EVA Kwong and the Human Body Eastern

EVA Kwong and the Human Body

Eastern philosophy and culture are highly driven by an underlying sense of animism, which denotes that there is life and interconnectedness in all things. The trees, rocks, soil, air and even our own bodies are seen as connected on a continuum that is imbued with the energy of life. This is perhaps the underlying principle defining the work of Hong Kong-born sculptor Eva Kwong. Indeed, this principle converges with the Western ideals of abstract representation to shape the remarkable body of work the Kwong has produced. Pursuing the larger part of her studies in American universities and ultimately becoming a professor at Kent State University, according to the article by Hawk (2010), Kwong's work suggests a philosophical convergence of both Eastern and Western values. Particularly, as the discussion here shows, Kwong's best works express this idea of animism through abstract representations of the aspects, operations and atoms comprising the human body. This idea that a certain energy connects all things living and sedentary is the central premise that runs through Kwong's ceramic and porcelain sculptures.

Objective Analysis:

Working within her selected medium, Kwong describes the content of her work as owing to both her place of birth and the context in which she has developed as an artist. As Kwong reports in the article by Hawk, "I am interested in the interconnection of everything in the world, from microcosm to macrocosm. Maybe it is because I grew up with both eastern and western cultures. I was brought up with the traditional chinese concept of yin and yang that underlies all life forms and energies. This was discussed everyday with my grandmother who also passed on to me the joy of making things. Growing up in Hong Kong and New York, I learned to look at everything through the lens of both cultures." (Hawk, p. 1)

Through this lens, Kwong would produce a series of pieces over the course of her career that explore the various dimensions of life and humanity in ways that drive the imagination and stimulate the eyes. Much of her work draws a strong contrast between the bulky and unlikely shapes that the body might take and the delicate and moving details that hide within. For instance, the article by Hoffmann (2008) describes and shows an image of Kwong's 2003 piece entitled Soft Cell. The obtuse and rounded ends of the object are relieved by a subtle shading and a porous surface texture, implying both the sturdiness and the elegant detail of life at the subatomic level. As Hoffmann describes it, the porcelain piece "is made up of two equal size modified spheres, separating but most definitely not sepearte. Wood-fired and salt-glazed, the clay body is visible. In the shapes might be a hint of mitosis. I feel repose, and I feel tension." (Hoffmann, p. 1)

Here, the contrasting responsive emotions experienced by the author perfectly reflect the contrast of the object itself. Another important dimension detailed by the author is the feeling of action present in the sculpture. Much of Kwong's work conveys the notion that there is a biological process in progress, that the sculpture itself remains somewhat in motion.

One of the most compelling examples of this phenomenon is Kwong's 'Energy Vibrations," which offers an installation of marble-like objects with a multitude of patterns. The rounded porcelain objects are arranged in a shape almost resembling an eye. Using a palette of pale-mint greens and burnt sienna, Kwong yields a broad variation of swirls, bullseyes, dots and solids. The effect is a stunning array of patterns and impressions that belie the decidedly limited range of selected colors.

"Energy Vibrations," like much of Kwong's work, implies certain bodily functions, echoing the artist's proclivity to represent organic and atomic-level events through her chosen medium. According to the Harn Museum (2011), "Energy Vibrations' deals with the ON/OFF blinking of our neurotransmitters. The transfer of chemicals and connections between similar cells creates a mosaic of patterns like Energy Vibrations." (Harn Museum, p. 1)

In the article by Hoffmann (2008), Kwong is quoted explaining the implications of her technique. In doing so, she lends a great deal of insight into the way that she has been able to yield such a sweeping and engrossing range of images using the modes array of colorants selected for the piece in question. She explains that there is a certain inherency to the process, within which she allows the stroke of the brush to determine the resultant shapes and patterns. She tells that "the spots are like calligraphy to me, and they are about the process of painting the viscous slip onto the semi-moist surface of the clay. Each stroke is the same movement of the arm repeated, but reveals itself to be slightly different. Each the same and yet unique simultaneously." (Hoffmann, p. 2)

Perhaps this rather bodily and organic approach is perfectly suited to the subject matter that drives the artist's current work. Indeed, the natural and uncontrived measure of the motions described by Kwong is consistent with the feeling of motion produced by the variously patterned marbles that make up this piece. This speaks to one of Kwong's greatest virtues as an artist, which is to produce highly emotive and visually exciting moments with an exceptionally modest use of space. As a the beholder, one is typically moved by the delicate shifts in color, the tendrils of space that thread between these colors and the alternate shapeliness and bulk of the objects selected.

An especially evocative example of this can be found in what Kwong refers to as her 'fertility' phase. Drawing from the processes of the human body once again for inspiration, Kwong would produce an array of objects designed to give abstract representation to the various aspects of femininity, fertility and motherhood. To do so, she would adopt objects and shape as common to the nature outside of us as to that within. According to Kwong, pieces like Lumi, from 2001, would be one in a series of peach-shaped pieces with implications relating to fertility. But Kwong tells that she also enjoyed the shape for this series because of its seeming duality. According to Kwong, "I thought of the peaches as a feminine form but when you rotate them as in 'Fossil,' it appears more masculine. They have the duality of being feminine and masculine at the same time." (Hoffmann, p. 5)