Antonia Kuo: Mercury and Salt

Antonia Kuo

Mercury and Salt

Antonia Kuo

Mercury and Salt

Antonia Kuo Mercury and Salt February 2 - March 12, 2022

CHART is pleased to present Mercury and Salt, an exhibition of new work by Antonia Kuo. Featuring unique chemical paintings on light-sensitive paper, this exhibition highlights how Kuo has been incorporating a new level of control over color and form in her process, while also embracing elements of chance and change. Occupying the top floor of the gallery, the show will run from Wednesday, February 2nd to Saturday, March 12th.

Mercury and salt, two of the alchemical organizing principles that were thought to govern all matter, reference the ancient origins of chemistry and laboratory practice as well as its indissoluble link to the spirit of inquiry that defines early photographic invention. In this body of work, Kuo experiments with destabilizing the image through the mercurial nature of the photochemical process, with transformation as a core tenet.

Salt is a symbol of fixity (as well as a key ingredient in photographic fixer); the resultant images are a record of volatile process.

The alchemical distillation practice "solve et coagula" meaning "dissolve and coagulate" was a method of transmuting materials, breaking them apart so they could recombine to form something new. Kuo also starts with a primary source material, distilling it again and again through iterative action, until she is left with something that is entirely transformed.

The foundation for Kuo's layered pieces often begins with a gestural drawing or photographs taken on her phone or film camera. Using both analog and digital tools, these images are translated through various printmaking and image transfer methodologies, applied to the surface of the light-sensitive paper, and developed experimentally with photographic chemistry. Over many steps and multiple sessions in chemical baths, the images gain complexity and become something akin to what Kuo refers to as "destabilized photographs," deliberately complicating the act of visual recognition.

Slowing our read of images is paramount to Kuo. As a culture defined by media consumption, we gorge ourselves, digesting images and jpegs at lightning speed.

Photography and digital imagery have become a ubiquitous part of our daily lives, in some cases replacing the physical world altogether, altering how we see and, by extension, come to know the world around us. Kuo makes a point to work directly and physically with the picture plane, treating the photograph as a physical entity. These paintings--made with light, embedded with time and chemistry--bring our focus back to the inherent materiality of the world and the mutability of the image.

Antonia Kuo is an interdisciplinary artist working with photography, film, sculpture, drawing, painting, and printmaking. She received an MFA from Yale University, her BFA from School of Fine Arts Boston and Tufts University, and a one-year certificate from the School of the International Center of Photography under the Alan L. Model Grant. Kuo was awarded the Robert and Stephanie Olmsted Award as a MacDowell Colony fellow, as well as fellowships at Mass MoCA, The Banff Centre, Center for Photography at Woodstock, The Vermont Studio Center, and Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto. She has exhibited internationally at the Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA PS1, Eyebeam, Microscope Gallery, Pioneer Works, and the Knockdown Center in New York; the Musee d’art contemporain de Montreal; and the West Bund Art Fair in Shanghai, among others.

Her work is in private collections and the permanent collections of The Whitney Museum of American Art and Centre Pompidou.

5

Stinging Nettle, 2022 unique chemical painting on light-sensitive silver gelatin paper mounted on aluminum in welded aluminum frame 20 1/2 x 24 1/2 in x 1 1/4 in (52.1 x 62.2 x 2.64 cm)

7

Oculus, 2022 unique chemical painting on light-sensitive silver gelatin paper mounted on aluminum in welded aluminum frame 70 7/8 x 56 1/8 x 2 in (180 x 142.6 x 5.1 cm)

9

Cicatrice, 2022 unique chemical painting on light-sensitive silver gelatin paper mounted on aluminum in welded aluminum frame 20 1/2 x 24 1/2 in x 1 1/4 in (52.1 x 62.2 x 2.64 cm)

11

Himalayan Poppy, 2022 unique chemical painting on light-sensitive silver gelatin paper mounted on aluminum in welded aluminum frame 20 1/2 x 24 1/2 in x 1 1/4 in (52.1 x 62.2 x 2.64 cm)

13

Hiraeth, 2022 unique chemical painting on light-sensitive silver gelatin paper mounted on aluminum in welded aluminum frame 20 1/2 x 24 1/2 in x 1 1/4 in (52.1 x 62.2 x 2.64 cm)

Installation view at CHART

17

Emission I, 2022 unique chemical painting on light-sensitive silver gelatin paper mounted on aluminum in welded aluminum frame 70 7/8 x 56 1/8 x 2 in (180 x 142.6 x 5.1 cm)

19

Emission II, 2022 unique chemical painting on light-sensitive silver gelatin paper mounted on aluminum in welded aluminum frame 70 7/8 x 56 1/8 x 2 in (180 x 142.6 x 5.1 cm)

21

Emission III, 2022 unique chemical painting on light-sensitive silver gelatin paper mounted on aluminum in welded aluminum frame 70 7/8 x 56 1/8 x 2 in (180 x 142.6 x 5.1 cm)

23

Fruiting Body, 2022 unique chemical painting on light-sensitive silver gelatin paper mounted on aluminum in welded aluminum frame 70 7/8 x 56 1/8 x 2 in (180 x 142.6 x 5.1 cm)

25

Twin Columns, 2022 unique chemical painting on light-sensitive silver gelatin paper mounted on aluminum in welded aluminum frame 20 1/2 x 24 1/2 in x 1 1/4 in (52.1 x 62.2 x 2.64 cm)

27

Cream Copse, 2022 unique chemical painting on light-sensitive silver gelatin paper mounted on aluminum in welded aluminum frame 20 1/2 x 24 1/2 in x 1 1/4 in (52.1 x 62.2 x 2.64 cm)

29

Solaris, 2022 unique chemical painting on light-sensitive silver gelatin paper mounted on aluminum in welded aluminum frame 56 1/8 x 84 7/8 x 2 in (142.6 x 215.6 x 5.1 cm)

31

Milk of Sulfur, 2022 unique chemical painting on light-sensitive silver gelatin paper mounted on aluminum in welded aluminum frame 70 7/8 x 56 1/8 x 2 in (180 x 142.6 x 5.1 cm)

33

Larkspur, 2022 unique chemical painting on light-sensitive silver gelatin paper mounted on aluminum in welded aluminum frame 70 7/8 x 56 1/8 x 2 in (180 x 142.6 x 5.1 cm)

35

Pleiades, 2022 unique chemical painting on light-sensitive silver gelatin paper mounted on aluminum in welded aluminum frame 20 1/2 x 24 1/2 in (52.1 x 62.2 x 3.2 cm)

37

Antonia Kuo in front of Oculus at her studio in Brooklyn, NY. Photo by Kasumi HinouchiHickey.

ANTONIA KUO Born 1987, New York, New York Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York

EDUCATION

2018 2013 2009

MFA, Painting, Yale University, New Haven, CT Certificate in General Studies, School of the International Center of Photography, New York, NY MA, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA MA, Tufts University, Medford, MA

2018

SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2022 2018 2016 2014 2012 2011

Mercury and Salt, CHART, New York, NY Collapsed Field, Rubber Factory, New York, NY Total Object, Complete with Missing Parts, MuseumofAmericabooks, Brooklyn, NY Black Is A Blind Remembering (with Niall McClelland), Greenpoint Terminal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Conatus, Kreft Center for the Arts, Concordia University, Ann Arbor, MI Into the Mist (with Cody DeFranco), Primetime Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2017

2016

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2021

2020

2019

8 Americans, CHART, New York, NY Cut-Ups, Essex Flowers, New York, NY Systems Entwined, Artists Alliance Inc Cuchifritos Gallery, New York, NY Rabbit Hole, F Magazine, Houston, TX Dust - The plates of the present, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR The Magic Hour No. 6, The Magic Hour, Twentynine Palms, CA Condo Shanghai, Gallery Vacany, Shanghai, CN I-N-T-O-T-O, Kunstverein am RoseLuxemburg-Platz, Berlin, DE Nesting Habits, LTD Los Angeles at Vacation, New York, NY Aurelia Aurita, Selena’s Mountain, Ridgewood, NY The Burn Show, Safe Gallery at Folly Tree Arboretum, East Hampton, NY Altered, Center for Photography at

2015

2014

2013

Woodstock (CPW), Woodstock, NY Axxon N, Essex Flowers, New York, NY; RISD, Providence, RI Reading Painting, Treasure Town, Brooklyn, NY Way Out Now, Diane Rosenstein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Set Adrift on Memory Bliss, Pablo’s Birthday, New York, NY I-N-T-O-T-O, Foundation d’enterprise Ricard, Paris, FR Head/Tails, Next to Nothing, New York, NY Wild Seed, Yale MFA Thesis Exhibition, Yale University, New Haven, CT The Sands, B3 Biennial of the Moving Image, Frankfurt, DE, Essex Flowers, New York, NY Notas al Futuro, Espacio el Pasajero, Bogota, CO, Galeria Breve, Mexico City, MX I-N-T-O-T-O, Essex Flowers, New York, NY Third Hand Mary, Emma Geller Green, New York, NY Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905-2016, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY I-N-T-O-T-O, Galerie Joseph Tang, Paris, FR The Ongoing Erosion of Magic, Greenpoint Terminal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Too Much of a Good Thing, Basilica Hudson, Hudson, NY Parallel Vienna, Alte Poste, Vienna, AT Fields Like Waves, Songs for Presidents Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Yin Yang, HJGS/99 Cent Plus, Brooklyn, NY Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Roberta Blackburn Print Show, 20/20 Gallery, New York, NY Psycho Futurism, Scandinavian Institute, New York, NY Galaxy, Man, Sensei Gallery, New York, NY Map Car Man (Video Collaboration with Jakob Boeskov, Ryan Lee Gallery, New York, NY Monkey Town 3, Eyebeam Art + Technology Center,New York, NY AD BOOK: EXPRESS VISUAL EDITION, Gloria Maria Gallery, Milan, IT Kairos, Red Bull Music Academy, New York,

SELECTED SCREENINGS / PERFORMANCES

2019 2018 2017

2016

2015

2014

Dark Geographies, Underdonk, Brooklyn, NY Burn, Zumzeig Cine, Barcelona, ES Opitpis: The Owl Flies at Twilight - Dreamlands [Expanded], Knockdown Center, Brooklyn, NY (in partnership with The Whitney Museum of American Art) Optipus: The Watery Owl of Minerva, Parrish Art Museum, Watermill, NY OptoSonic Tea, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY Merge Vol. 3 Video/Interactive Art, 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo, JP Ways of Seeing - Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905-2016, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY Yes: Antonia Kuo and Lily Jue Sheng, Cinecycle, Toronto, Ontario, CAN Super Group, Experimental Intermedia, New York, NY Super Group, MoMA PS1, Long Island City, NY Generations Unlimited, MoMA PS1, Long Island City, NY Cut-Up Femme Pop, INOVA, Institute of Visual Arts, Milwaukee, WI Cure the Night, Microscope Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Avant-Gif, AC Institute, New Yorn, NY Modular Equinox, Silent Barn, Brooklyn, NY Begin/End/Loop, BYOB Shanghai, 1933 Shanghai, Shanghai, CN Shanshui, The Gallery, West Bund Art and Design Fair, Shanghai, CN Material Flux, The Bibliorium, Beijing Design Week, Beijing, CN Light and Sound, Fugitive Arts, Easthampton, MA On The TImeline, Na Linii Czasu Internation Art-House Film Festival, Lublin, PL Ganymede, El Nicho Aural Fest, Mexico City, MX; MUTEK, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal, CAN; Debacle Fest, Cairo, Seattle, WA;

2013 2012

Roxie Theater, San Francisco, CA; Bay Ganymede, El Nicho Aural Fest, Mexico City, MX; MUTEK, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal, CAN; Debacle Fest, Cairo, Seattle, WA; Roxie Theater, San Francisco, CA; Bay Area 51, San Francisco, CA; The Wulf, Los Angeles, CA; Spectacle, Brooklyn, NY; ESP TV, New York, NY; The Silent Barn, Brooklyn, NY Merge II, Center for Performance Research, Brooklyn, NY Sight Unseen, EMP Collective, Baltimore, MD Heavy Hands, The International Experimental Cinema Exposition, Colorado Springs, CO Merge, Triskelion Arts, Brooklyn, NY From Gust to Hail, Everett, Providence, RI; Union Docs, Brooklyn, NY; Little Berlin, Philadelphia, PA; The Annex, Baltimore, MD; Aviary Gallery, Boston, MA

COLLECTIONS

2019 2017

Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR, Permanent Collection The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, Permanent and Private Collections

CHART 74 FRANKLIN ST NEW YORK NY 10013 CHART-GALLERY.COM 646 799 9319 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2022 CHART ALL ARTWORKS © ANTONIA KUO PHOTOGRAPHY BY ELISABETH BERNSTEIN CATALOGUE DESIGN BY KRISTEN WASIK COVER IMAGE: STINGING NETTLE (DETAIL), 2022