Exhibition - Written on Water: Park McArthur, Diane Severin Nguyen, Evelyn Taocheng Wang, Cathy Wilkes

The artists presented here are known for their deliberately wide-ranging artistic practices spanning a variety of media and formats. Rather than sticking to one particular style or way of art-making, these artists allow their work to take whatever form is called for. The exhibition’s title comes from Eileen Chang, the influential Chinese-born American writer. According to Chang, “Written on Water” alludes to a desire for an immediacy in her art and references John Keats’s famous epitaph: “Here lies one whose name was writ in water.” The artists in the exhibition echo this flexible nature and remain open to a transient quality.

Evelyn Taocheng Wang, an admirer of Eileen Chang, offers her unabashedly subjective translation of Chang’s writing in a calligraphic work on paper. In another instance of transposing culture from one time and place to another, the exhibition features two paintings from Wang’s Imitation of Agnes Martin series, in which the artist superimposes her own experiences onto Martin’s minimalist grids.

Park McArthur has created a pair of large monolithic sculptures for the exhibition made from high-density foam. This type of foam is employed in acoustics as well as padding and cushions, useful in absorbing both sound and the impact of a body against a given surface. McArthur’s conceptually driven practice allows for a fluidity of language, which can be seen in senior in their 30s (2024), a new work consisting of a stack of postcards that reference her recently placed ad for a caregiver.

Diane Severin Nguyen is debuting what she has referred to as a “sun print,” a variation of the cyanotype. Nguyen photographs sculptural tableaux she creates in her studio, resulting in unnamable visions and scenes. In her words: “Materials and bodies slip in and out of contexts, permeable to the elements but also political contexts. I try to echo materially what I find unstable about images.”

The three works by Cathy Wilkes in the exhibition are part of a recent body of work influenced by the artist’s childhood in Northern Ireland, reflecting upon the histories and experiences of violence not usually given expression within official representations of war.