Liz Tran art exhibition in Washington, D.C.

Morton Fine Art, in collaboration with Homme DC, presents “Matriarchs and Daughters Dream Oceans of Braille,” an exhibition of polychromatic ink blot prints and Heirloom (2022), a new 17-foot wall-mounted installation of Liz Tran art. “Matriarchs and Daughters Dream Oceans of Braille” will be on view by appointment from December 9, 2022, to January 6, 2023 at Homme DC’s Washington, D.C. space (2000 L ST NW).

Inspired by early memories of the artist being administered Rorschach tests — a psychological evaluation of mental health and trauma through associative responses to inkblots — Liz Tran art transforms and transports the familiar monochromatic prints into a world of vibrant, technicolor panels that explore the nature of viewer subjectivity. Featuring work from her “Mirror and Cosmic Circle” series, “Matriarchs and Daughters Dream Oceans of Braille” is an explosion of colorful dots, circles, blot, and splashes that accumulate on the panel and create a thickened impasto.

Varying her compositions from symmetrical renderings–like a Rorschach print–to others more liberally abstracted, Tran’s works challenge the notion of a correct way to view art. Like the well-known psychological test, Liz Tran art performs an introspective function in which the viewer’s interpretation is self-reflexive and can facilitate self-knowledge.

Lovingly sewn by her quilt-making mother, with whom Tran often collaborates, Heirloom encapsulates fabric culled from voyages, memories and installations created around the world. Tran views Heirloom as an homage to her artistic practice and a tribute to the women who came before her. From the curtains of a circus tent, an oversized fiber womb encased in a vintage trailer or a space suit onesie–each piece of fabric contains a distinct story.

“As I found myself delving into the history of my own mental health, I began to simultaneously study perception and subjectivity both in visual art and psychology,” Liz Tran said. “What do we bring to what we see? The viewer’s experience of my work is completely different than my own, yet that experience is equally valid. Is what we see simply a reflection of our self?”

Opening the door into a meditative and healing atmosphere, “Matriarchs and Daughters Dream Oceans of Braille” actively encourages personal interpretation and projections of meaning. Through a form of abstraction that combines precision and instinct, Tran’s joyful works imagine dreamlike surfaces to question the nature of abstraction and our responses to visual stimuli, whether that be art on the white walls of a gallery or observations of planets and stars circling overhead.

About the Artist

Liz Tran (b. 1979) explores the shapes of nature, with the infusion of fantastical, pulsing synthetic hues, channeling subjects such as dream imagery, imagined landscapes, geodes, outer space and The Big Bang.

Morton Fine Art

Founded in 2010 in Washington D.C. by curator Amy Morton, Morton Fine Art (MFA) is a fine art gallery and curatorial group that collaborates with art collectors and visual artists to inspire fresh ways of acquiring contemporary art. Firmly committed to the belief that art collecting can becultivated through an educational stance, MFA’s mission is to provide accessibility to museum-quality contemporary art through a combination of substantive exhibitions and a welcoming platform for dialogue and exchange of original voice.

Morton Fine Art specializes in a stellar roster of nationally and internationally renowned artists as well as has an additional focus on artwork of the African Diaspora.

Homme DC is a boutique for emerging artists of all disciplines. Homme provides a platform for artists to exhibit and sell their art in an intimate gallery experience.