Jenie Gao

Artist Statement

In my recent series, The Negotiation Table, I take hand-carved woodblocks and transform them into sites of negotiation, in response to the history of print’s indoctrination in the fine arts and in contrast to its uses in community activation. To assimilate into the fine arts, print needed to become artificially rare. It is best practice to destroy one’s plates to limit the edition. I have always been uncomfortable with destroying evidence of the labor to rarify the asset. I reflect on this tension in print, as a Taiwanese-Chinese American who has been made artificially rare in white dominant spaces. Via these installations, I reclaim the history of objects that fueled Europeans’ obsession with subduing Asia and that—in their search for a shorter route to Asia—they used to justify their westward expansion and colonization of Turtle Island. By creating a record, remembering becomes a key function in long-term justice.

Title: The Negotiation Table: Cycle | Breaking and Making Medium: hand-carved woodblocks embedded in reclaimed Chippendale table, woodblock prints on canvas, vermilion red wall paint Year: 2023 Dimensions: 30 x 13 ft Photo Credit: Khim Hipol

Bio

Jenie Gao (they/she) is a full-time artist, creative director, and entrepreneur. They run an anti-gentrification arts business, specializing in printmaking, public art, social practice, and storytelling. She consults for cultural organizations and the public sector on equity and ethics. They live and work on the lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh (Vancouver, BC) and out of Teejop, land of the Ho-Chunk (Madison, WI). Jenie pulls from experiences as a second-generation Taiwanese-Chinese American and descendant of working class immigrants. Prior to founding their business, Jenie worked in the museum industry, public education, and manufacturing sectors. Through their cross section of experiences, Jenie has become attuned to issues of artists’ labor, cultural power, and institutional accountability. They run a paid apprenticeship program and have mentored 25 emerging artists. Jenie has a BFA in Printmaking/Drawing from Washington University in St. Louis and an MFA from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Jenie’s work has been exhibited, collected, and published in the US, Canada, UK, Argentina, Germany, and more. Recent exhibits include Museum of Wisconsin Art, South Bend Museum of Art, and Trout Museum of Art. Recent publications include PBS, Fête Chinoise, and Shoutout LA. They are a former TEDx Madison speaker.

https://jenie.org

Capucine Bourcart

Artist Statement

My artistic practice involves collecting materials such as sand, lint, cat fur, and human hair from urban environments, rural travels, or domestic surroundings. I am drawn to materials that carry traces of life—natural, animal, and human—because they resonate with impermanence and transformation. Each material carries meaning. My work is inspired by my own family history. My paternal ancestors thrived in the textile industry in France, while my maternal grandparents came from more modest backgrounds. My Vietnamese grandfather was a ‘Cong Binh’ (soldier-worker) forcibly recruited by France during WWII. His story, like many others, remained invisible. Through my work, I aim to harmonize both sides of my family's disparate background, erasing boundaries between craft and fine art. Playfully exploring materials that have a voice and influence the process to determine which techniques, like felting, embroidery, or collage, best suit them is central to my approach. My artistic practice involves collecting materials such as sand, lint, cat fur, and human hair from urban environments, rural travels, or domestic surroundings. I am drawn to materials that carry traces of life—natural, animal, and human—because they resonate with impermanence and transformation. Each material carries meaning. My work is inspired by my own family history. My paternal ancestors thrived in the textile industry in France, while my maternal grandparents came from more modest backgrounds. My Vietnamese grandfather was a ‘Cong Binh’ (soldier-worker) forcibly recruited by France during WWII. His story, like many others, remained invisible. Through my work, I aim to harmonize both sides of my family's disparate background, erasing boundaries between craft and fine art. Playfully exploring materials that have a voice and influence the process to determine which techniques, like felting, embroidery, or collage, best suit them is central to my approach.

Abyssal Crescendo embodies the music the ocean can create, with its form resembling that of a guitar, thanks to the arrangement of seashells, thread made from sand, and wood—all natural elements derived from the sea. The red and cream-colored sand threads also evoke the angel of the sea, a creature from the abyss, while the deep blue color suggests the mysterious depths where many species remain undiscovered.

Bio

Capucine Bourcart, a French-Vietnamese artist based in New York City since 2006, has exhibited in galleries across the U.S. and Europe. Her work is in the collections of The Theodore Deck Museum in Colmar, France, and New York’s Museum of Motherhood. Bourcart’s work has been presented in Art on Paper and Art Wynwood, and large scale public art installations in New York City. She co-founded the collective Art Forms Us in 2020 and is a member of Art Lives Here Inc. Recent residencies, at Kino Saito, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Vermont Studio Center.

www.capucinebourcart.com