#cathylu

[johanssonprojects]

Cathy Lu featured in Frieze Magazine:“Peripheral Visions (2022), the true standout of the exhibition, is a monument to emotional release. Massive mono-lidded and almond-shaped eyes – their glazed surfaces dimpling and wavering in the light – protrude from the walls and surround the viewer in a seemingly all-consuming gaze. Their pink inner corners droop flaccidly into plastic tubes that expel what Lu dubs ‘yellow tears’ (water dyed with onion skins), which spatters into a hodgepodge of found vessels that resemble a Chinese American grandmother’s kitchenware. These ‘tears’ are then fed back up to the top to be wept again. It’s an all-Asian-American ‘cry-in’: each eye was inspired by those of notable Asian American women, including artists Ruth Asawa and Patty Chang, architect Maya Lin, activist Yuri Kochiyama, author Cathy Park Hong, figure skater Michelle Kwan, actor Thuy Trang and journalist Julie Chen. This raucous torrent of collective pain eventually settles into a meditative swell of sound, offering catharsis rather than pessimism. Our fears feel washed away; the ceaseless cycles of hope and disappointment no longer seem like a nihilistic inevitability, but the promise of possibility.” - Vivienne Liu This work is by Cathy Lu is on view at the Chinese Cultural Center SF, she also has work at our annual group exhibition, COMMUNITY GARDEN @johansson_projects #cathylu #SECA #johanssonprojects #sfmoma #bayareaartist #chineseculturalcenter https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgo8tXSLBZl/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[primitiveprimeblog]

Girls with Vases by Cathy Lu

TIPPING POINT

by Azrael Encarnacion

Girls with Vases (I) by Cathy Lu (currently featured on Hi-Fructose’s website) is such an interesting painting. It depicts a vase on the verge of being tipped over by a swarm of girls. What I immediately notice and what draws most of my attention is the dynamic between chaos and order in this scene. Because you think you see teamwork concentrated in certain areas, such as the pyramidal climbing of the vase on the left, or the lifting of the vase's base on the opposite side. Giving the impression of ants collaborating to carry a crumb of cake back home. 

Even the girls hanging off the top right rose seems purposeful to balance out the weight and prevent the vase from falling but is that their intention?

What is the overall intention of any of these groups? Are they all working together or just grouped together? Is the pyramid meant to provide a boost or the result of everyone trying to climb atop one another? Are the girls at the base trying to tip over the vase, or just looking for something underneath it? Are the girls hanging off the rose attempting balance or just holding on so as not to fall?

The vase itself seems the victim to whatever the girls are attempting, despite their organization or lack thereof. It could just be innocent play or rebellion or something else altogether or a combination of a few things altogether. This painting seems to bring to my attention that I don't know what the girls are doing as a whole but the result will likely break this vase.

There's something delicate about vases because they're so easy to break. Paintings of basic vases, especially with flowers are commercially common and while meant to be peaceful home decor or hallmark friendly, usually affect me as boring. Such images feel as if someone were trying to spell through the vibrant colors and lack of context that this is ideally pretty. There's something exciting about the way Cathy Lu, whether knowingly or not, disrupts that for me.

Will the vase break? If not, how close will the girls get to almost breaking it? It's suspenseful. If it does fall, will any of the girls get hurt? It's worrisome. But above all, for me, were they trying to tip the vase over in the first place? If not, that's the most intriguing impression of the scene for me. This reminder that our smaller actions have bigger consequences we aren't aware of. And that from an outside view, seeing the full picture, it might for a second seem like the consequence was precisely what was intended.  

[johanssonprojects]

‘The Séance’ In 1810, the Romantic writers, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, and Doctor Polidori vacationed in Switzerland. They stayed up late, conducted seances and wrote books—Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and The Vampyre by Doctor Polidori. This painting is about their late night adventures in Switzerland. . 25 x 24 ¾  x 2”, acrylic and colored pencil on paper . . ‘Lord Byron’s Menagerie’ Lord Byron was a poet with a lot of pets: eight large dogs, five cats, two monkeys, a fox, a falcon, an eagle and a crow. Two hundred years ago Lord B, and his friends—Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Doc Polidori (Byron’s personal doctor) and Claire Clairemont (Mary’s stepsister) rented a mansion in Switzerland. . 52x40x2”, acrylic and colored pencil on paper . ~excerpts from Anna Fidler’s notes . ‘HER KIND’ @JohanssonProjects thru March 16 . #annafidler #cathylu #johanssonprojects #herkind (at Johansson Projects) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvE0PgABpKs/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=o85rdjf8etr7

[johanssonprojects]

Cathy Lu’s work deconstructs the assumptions we have about Asian American identity and cultural authenticity. By creating ceramic sculptures and installations, she explores what it means to be both Asian and American, while not being entirely accepted as either. Unpacking how experiences of immigration, cultural hybridity and assimilation become part of the larger American identity is central to her work. Ceramics as a material is a contradiction in itself – of being both hard and fragile. She is interested in her work embodying the contradictions of being Asian American, of being both invisible and hypervisible, at times attractive and repulsive, foriegn and familiar. Cathy Lu’s, Left Eye and Right Eye, Porcelain 18" x 9" x 10" will be on view for our annual group exhibition, COMMUNITY GARDEN opening this Sat, June 25 3-5pm #cathylu #SECA #johanssonprojects #sfmoma #bayareaartist (at Johansson Projects) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfG-ejXL-UK/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[johanssonprojects]

Congrats to Cathy Lu on her SECA award! Reposted from SFMoma: Cathy Lu (@_cathyclu_) is a ceramics-based artist who manipulates traditional Chinese art imagery and cultural references to deconstruct assumptions about Asian American identity and claims of authenticity. #cathylu #SECA #johanssonprojects #sfmoma #bayareaartist (at SFMOMA San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) https://www.instagram.com/p/CdLvPkwlGjb/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[johanssonprojects]

Introducing our 2022 SECA Award Recipients: Binta Ayofemi, Maria Guzmán Capron, Marcel Pardo Ariza, Cathy Lu, and Gregory Rick. "From wildly different practices and perspectives, these artists all create work that is bold and intimate and opens us up to experiences of our shared existence beyond art,” says exhibition curator Andrea Nitsche-Krupp. “After living through a period where our city was closed off for so long...we are thrilled to reemerge with this dynamic group of artists and find ways to support their ideas + the new projects they would like to develop,” added exhibition curator Jovanna Venegas. Learn more about this year's winners: ⭐️ Binta Ayofemi (@bintaayofemi) is a multidisciplinary artist whose primary medium is the cities of Oakland and San Francisco, expressing Black and Indigenous presence, land and spatial practices, and modes of Black abstraction. ⭐️ Maria Guzmán Capron (@mariaguzmancapron) creates commanding icons in positions of tenderness, power, vulnerability, and movement with a dynamic patchwork of hand-sewn textiles and applied paint. ⭐️ Marcel Pardo Ariza (@marcelpardoa) is a visual artist who explores the relationship between kinship and queerness through constructed photographs, color sets, and site-specific installations. ⭐️ Cathy Lu (@_cathyclu_) is a ceramics-based artist who manipulates traditional Chinese art imagery and cultural references to deconstruct assumptions about Asian American identity and claims of authenticity. ⭐️ Gregory Rick (@gregoryrick2017) creates vibrant, large-scale paintings that depict scenes of conflict and struggle in high contrast, cartoon-like imagery. 🔜 The 2022 SECA Art Award Exhibition will open in December 2022. Learn more about SECA at the link in bio + stay tuned for more information to come. _ [Binta Ayofemi photo by Yalonda M. James; Maria Guzmán Capron photo by Seth Capron; Marcel Pardo Ariza photo by Salimatu Amabebe; Cathy Lu, Artist Working in Studio photo by Photography by Aaron Rosenstreich; Gregory Rick photo by Bret Amory] #SECA #BayAreaArtists #bayareaart #johanssonprojects #cathylu #sfmoma (at SFMOMA San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) https://www.instagram.com/p/CdLup-dFXrS/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[johanssonprojects]

“...It is not only energy that Fidler reveals in her paintings. She has also made visible historical figures, who have been forgotten or overlooked, all of them women. For decades, Fidler has studied women who have changed the ways we think and move. Some of their names are known – the dancer Isadora Duncan, the healer and artist Emma Kunz, the abstract painter Hilma af Klint, the Spiritualist watercolorist Georgiana Houghton – and others names have been lost: performers, costumed bodies on stage, spectacle makers, visionaries, mediums, women living beyond the constraints of their times and having fun while doing it...” - “Anna Fidler’s Energy Portraits: We, Too, Are Vibrant Matter” by Sarah Sentilles . . ‘HER KIND’ @JohanssonProjects thru March 16 . #annafidler #cathylu #internationalwomensday #johanssonprojects #herkind (at Johansson Projects) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuwpAcphgwe/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=18svad79j9937

[johanssonprojects]

“...Fidler is a builder of bodies. Her figures are accretive, topographical, sculptural. She creates portraits that are not about the way a person looks. She has abandoned traditional ways of seeing..” - “Anna Fidler’s Energy Portraits: We, Too, Are Vibrant Matter” by Sarah Sentilles ‘HER KIND’ Artist reception Fri, Feb 1, 5-8pm paintings by Anna Fidler, ceramics by Cathy Lu at Johansson Projects #annafidler #cathylu #johanssonprojects #herkind (at Johansson Projects) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtSYHT7hfXn/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=18oks4z89wuvi

[johanssonprojects]

‘Her Kind’ opens today / Anna Fidler paintings and ceramics by Cathy Lu at Johansson Projects #annafidler #cathylu #johanssonprojects #herkind (at Johansson Projects) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs1X2sRhwd4/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=11t9ftvbglqfq