Zero Boundaries

In the Mist of Lights and Shades (This is an invited artist)

Project Medium: Cut dyed stretched faux fur

I have been continuously experimenting with painting as a physical category of art. The material: faux fur, is used as canvas using the “eliminating” technique: instead of applying paint or adding materials, I literally cut out the fur with scissors, rendering relief paintings. The repetition of eliminating the fur becomes an inward meditation and exploration. Inspired by Asian cultures in the 1990s, these repetitive and laborious cut-outs also reference to feminism and Western fairy-tales.

The recent “Floral Mountains” and “In the Mist of Lights and Shades” (2014) are inspired by personal memories and floral decorative motives. The working process is improvisational and irreversible, suggesting the spontaneity of traditional ink drawings. In a tradition ranging from Chinese fold paper cuts to Lucio Fontana’s slit cuts into canvas, I further play with the idea of transcending the two-dimensional plane. The juxtaposition of artificial colors with natural landscapes epitomizes the modern materialistic world.

Catherine Lan
Artist Email: catherinec.lan@gmail.com

Catherine Lan was born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1980, she immigrated to Melbourne, Australia with her family in 1989. Lan obtained MFA, Painting/Printmaking from Yale University (2007-09), Artist Diploma from Ecole Nationale Superior des Beaux-Arts, Paris (2003-06), and Bachelors from Oil Painting from Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing (1999-03). Currently based in Queens, New York, Lan explores female themes such as ‘Floral Series’ and Oriental architectural ornaments - ‘Windows Series’ with her invention of ‘Cut faux fur relief Paintings’, which explores the possibilities of the painting concept. In 2009, Lan was awarded the New York Arts Beijing Residency Scholarship. In 2008 to 2009, she received the Sanyu Scholarship Fund, waiving of full tuition from Yale University. In 2013, she exhibited in Field Projects and China Institute in New York for the original music theatre/art collaboration piece, ‘Ghost Wife’ by composer/writer Angel Lam. In 2012, Lan exhibited her first solo show ‘Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall, Who’s the Fairest of Them All?’ in Howard Salon in Taipei, Taiwan - a development of the fur paintings from 2008 to present. Lan also participated Taiwanese American Artists in Queens Museum in 2014, Art Beijing in 2013 and Kingston Sculpture Biennale in New York in 2011. In 2015, her upcoming exhibition will be Catherine Lan Solo Exhibition in Space Station in Beijing and group exhibition in Godwin Ternbach Museum and Queens Museum in New York.

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