Coming September 7th through 28th at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Ana, Time. Timeless features the fluid and ethereal works of Chenhung Chen and Echo Lew. The exhibition offers a look at the fascinating repeating patterns that comprise the universe, turning the prosaic features of daily life into a profound experience.
Los Angeles-based international contemporary artist Echo Lew creates meditative work that immerses the viewer in a world of lines, time, and light. In this exhibition, Lew continues his exploration of the mysterious and wondrous link between time and line. He posits a mesmerizing link between the chance arrangements of hair on paper with the gestures of dancers and lights captured in his previous series of photographic work.
Using a single strand of his own fallen hair on a 6-inch square, he creates swirling, sinuous images that reflect the same sense of magical movement that his photographic works depicted. But here, rather than catching the long exposure of moving lights with his camera, Lew shapes almost ethereal lines from his hair, lines as varied and similar as each day of the year. The prolific artist worked daily for 365 days to create a single image using this unusual medium.
He was drawn to this work through the vicissitudes of time itself. According to Lew “Time is my style.” Citing his practice of Zen Buddhism and daily meditation, he has taken the modern habit of creating timelines and both interpreted and subverted it into an evolving and intimate take on the power of the line itself, on the body’s aging process, and the spiritual movement of the human soul.
That rigorous discipline is paired perfectly with Lew’s view of art as “an experimental adventure, a profound form of play.”
Above photo by Jeffrey Sklan
Also based in Los Angeles, Chen uses mixed media to express both her fascination with American DIY culture and her perception of the inner existence. While Lew works exclusively with one medium, Chen uses many recycled materials in her three-dimensional work, including copper wire, cable, and electronic and computer components that harness power just as humans are conduits of their own spiritual power. As Chen notes “The cable conducts electricity, just as humans do…we are conduits of that Power.”
Both artists offer insightful, disciplined, yet richly playful works that radiate concepts of time, line, and a world outside human comprehension.
OCCCA is located at 117 N. Sycamore Street in Santa Ana: the opening reception, from 6-10 p.m. September 7th takes place in conjunction with the Santa Ana Artwalk.
- Genie Davis; photos provided by the artists