This summer season, the Narthex Gallery, situated within the north bell tower of the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, hosted its inaugural exhibition that includes a sequence installment of work, co-signed by Qiuchen Wu and Wilson Yerxa who’s labeled as a certainly one of Wu’s Three American Painters. The exhibition, intriguingly unnamed and with out express labels on the works, challenges viewers to query: What is that this about? And maybe extra critically: Who’s the artist?
These questions lie on the coronary heart of the exhibition’s exploration of property, possession, and identification. Slightly than offering easy solutions, the exhibition invitations guests to have interaction with the slippery nature of those ideas, utilizing the bodily and conceptual areas throughout the church to impress thought.
Climbing Up: The Second FloorPhoto by Max Li & Tianjiao Wang
Guests getting into the Gothic Revival cathedral, in-built 1927, are instantly confronted with a curious juxtaposition: a classic SONY Trinitron TV taking part in a scene from the Japanese anime Doraemon, the place Nobita builds a miniature metropolis free from grownup interference. Throughout from the TV hangs a portray of three homes, presenting structure in three distinct kinds—the true, the animated, and the painted. Every medium carries its personal tone, from the church’s solemnity to the anime’s innocence and the portray’s eerie high quality.
This layering of various media after which scales—grand structure, medium-sized anime, and small portray—instantly raises questions on how we understand and relate to totally different types of actuality and illustration. The viewer is invited to think about not simply the bodily variations but additionally the conceptual implications of those various shows.
Climbing Up: The Second FloorPhoto by Max Li & Tianjiao Wang
As guests ascend to the second ground, the ambiance shifts dramatically. The nice and cozy, inviting house beneath provides approach to a extra austere setting, the place darkness and light-weight are starkly contrasted. Right here, a drawing backlit by white LED lights depicts a scene of impending violence: one determine is about to punch one other, however the potential sufferer appears extra targeted on the aggressor’s wristwatch than on the approaching assault.
This puzzling element invitations a number of interpretations. Is the particular person being punched so absorbed in observing the “other”—on this case, the wristwatch—that they neglect their very own self-preservation? This scene provokes deeper questions on consideration, distraction, and the complexities of interpersonal relationships in moments of battle.
Illumination?: The Third FloorPhoto by Max Li & Tianjiao Wang
Obscurity…: BasementPhoto by Max Li & Tianjiao Wang
On the third ground, pure gentle floods the house by lovely stained glass home windows, making a stark distinction to the bogus gentle beneath. A ladder stands in the midst of the room, main as much as the bell tower, and throughout from the stained glass is a equally colourful portray. Upon nearer inspection, the portray reveals an ambiguous but provocative picture: an animal watching two folks interact in a reproductive act.
This unsettling picture reappears within the basement, this time drawn merely and lit solely by candlelight in an deserted rest room. The rawness of this imagery throughout the sacred house of a church raises difficult questions in regards to the coexistence of the religious and the primal, confronting guests with the bounds of the concept of “progress.”
Underneath the management of the younger and enthusiastic pastor Rev. David Black, the church has embraced a progressive stance, and this exhibition could possibly be seen as a testomony to the bounds of that progressiveness. It asks whether or not we are able to actually reconcile the bottom points of our humanity with the beliefs of religious elevation.
Artist Qiuchen Wu and the PerformancePhoto by Max Li & Tianjiao Wang
On June 2nd, following the Sunday service, a panel dialogue was held within the church sanctuary. Nonetheless, relatively than a standard dialogue, the viewers witnessed an sudden efficiency. Wu guided the panelists—poet Delia Pless, therapist Rob Meeker, and famend artist Catherine Sullivan—in singing “Foregone Conclusion” by Pedro the Lion, a music important to Yerxa throughout his youth. Yerxa himself was absent, however his affect was palpable all through the occasion.
When requested for biographical info, Wu offered solely a quick and cryptic assertion:
“Qiuchen Wu is an artist and writer based in Chicago, IL. He has presented at venues including mn gallery, Logan Center for the Arts, The Lawn, ACRE, The Renaissance Society, and The First Presbyterian Church of Chicago. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Distinction from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Chicago. He is currently a Visual, Literary & Performing Arts Fellow at The Arts Club of Chicago.”
Yerxa, when approached, declined to supply biographical particulars, suggesting as a substitute that he be considered as materials relatively than the creator of the exhibition—much like how Socrates isn’t the creator of Plato’s dialogues however relatively the fabric from which they’re derived.
Qiuchen Wu’s exhibition doesn’t provide simple solutions however as a substitute challenges viewers to confront the advanced interaction between identification, possession, and the self in relation to others. By presenting these themes within the context of a sacred house, the exhibition pushes the boundaries of how we perceive these relationships, making it not simply a creative show however a catalyst for deeper reflection.
