Broken Spectrum, Rota Gama
Solo Show, 2022
Heaven Gallery, Il Chicago.
The starting point of this exhibition comes from photographs of broken surfaces found on the streets of the Chicago Loop after a series of BLM protests during 2020. Those images became an archive of a visceral experience I witnessed during that period as a new migrant in the US.
Through a mashup of operations those photographic archives have been filtered and scaled up into large foil printed pieces.
The large scale allows to blow up the hidden while configurating layers that work as supportive skins carrying intentions and messages that are often encrypted. The lack of resolution in the image looks to question our relationship to how we experience and understand what we are seeing; our depth of feeling.
Using materials that reflect light such as emergency blankets and iridescent foil, the work is activated by the physical properties embedded in this composition: Reflection, Light and Movement.
Along with this, the original material connotation calls to mind urgency and the need for shelter and protection. But, on the other hand, it also triggers the idea of a wrapping paper gift and an "eye-candy" scenario for people to interact with.
The materiality of the work is the image itself and the interaction within contouring and intervening the gallery space by generating an immersive and physical experience of being absorbed or even expelled by it.
https://heavengallery.com/work/broken-spectrum-rota-gama
Documentation: Eugene Tang