SUGAR BOMBS

Diyan Achjadi // Brendan Tang

Central Gallery
April 5 to May 24, 2009

Curated by Kristen Lambertson

The artworks in Sugar Bombs invite us into an imaginative terrain where innocence and beauty meet violence. Diyan Achjadi’s inkjet prints and Brendan Tang’s conceptual ceramic objects similarly juxtapose childlike playfulness with worldly tensions: they feature candy-coloured exploding rockets and imploding robots. These elements in the works direct our attention to the presence of militarism in popular culture and, simultaneously, question its role in the construction of collective and personal identity. Borrowing and combining aspects of diverse cultures, the works in this exhibition critique the normalization of racial and gender stereotypes and militaristic patriotism while signalling a possible reconfiguration of identity.