Opening Reception\, Friday May 8\, 7-9pm
May 5 - June 14\, 2009
Hours: Tue-Fri\, 10am-5pm\; S
at-Sun 11am-5pm
Hard Candy is an exhibition of the newest wo
rks by emerging artist Jade Yumang. Comprised of nine portraits\, Hard
Candy is a series of work that articulate a carnality that is at once
bawdy and delicately sensual. Though explicit at first glance\, Hard
Candy delves beyond a young\, raw homoeroticism and presents images th
at speak to the essence of physicality and questions stereotypical power dy
namics and gender roles.
Each work in the series is a woodcut printed
with black ink onto a delicately stretched surface of translucent silk fabr
ic. Behind the printed surface sits affixed to the wall a jawbreaker that
has been licked and sculpted with tender consideration. The printed image
is intrinsically pornographic and lends itself to a discourse of power dyna
mics and sexual objectification and exploitation. The young men in each po
rtrait are in a position associated with sexual “servicing”\, a submissive\
, perhaps even female\, role. It would be interpreted that this anonymous
“receiver” is in the power position\, masculine in his presentation and dom
inating the subject in a one-sided sexual encounter. It too could be inter
preted as the artist’s own self-proclaimed position of power over the viewe
r and subject\, dominating the exhibition space for his own gratification.<
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Yumang confronts this typical power association\, that the sexual pos itioning of the portrait’s subjects equals exploitation and non-gratificati on\, by introducing into the image an iconic piece of candy. By introducin g the jawbreaker\, Yumang challenges the initial interpretation of objectif ication and relieves the subject from his powerless position. The jawbreak er\, which has physically been sculpted by the artist’s own mouth to reveal its layers\, connotes an allured persistence rewarded by great satisfactio n. The experience of a jawbreaker\, with its foreboding name and appearanc e\, is one of visceral sentimentality for many who can recall the commitmen t needed to conquer the candy\, and the great reward that comes from each l ayer. This informs the explicit image and transforms it to a portrait of e nduring sensuality and pleasure for the subject\, stripping the brash initi al interpretation of exploitation\, revealing a sweet\, seductive exchange and a more complex and considerate relationship. Having physically manipul ated the candy himself\, Yumang has also placed himself in the role with th e portrayed subject\, further hinting to the fact that he is the anonymous figure in the portrait while at the same time extinguishing his power in th e exchange and revealing the reciprocation of what would stereotypically be interpreted as an unbalanced situation of power.
Hard Candy is a young artist’s investigation into his identity while presenting a bod y of work that challenges the viewer’s interpretation of power dynamics and stereotypes of traditional roles in sexual relationships.
Image: Tongue Endurance Day 6 Green Jawbreaker (For Kenneth)\, Lightjet prin t\, 36" x 36"\, 2009
Jade's website
http://jadeyumang.com