4/10/2020 – 5/31/2020
Introspective in nature and powerfully paradoxical, Lynda Mason’s art represents contradictions in contrast. Thick, expressive, black lines symbolize life’s contrasts; dreams vs nightmares, childhood vs adulthood, individuality vs conformity, introversion vs extroversion, natural vs artificial, and life vs death. Symbols of childhood individuality and dreams are often juxtaposed with the social-media-obsessed “adult” world of conformity and loneliness. This is humorously displayed as children are riding roller coasters of conformity until they are swallowed whole by tech-obsessed skeletons, symbolically stripping them from the enjoyment of the simple pleasures of childhood. The contrast of childhood dreams and serious, disturbing images of the loneliness and isolation of adulthood is a common theme in her paintings.
The powerful black and white expressionistic Zoo Selfie collection was inspired by the importance of species conservation. It features endangered species taking selfie pictures, ironically showing how the habits of a materialistic, narcissistic, social-media-obsessed culture may actually raise awareness about the natural world. The Nightmare Collection provides an intimate narrative into the relationship between our materialistic culture and technology obsession, loneliness and isolation. It is characterized by contradictions, such as the juxtaposition of the individual imagination and the collective, conformist world of isolation.
Cindy Jian was born in Guangzhou, China in 1991. She received her BFA and MA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2014. Jian has exhibited in the US and abroad including a two-person solo show at YiLong Gallery in Beijing, and group shows at Columbia University’s Neiman Gallery in New York and Radian Gallery in San Francisco. In 2018, Jian received a prestigious Emerging Artist award from QingCun Artist Residency naming her as one of top ten young artists to watch from China. Jian lives and works in San Francisco, California and Brooklyn, New York.
Cindy Jian uses an experimental approach to capture the spontaneous and rapidly changing emotions of navigating city life. Her medium is acrylics, which is sometimes laced with glitter. These pieces reflect the state of her inner world, where the rhythm of everyday is processed through energy and flow. Her abstract paintings reveal moments of bliss as well as darkness, confusion, anger and grief. Cindy is interested in representing a multi-layered and complex modern psyche, where strength and softness, co-dependence and independence coexist.
