August 2005 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TUAN PHAN: Linear: Ceramic Sculpture and Works on Paper
Exhibition Dates: September 10, 2005- October 15, 2005
Reception for the Artist : Saturday, September 10, 2005, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Artist Discussion: Moderated by Scarlet Cheng, Arts Writer and Educator, Sat. Sept. 10, 5-6 PM
Gallery Hours : Tuesday-Friday: 10:00am - 5:30pm, Saturday: 11:00am - 5:30pm
Public Contact : 310-657-9843
Koplin Del Rio Gallery is pleased to announce Linear , an exhibition featuring works by
Tuan Phan in his second showing at the gallery.
Tuan Phan's second exhibition features small and large-scale collaged ceramic sculptures and works on paper. Each sculpture is rendered by burned bisque ware ceramics and then cloaked in delicate papers. His figures are deliberately earthened to create the illusion of antiquity and illustrate marks prompted by the aging process. The physicality of each sculptural piece and the organic network of lines in his drawings, relate the complex cartography of lived experiences, their necessary inscription on the body and the possibility of their transcription across generations.
This new body of work originates from the pleasure the artist takes in drawing lines and exploring linear and non-linear compositions. Phan's marks on paper in both his drawings and sculptures, hold a central role in his discussion of how shapes and in a less literal sense, meaning, are determined by the connection of various points.
Taking the basic principle of a line as essentially two points on a given plane, Phan characterizes how lines manipulate and inform the identity of the pieces. The two separate series featured within this project are entitled, Conversation and Threshold .
In Conversation, Tuan Phan portrays through sculptural pieces, how lines can be both literal and metaphorical. The idea that a conversation is an attempt to correlate two, sometimes opposing positions, is akin to how a line is the plotting together of two separate points. Through the process of discourse and the re-visitation of marks, Phan comments on the unspoken exchange of thoughts, ideas and feelings across time.
In Threshold , the artist examines how topographical boundaries are established between different planes. In these works on paper, Phan plays with the idea that lines can differentiate one environment from another, in the same way that a door connects, as well as separates one room from another.
Phan cites Rico Lebrun (1900-1964) in reflecting about his own work:
“True, lines do not exist in nature; we invent them. They are poetic fiction. The line is a thing unto itself. Then why not dismiss the object and make a line the main actor? Because without the impediment of experience, line can only perform capers.”
- Rico Lebrun
Tuan Phan was born in Vietnam in 1974. He received his B.A. from California State Polytechnic University at Pomona in 2001, and his M.F.A. from California State University Los Angeles in 1997. He is the recipient of the Purchase Award, Best of Show from California State Polytechnic University. He currently resides in Los Angeles.
