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.
Achjadi’s work is imbued with her reflections on the ritualized militaristic activities required of children in Indonesian schools and the nationalistic slogans taught there. It investigates how such things in combination propagate a collective imaginary realm that includes stereotypical ideas about identity. Achjadi’s imagery here consistently features a uniformed pony-tailed girl who could be a Girl Guide or a child soldier. Significantly, in some images this figure is repeated—as if cloned or otherwise replicated—to form massed groups of identical girls who march, wave flags, stand at attention, salute. Inhabiting a world evidently infiltrated by war, Achjadi’s work represents a youth culture imbued with militarism.
Tang shares Achjadi’s interests in international conditions and global culture. Like Achjadi’s, his work borrows from contemporary globalized culture and reflects its hybridity. Tang’s delicately decorated ceramic vessels combine twisted robotic and cyborg forms evocative of Japanese manga (comic books) with elements drawn from Ming Dynasty China and 18th century gilded French ceramics. These mixtures of traditional forms and decorative details with elements from consumer culture generate a powerfully productive dissonance. Among other related topics, the unexpected juxtapositions in Tang’s hybrid constructions evoke consideration of the aftermath of colonial power.
Both artists currently hail from British Columbia. Achjadi is based in Vancouver and Tang resides in Kamloops.
Sugar Bombs
Sugar Bombs invites 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 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 critiqued the normalization of racial and gender stereotypes and militaristic patriotism while signaling a possible reconfiguration of identity.
This full colour publication was produced in conjunction with the exhibition Sugar Bombs at the Kamloops Art Gallery April 5 to May 24, 2009 and includes reproductions of selected works from Diyan Achjadi’s Adventures of Girl and Brendan Tang’s Manga Ormolu.
Installation view of Sugar Bombs: Diyan Achjadi and Brendan Tang
Photo: Kamloops Art Gallery
