CD Wu
My practice combines minimal pencil drawings of simplified,
whimsical forms with large-scale canvases and idiosyncratic
neon sculpture. I start by bending and shaping the neon tubes that
will later inform the graphite images. The paintings, then, play
with an understanding of “light” in representational painting by
the literal presence of a light-emitting element. The “light” in the
paintings operates, at once, as representational form (tree, cloud,
goldfish, flower), line, color, light source, and as a commentary
on the relationship among all four. In the Duchampian tradition, I
present a series of quotidian signifying forms (such as children’s
drawings) and, through changes in their context, size, scale, and
material, make the viewer read them as something other than
what they usually are. By bringing intensive fabrication processes
to materials that are sacred to conceptual art, my work amplifies
yet defamiliarizes the everyday while drawing attention to the
space and conventions of viewing that inform our experience and
understanding of art.