Kelly Wang exhibition presented by Princeton University

New York-based artist Kelly Wang (born 1992) combines ancient and contemporary influences to create multimedia works resonant with elements of cultural identity and personal grief. She creates what she terms landscapes of the heart — heartscapes — that revolve around places, people or events with which she has a deep affinity. Between Heartlands / Kelly Wang features 32 works of art from the last six years, including recent acquisitions from the Princeton University Art Museum’s own collections, that challenge the way we think about heritage and how we perceive the world around us. Walking a tightrope between past and future, East and West, Wang pushes the boundaries of calligraphy, painting and sculpture in new ways while confronting prejudice, life and death.

Between Heartlands / Kelly Wang is curated by Cary Y. Liu, the Nancy and Peter Lee curator of Asian art at the Princeton University Art Museum. The exhibition will be on view at the Museum’s contemporary gallery Art@Bainbridge in downtown Princeton through February 27, 2022.

“Installed in historic Bainbridge House, Kelly Wang’s innovative work bridging eras, cultures and techniques is beautifully crafted in ways that invite each of us to consider memory, the past, the need for refuge and ultimately to awaken a sense of our shared humanity,” James Steward, Nancy A. Nasher–David J. Haemisegger, Class of 1976, director, said.

The exhibition opens with a group of cosmetic compacts, titled Thank You for Reminding Me of My Rich Cultural Past (2021), that documents slurs from Wang’s school days through to the present, when COVID-19 sparked a rise in anti-Asian hatred. Women use mirrored compacts to look at themselves, yet Wang’s intervention of burnt-paper words covering the mirrors makes visible what certain others may see, think and hate.

Subsequent works play on Chinese calligraphy and landscape painting traditions but present them in an unfamiliar manner. In Calligraphic Abstraction (2020), each Chinese character, an empty form burned into the paper using incense, is readable, but the assembled text is illegible and may be best understood by the title Calligraphic Abstraction. Calligraphy is also embedded in Wang’s landscapes, including Recluse Studio (2018), in which she responds to the long tradition of blue-green landscape painting in China by experimenting with ink brushed on paper that is then submerged under layers of resin infused with pigments that she manipulates by blow torch. The resin transmutes into a durable substance, creating a near-transparent depth in which the pigments seem to flow.

The sense of safety and belonging that Wang achieved in her work was shattered in the spring of 2020 with the outbreak of COVID-19 that led to her father’s death. In her series Microcosms of Mourning (2021), the artist twists small strips of newspaper that she saved while her father was hospitalized and attaches them to canvas. With the twisted paper, Wang creates images of Chinese scholar’s rocks (microcosms of immortal realms), still-life depictions of utilitarian wires reminiscent of cursive-script calligraphy and a topographical map titled New York City (Microcosm 6) (2021) — the location of her grief and loss. 

After her father’s death, Wang was sent alone to a side door outside the hospital and confronted with rows of plastic garbage bags containing patients’ personal belongings. Picking Up the Trash Bag of Your Belongings (2021), with its raw emotion, cries with the anguish she felt at that moment.

Framing these moments of mourning, the exhibition begins and ends with a painting of the Buddhist deity Guanyin (2015), the Bodhisattva of Compassion. One of Wang’s favorite works and a gift to her mother, this depiction of Guanyin represents a place of infinite grace between heartlands.

“Kelly Wang’s deeply felt work examines the tensions inherent in being caught between heartlands, with a sense of allegiance to two or more identities and cultures, and the complexities that result,” Liu said.

A meet-the-artist event will be held on Jan. 29 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Art@Bainbridge. A live conversation between Wang and the artist Zhang Hongtu will be held virtually on Feb. 17 at 5:30 p.m., and the artist will discuss her techniques, materials and tools in a discussion and demonstration held virtually on Feb 24 at 5:30 p.m. 

About the Princeton University Art Museum

With a collecting history that extends back to 1755, the Princeton University Art Museum is one of the leading university art museums in the country, with collections that have grown to include more than 112,000 works of art ranging from ancient to contemporary art and spanning the globe. Committed to advancing Princeton’s teaching and research missions, the Art Museum also serves as a gateway to the University for visitors from around the world.

The main Museum building is currently closed for the construction of a bold and welcoming new building, designed in partnership with Sir David Adjaye and slated to open in late 2024.

Art@Bainbridge is located in downtown Princeton at 158 Nassau Street. Art@Bainbridge hours are Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Art on Hulfish, the Museum’s photo-focused gallery located at 11 Hulfish Street in Palmer Square, also in downtown Princeton, is open daily.

Admission to both galleries is free.

 Please visit the Museum’s website for digital access to the collections, a diverse portfolio of virtual programs and updates on opportunities to visit in person. The Museum Store in Palmer Square, located at 56 Nassau Street in downtown Princeton, is open daily, or shop online at princetonmuseumstore.org.

 More information: artmuseum.princeton.edu