‘Fleeting but also Forever’
solo exhibition by Alexis Jang
25.11.22 - 16.12.22
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Drawing on her own life experiences, Alexis Jang explores a selection of emblematic stages of intimate relationships through six works that in the artist’s eyes play a pivotal role in love affairs. This new body of work cyclically traces key phases such as the initial courting and the so-called "honeymoon", through the assimilation of commitment in the relationship, to reaching the lack of love and the subsequent breakup.
The cinematographic yet theatrical framing attests to the sentimental abundance contained in each of the scenes depicted. Alexis Jang focuses on the representation of the emotional side of each phase from a very close, almost invasive approach to the intimacy of its protagonists. By zooming into the convulsion of love and insisting on the gestural and exaggerated side of human behaviors in the romantic context, the artist manages to focus the viewer’s attention on the tragic, melancholic and visceral side of love attachment, which against all odds turns out not to correspond to what is imagined of an idyllic relationship. The warm and ocher tones suggest sensuality and passion but also recall the rawness with which one shows oneself when being in a couple, underlining the vulnerability that entails opening up to another person.
Contrasting two opposing concepts, "Fleeting but also forever" reveals from the title an ending to the story that is not what one would expect, dismantling the myth of romantic love and operating the longed-for and liberating deconstruction of the fallacy of love. "Despite our flaws and past hurts, trying our best doesn't necessarily result in a perfect and lasting relationship, which is how society defines a successful relationship. There is beauty in the lessons of our failures. Behind an interpersonal difficulty comes the greatest and most important lesson of all: getting to know ourselves a little better."
ABOUT ALEXIS JANG
Alexis Jang is a Korean artist born in 1985 currently based in Berlin.
Jang's quiet yet playful paintings are meditations on the subconscious and the relationships one has with themselves and others.
The artist's life-long curiosity and passion for womanhood also play a big part thematically in her work. Seemingly lost in thought or caressed by light, these women are quietly taking up space and demanding to exist as they are instead of making themselves more palatable for the world to see.
Using lots of blues, depicting mostly night scenes with often solitary figures, her work is an illustration of the longing that one might feel when life stops spinning and pulls one into more of a serene headspace.