Art Wrapper: Nurture: Student Exhibition

Nuture was a student exhibition that showed from February 15 - 19, 2016 in the Witt Gallery at Sacramento State, featuring the recent work of Linda Vang. In her artist statement, Vang noted how she wanted to combine two main elements in her work, her Hmong culture and nature. Most of the show consisted of her paintings, but there were a few black and white drawing studies, which were interesting in that they gave insight on her working process. Color is one of the strongest points of the paintings, which is an aspect of her work that she wanted to emphasize. She described how she began with the four seasons and used color to evoke an appearance and sense of those seasons.

Within an Idea was one Vang's larger paintings that is evocative of her goal to combine traditional elements from Hmong culture with nature. A glass-like orb seems to melt away to reveal another sphere with a swirl pattern and organic, perhaps plant, material. Similar glass-like tendrils rise out of what appears to be organic material on the ground. There is both a beauty and fragility to them, as some of them look like they disappear into the surrounding air. The setting, like those in many of her paintings, has an otherworldly, ethereal appearance. The sky is filled with blues and grays, and the environment feels cold, desolate, and bleak; perhaps the season of winter is being shown here. The decaying appearance of the outer orb and fragile look of the tendrils seem to complement the theme of winter, yet the partially concealed inner orb with the organic material hints that there is still life and that there is an upcoming spring.

Large Study 1 was another large-scale painting within Nurture. In this painting, Vang uses color to convey a world that is evocative of the spring season. Large Study 1 seems like a counterpoint to Within an Idea with its proliferation of floral and plant forms and variety of bright colors. The scene not longer feels cold and bleak but warm and lively. One part of Vang's work that I am drawn to is that the forms within her art feel both figurative and abstract and realistic and fantastical. For example, the scene in Large Study 1 suggests flowers, tree trunks, and vines in what may be a jungle, but these forms also have an abstract quality that yields a sense of mystery and fantasy. What may also play into the fantastical part of her work is that even if the forms are to be taken as flora, they are not the kind that would be found in reality. There is another orb in the center of Large Study 1 like Within an Idea, but this one is entirely intact and its surroundings exude life.

Thoughts of Mother was another painting that stood out to me with its colors and organic forms. In her statement, Vang said she drew upon her upbringing and memories of her mother embroidering a traditional Hmong outfit. Perhaps these memories act as an inspiration in Thoughts of Mother, as bead- and jewel-like forms are strung throughout the scene of the painting. Vang returns to her inclusion of natural elements with another central sphere that seems to be wrapped by a vine or tentacle (crystals or jewels hang from this center structure). There is an overarching sense of nostalgia, even motherhood, in this painting with the suggested oceanic scene and warm, soothing color palette. I enjoyed seeing Nurture because it not only provided insight on the life and culture of the artist, but it was also an experience in itself.