The Extent of Our Union
Pei-Hsuan Wang
‘by organizing objects and narratives in space,
new identities can be formed.’ - Pei-Hsuan Wang
Taiwan-born artist Pei-Hsuan Wang's installations are brimming with personal and cultural references. They are imbued with the spirits of her family ties across generations. An intense work process involving repetitive motions of molding and pinching clay, focused drawing, symbol and material re-appropriation and assemblage, crystallizes in meticulous mark-making embedding wishes and prayers into the works. The result is a layered installation in three parts of which each element could be scrutinized for its meaning but which animated qualities are also immediately palpable. They speak of the power of intergenerational bonds, and the value of cherishing and sharing stories. They are an ode to family ties and kinships across time and space.
Courtesy of the artist and Ballon Rouge, with invaluable support from EKWC.
Installations commissioned by STUK, House for Dance, Image & Sound in the context of At the still point of the turning world (2024):
I. Glazed ceramic, stained glass, steel, aluminum, mosquito net, paint, vacuum formed acrylic, printed pattern based on the artist’s mother’s drawing, wood, light fixture, mixed media installation, dimensions variable, 2024
* Ahma Holding Up The Sky With One Hand, stoneware, glaze, luster, 40 x 70 x 40 cm, 2023
* Sleeping Papaya (Levi in Blue), stoneware, glaze, 26 x 12 x 14 cm, 2023
* Four Bats for Luck, stained glass window, steel, window dimensions 40 x 40 cm, 2024
II. Glazed ceramic, stained glass, insect screen, paint, framed drawing, found objects, rice, ginger, dried dates, printed pattern based on the artist’s mother’s drawing, wood, light fixtures, mixed media installation, dimensions variable, 2024
* Mother As Griffon Carrying Our Family Name On Her Back, stoneware, glaze, 68 x 61 x 30 cm, 2023
* Happiness I, stained glass window, 40 x 40 cm, 2024
* Happiness II, stained glass window, 40 x 40 cm, 2024
* Mother and Lychee Tree, graphite on paper, 19 x 21.5 cm, 2023
* Bowl in the Form of a Mouse, stoneware, glaze, 40 x 22 x 28 cm, 2023
* Bowl in the Form of a Rabbit, stoneware, glaze, 25 x 20 x 18 cm, 2023
III. Glazed ceramic, traditional Taiwanese plastic bowls for newly weds, paint, printed pattern based on the artist’s drawing of Disney’s Mulan, wood, mixed media installation, dimensions variable, 2024
* Huddled Mass (Tree of Aunties), stoneware, glaze, 70 x 70 x 157 cm, 2023
Pei-Hsuan Wang
°1987, Hsinchu, Taiwan
Taiwan-born artist Pei-Hsuan Wang moved to the US in her late teens where she earned her BA from Macalester College - St. Paul (MN) and a Masters from Cranbrook Academy of Art - Bloomfield Hills (MI). Her practice in sculpture, installation, drawing and video work, is largely shaped by family histories, myths and folklore, and geopolitical musings. Recent solo exhibitions took place at Ballon Rouge (2023), Kunsthal Gent, Ghent (2022), Good Weather, Chicago (2020), Gallery 456, New York (2020), and Taipei Contemporary Art Center (2019). Her work has been included in group exhibitions at a.o. Publiek Park Antwerp (2023), vcrb gallery-Antwerp (2023), HISK Gosset Brussels (2022, 2021), Hong-Gah Museum, Taipei (2021) and the National Gallery of Indonesia (2016). In 2019, she received the Special Jury Prize, Huayu Youth Award - China. Pei-Hsuan Wang lives and works in Ghent.