Liz Tran: Cosmic Explorations | Tiffany Tang: Moon Jars

Madelyn Jordon Fine Art is delighted to present Liz Tran: Cosmic Explorations | Tiffany Tang: Moon Jars, a dual exhibition of new paintings by Seattle-based artist LIZ TRAN and ceramics by San Francisco-based artist TIFFANY TANG. The exhibition will run from September 10 – October 22, 2021, with an opening reception on Friday, September 10, 2021, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. This is Tran and Tang’s first dual artist exhibition with the gallery and the public is welcome to attend.

Cosmic Explorations will debut twelve of Tran’s works from multiple ongoing series. Tran’s psychedelic designs explore personal psychology, channeling subjects such as dream imagery, imagined landscapes, mycology, and outer space. The artist’s body of work is an attempt to counteract the darkness in the world and conjure happiness through personal empowerment.

Composed of ink, acrylic, graphite, Chinese calligraphy paper, collaged fabric, and beeswax, the kaleidoscopic motifs seem to pulsate and vibrate across the canvas. Tran’s most recent work, the ‘Mirror’ series, is heavily influenced by her history with Rorschach inkblot tests taken during her youth. Here, a mirror image is formed by folding the painted paper. Tran then continues to work by hand. The resulting ‘mirrored’ imagery is up to interpretation; according to Tran, ‘what the viewer sees in the inkblot test is just as relevant as the artist’s purpose in the piece’.

Tran’s cosmic compositions, with the infusion of fantastical and pulsing synthetic hues, create a form of escapism to outer space. ‘Perseid I & II’ are inspired by meteor showers observed in eastern Washington. Adorned with bold, neon-colored bubbles and splatters on stark black backgrounds, Tran creates a retro atmosphere that brings us out-of-this-world. In aesthetic terms, her phantasmagoric visual style incorporates components from 1960’s Psychedelic Art and Pop Art.

Emerging Asian American ceramist Tiffany Tang explores a similar connection to conjuring happiness with the creation of Moon Jars- a transcendent porcelain ceramic form consisting of two hemispherical halves joined together in the middle. Moon Jars have a narrow bottom and wider opening, causing the jar to appear as if it is floating. It is both grounded and airy and resembles a full moon.

Tang’s forms incite joy through manipulation of color and pattern. Her labor-intensive work, created with multiple processes and firings, is grounded in her belief in the concept of growth through pain, and the found beauty of shared human connection through making art. Her dripping and cracked vessels reference personal loss and trauma while lending a tactile beauty to the work.

Liz Tran resides in Seattle, WA. Since graduating in Print Art and Painting from Cornish College of the Arts in 2002, Tran has developed a singular visual language based upon diverse influences, including dream imagery, imagined landscapes, geodes, outer space and The Big Bang. Public collections of Tran’s work include the City of Seattle"s Portable Works Collection, Capital One, Vulcan Inc., Baer Art Center, Camac Art Centre, The El Paso Children’s Hospital, Harborview Medical Center, The King County Public Art Collection and The Child Center. Tran has completed multiple special projects and installations, including work for VH1 Save the Music Foundation, The Upstream Music Fest, The Seattle Art Museum, The Brain Project Toronto, Public Art at The Aqua Art Fair Miami and Vulcan Inc.

She has been awarded multiple fellowships and grants, including a Grant for Artist Projects (GAP) from Artist Trust, Clowes Fellowship for residency at the Vermont Studio Center, the Nellie Cornish Scholarship and residency at The Camac Art Centre in France, The Baer Art Center in Iceland, Jentel, Millay Colony for the Arts and The Center for Contemporary Printmaking.

Tiffany Tang resides in San Francisco, CA. She graduated from San Francisco State University in 2015 and has more recently earned her M.F.A. in Ceramics from Rhode Island School of Design in 2020. She has received multiple awards, including Taiwan American Education Trust Award, Somerville, MA, RISD Graduate Fellowship Awards, Studio Potter Merit Award, and the Martin Wong Scholarship for Ceramics 1st Place, San Francisco State University. Tang is a Lecturer of Art at SFSU and is studio manager and instructor at Wheelhouse Clay Studio in San Francisco.