks: September 7-13

By Bmoreart Staff -September 7, 2020

BmoreArt’s Picks: September 7-13

BmoreArt’s Picks presents the best weekly art openings, events, and performances happening in Baltimore and surrounding areas.

This Week: We are featuring online events that you can participate in from the comfort of your own couch and some that you can safely leave the house for, plus a few calls for entry to get involved locally and nationally. Stay home, stay healthy, stay engaged in the arts.

BmoreArt’s Picks presents the best weekly art openings, events, and performances happening in Baltimore and surrounding areas. For a more comprehensive perspective, check the BmoreArt Calendar page, which includes ongoing exhibits and performances, and is updated on a daily basis.

To submit your calendar event, email us at events@bmoreart.com!Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann: Water Ribbon
Wednesday, September 8 | Ongoing through October 6
@ Morton Fine Art

Morton Fine Art is pleased to present Water Ribbon, a solo exhibition of new works on paper by Washington, D.C.-based artist Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann, on view from September 8th – October 6th, 2021. Featuring a collection of recent pieces by the artist, the exhibition offers an evocative perspective on contemporary ecologies during a time at which environmental destruction and the consequences of climate change loom ever larger.

Utilizing acrylic, sumi ink, and collage, Mann draws from traditions of Chinese landscape painting to create mesmerizing, vibrant depictions of organic matter. Mann begins her process by pouring liquid pigments onto paper, allowing them to dry and yielding a stain of color from which the work is then based. Through an embrace of the indeterminate qualities of her materials—the ink or paint takes its own course, without the artist dictating its shapes or forms—Mann demonstrates a symbiotic relationship to her materials that serves as an apt metaphor for coexistence with the natural world. What results from Mann’s subsequent additions to the paper are rich, layered tableaus imbued with an affective interplay of ideas.

Of the challenges posed by her recent work, Mann describes her rumination upon “the
resuscitation of landscape painting in a world where ‘landscape’ is represented and defined through an ever-widening field of digital, graphic, and visual forms.” At times almost dizzying, the pieces shown in Water Ribbon eschew Western conventions of spatial perspective and inert figuration, instead embracing qualities of movement and monumentality central to Chinese landscape painting traditions.

Bright hues and a multiplicity of patterns are nestled among Mann’s illustrations of flora and fauna, with streams of ink evoking vines and riverbeds. Lying in the tension between the artificial and the organic, Mann’s renderings suggest an intertwining of systems rather than a constant grappling for control or domination. Splashes of ink seep across each image, traversing various shapes and forms. Elsewhere, translucent swathes of paint filter views of plant life, appearing like stained-glass windows through which to gaze.

“In my most recent work, I hope to live in the tradition of landscape painting, experiencing it for what it has always been: an occasion for radical experimentation and confrontation with the world, in the broadest sense of the term that sustains us,” said Mann. Amongst all the chaos and beauty, Water Ribbon proposes a mode of coexistence attuned to change, reciprocity, and an honoring of diverse forms of life.

Kei Ito | Artist Talk
Thursday, September 9 • 6pm
@ UMD Stamp Gallery

Screening in the Univesity of Maryland Stamp Nanticoke Room

In conjunction with this exhibition, join the Stamp Gallery for an artist talk by artist Kei Ito, artist of acquisition Under My Skin #1.

Kei Ito is a visual artist working primarily with camera-less photography and installation art who is currently teaching at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in NYC. Ito received his BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology followed by the MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2016. Ito’s work addresses issues of deep intergenerational loss and connections as he explores the materiality and experimental processes of photography.

Ito’s work addresses issues of deep intergenerational loss and connections as he explores the materiality and experimental processes of photography, specifically the idea around visualizing the invisible such as radiation, memory and life/death. His work, rooted in the trauma and legacy passed down from his late grandfather – a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, meditates on the complexity of his identity and heritage through examining the past and current threats of nuclear disaster and his present status as an US-immigrant. Most of Ito’s prints are made with exposing light sensitive material to sunlight, often timing the exposures with his breath, influenced by his grandfather’s words describing the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima “…was like hundreds of suns lighting up the sky.” These X-ray like prints are usually installed in a way that provokes a monument.

He was the recipient of the 2020 Marva and John Warnock Biennial Artist in Resident Award and participated in other artist residencies such as: MASS MoCA, the Center for Fine Art Photography, CPW, and Creative Alliance. Ito’s works are collected by major institutions including: the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, Norton Museum of Art, En Foco, the Candela Collection and California Institute of Integral Studies. His internationally recognized solo and group shows can be read in reviews and articles published by Washington Post, Hyperallergic, BmoreArt, Chicago Magazine, Studio Magazine, ArtMaze Magazine, and BBC Culture/Art.

Website: Kei-ito.com
Instagram: Kei.ito.art

Viewers who wish to join the lecture virtually on Zoom may do so at https://go.umd.edu/keiitotalk

Read more at BmoreArt.