Meta-Morphosis
December 17, 2022 - January 8, 2023
Curated by WU Yue
The pop-up exhibition “Meta-Morphosis” orchestrates a constellation of sculptures, paintings, and installations that reflects a unique union of contemporary technology and modern intrigue. Vanguards in new media forms, these five artists present their futurist visions through tangible, collectible art objects, utilizing techniques and materials from 3D printing to ceramics, from resin to reflective pigments.
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
Reception: Saturday, Dec.17, 2022, 3-6 PM
Venue: Yiwei Gallery, 1350 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291
The pop-up exhibition “Meta-Morphosis” orchestrates a constellation of sculptures, paintings, and installations that reflects a unique union of contemporary technology and modern intrigue. Vanguards in new media forms, these five artists present their futurist visions through tangible, collectible art objects, utilizing techniques and materials from 3D printing to porcelain, from resin to reflective pigments.
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’s contorted amphibian-like creature rests amid a metal skeleton at the entrance, awaiting the completion of its metamorphosis. Aria Xiying Bao encases a vanishing coral reef in a transparent cube, which allows visitors to experience its life cycle in the passage of time. Leah Ying Lin’s intricate and vulnerable porcelain sculptures 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. Sunny Moxin Chen stitches gypsum plaster, acrylic and Chinese ink to restructure social media moments into dazzling visual turmoils, as a contemporary vanitas warning of the transience of life. The painting series “Our Own Device” by Clovis Schlumberger provides a witty summary of the techno-human relationship in the digital era.
展览 "Meta-Morphosis 庄生梦蝶”
策展人：吴月
艺术家：鲍汐莹、克洛维斯·施伦贝格（Clovis Schlumberger）、林瑛、陈莫新、任晨嘉
（排名按首字母排列，不分先后）
展览时间：2022年12月17日-2023年1月8日
开幕活动：2022年12月17日（星期六）下午3-6点
地点：一尾画廊 1350 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291
罔两与影，庄周与蝶，吾有待而然者邪？梦境中的蝴蝶与做梦的庄周，无法分辨谁是主体、谁为依凭。外物与自我交织难辨，万物浑而为一。
展览 "Meta-Morphosis”题目本意为“变形”，中文意译为“庄生梦蝶”，借《齐物论》中关于万物之“变”与万物之“齐”的思辨，窥探当代艺术中关于虚拟世界与现实空间的置换。通过一系列雕塑、绘画和装置，艺术家利用现代科技将数字生成的奇异幻象生成具体可触摸的作品。参展的五位艺术家均在新媒体领域创新与践行，跨界AR时尚、CG影像、实验动画等计算机生成艺术。在这场别出心裁的展览中，TA们打破次元壁，将虚拟变为现实。
数字时代开启了关于“形变”的新美学。"Meta-Morphosis "指向一种形变与幻化的过程，具体体现在物理形式、结构或物质的变化。毛虫经历了蜕变幻化成蝶，展览中一串串基于代码的数字艺术创想也经历了一场“元蜕变”：从0和1的数字转码为屏幕中的光学影像，再经由不同的材料、形态、肌理的选择与加工被制作成具体实物。
面对来自五位艺术家的近三十件作品，观众将获得一种前瞻性的数字意识。展览中的艺术家们一方面思忖不断变化的生命历程，另一方面也将这种变化带进作品的媒介转换之中。任晨嘉使用3D打印制成如某种扭曲的两栖类生物栖于展览入口处的金属骨架，等待着完成它的蜕变。鲍汐莹将正在消亡的珊瑚礁包裹在一个透明的立方体中，让参观者其生命周期中体验时间的流逝。林瑛繁复而脆弱的瓷器雕塑旨在再现后人工智能社会中死亡和重生的边界状态，将关于生命的五行转化为五种相应的艺术材料、形式和技艺。陈莫新将石膏、丙烯酸和中国墨拼接在一起，将手机社交媒体上的精彩瞬间重组为令人眼花缭乱的抽象画，以当代虚空派的态度警觉浮生如寄。在展厅另一面墙上，克洛维斯·施伦贝格（Clovis Schlumberger）的绘画系列 "我们的工具 "隔空相望，对数字时代的技术与人类关系进行了诙谐的总结。