Teeth are powerful instruments and a fundamental tool for exploring and knowing the world. They express class and social status, mirror cultural aspirations, and symbolize emotions. Teeth are also aesthetically striking, a row of smooth, hard, bony structures standing in contrast to our fleshy bodies. I use teeth as a portal to investigate abstract concepts, and also as a physical object to ground and connect disparate moments from daily life.
The pieces below were exhibited June 2024 at Positive Space Studio in Chicago, IL in tandem with the written vignettes. My gratitude to Sammi Ohlson, Anna Goodin, Calvin Lin, Laura Sandino, Anthony Lorenzo, and D Hogg for their creative collaboration. Event photos courtesy of Elizabeth Xu.
CapEx (2024) Paper, ink & acrylic on wood; 8 x 8”
Chomp (2024) Acrylic, pastel & paper on canvas; 24 x 30”
Chew (2024) Acrylic & pastel on canvas; 12 x 12”
Teeth on the blue line
Mama said I am special but then I have to cram into a sardine-packed blue line train car at 8:11 AM, sweat gluing my t-shirt to my back, toes ramming into the front of my plastic shoes, arm reaching through gaps between bodies to grip a metal pole. I’m steadying myself as the train jerks to Division, Chicago, Grand…
In California everyone drives and it’s easy to be deluded about the world and your place in it. In Chicago though, in the stinky train car on the way to work, you are a person as low as all the others. The sudden stops will make you wobble too.
Teeth in a demanding mouth
This week I’m interested in having cottage cheese with fruit jam. I’ll have to mull over what else I want. I’m looking to be satisfied. Actually, I’m looking for the love of my life. Actually, I’m not ready for that. What I mean is I love people. I love looking at them, encountering them, imagining them, receiving their attention, and playing games together. I’m also scared of them, and in the space between fear and desire is a cavernous world, expansive yet closing in at the same time. I give myself permission to eat crackers. Frankly, they are delicious. Frankly, I am uncomfortable and consider dissociating into a stack of salty biscuits.
Gnash (2024) Acrylic & pastel on canvas; 12 x 16”
My Big Fat Chinese Grief (2023) E Shen by D Hogg, film photograph; 5 x 7”
Teeth are ancestral
I am eating lunch at a restaurant. I remember how infrequently my parents eat at restaurants. I remember the grinding sound of their hard work. It makes me want to cry. It makes me look at my chicken shawarma differently. Enjoying the fruit of the labors that came before you is like breaking a plum’s midnight skin—surprising, sweet, and a bit violent. Freedom is here with me, I taste its sugars.
If I am a person of color, what color am I? (2024) Acrylic, pastel, ink & paper on canvas; 24 x 36”
See Me Yellow (2024) Acrylic & pastel on canvas; 24 x 36”
All About Practice (2024) Acrylic, pastel, ink, thread & paper on canvas; 18 x 24”
Life breaks me open; here lies the spillage (2024) Acrylic & pastel on canvas; 18 x 24”
Teeth sink into dessert
In his latest single, Hozier tells a health & wellness babe that he’s not interested in acai bowls. He’s more poetic about it but essentially describes how he is interested in surrendering to the chaotic mess of life instead of pursuing perfection and order. Like the health & wellness babe, I am attracted to lining things up for use according to their indications. Like Hozier, I am weary of smooth containment and find texture and spillage most generative. To reconcile these tensions, I imagine a soft, delicate dessert destroyed by a spectacular, toothy woman. I see myself falling backwards onto a towering white cake, crushing it with my body.
Lived Reverb (2024) Acrylic, pastel & paper on canvas; 36 x 48”
Toothy Portal (2024) E Shen by Anthony Lorenzo, film photograph; 10 x 15”
As a Woman I Wanted (2024) Acrylic & pastel on paper; 10 x 15”