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Right Window is pleased to present a selection of photographs, prints, paintings, and sculpture by San Francisco based artist Takming Chuang, organized by Kevin Killian.
Right Window
992 Valencia Street
San Francisco CA 94110
rightwindow@gmail.com
For Chuang, the body is a concrete medium to examine abstract, existential interests. He merges histories of artistic tradition to observe physical complexities and he adapts various methods of creative production to materialize his research. Through an experimental approach, Chuang works simultaneously across multiple channels to attain vitality within the nature of impermanence.
The title of the exhibition, Body Blocked, refers to Chuang’s adaptation of block printing methods to produce a new series of prints and photographs. The artist applies the weight of his body onto an arrangement of brass fragments. After hours of pressure, an impression is left upon the skin. Subsequently, the impression is transferred onto paper with block printing ink to capture an image of the fleeting moment. In November 18 2012 Ass, the transfer process was repeated seven times until the markings faded. A documentation photograph, scaled to the artist’s body, completes the installation.
In a similarly intimate process, the artist demonstrates the physical nature of the body through a series of metal sculptures titled Pumped. Chuang exercises vigorously and during periods of rest, brass plates are adhered to bare skin until they absorb the warmth of his body. Evidence of vitality materializes as a subtle patina on the metal’s surface.
A seminal group of work in early 2011 transformed his painting practice and initiated Chuang’s multi-media projects. The Body Parts and Life Cycle series are comprised of re-purposed paintings. Chuang tore painted canvases from their stretchers and soaked them in water. Within Body Parts, the canvases are molded to the body and dried slowly against bare skin. After hours of contact, the cast hardens and lends form to the stillness of the breath and other internal mechanisms that generate body heat. Within Life Cycle, re-purposed paintings are torn apart, soaked, stretched, rolled, shaped, or beaten before they are hung to dry. They are the most representational within his abstract vernacular, inspired by preservation techniques of organic matter.
All of the works shown are on view together for the first time, tracing the trajectory of his diverse practice.
About Takming Chuang
Takming Chuang was born and raised in New York City. He has exhibited in New York, London and San Francisco at Southern Exposure. His work is included in New York’s White Columns Artist Registry and was published by the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.
About Kevin Killian
Kevin Killian (curator) is one of the original “New Narrative” writers, and has published three novels, a book of memoirs, and three books of stories, Little Men (1996), I Cry Like a Baby (2001), and Impossible Princess (2009). He is the author of two collections of poetry, Argento Series (2001), and Action Kylie (2008), and forty plays for the San Francisco Poets Theater. Recent projects include a collaboration with artist D-L Alvarez (The Visitor Owl, a hybrid film/live action performance staged at SFMOMA this summer), and Nude, a book with poems by Killian and images by artist Ugo Rondinone. His newest book, Tagged (2013), collects his intimate photographs of poets, artists, musicians, filmmakers and scholars, edited by Darin Klein, with a preface by Rob Halpern.
About Right Window
Right Window is an exhibition space located in the Mission District of San Francisco and run by a collective of artists, writers, and curators. Since August of 2007, Right Window has hosted over 60 events and involved over 100 artists to engage the general public in under-represented and experimental work. Exhibitions, installations, readings, and screenings are staged within a sunny space, lined by storefront windows that open to the busy streets. The building is shared with Artist's Television Access (ATA) and Other Cinema.
For more information, contact the artist directly at 415.503.7510, tak@takmingchuang.com or visit www.takmingchuang.com
