Christian Nicolay & Ya-chu Kang
Christian Nicolay, Ya-chu Kang
Mar 17, 2012 – Apr 21, 2012
Safety Instructions 9
20 in x 14.5 in
mixed media
Portable Walls is a collaborative exhibition of new work by Christian Nicolay and Ya-chu Kang exploring contemporary narratives of safety and identity, man and women, East and West, in a post 9-11 age where it seems more rules, regulations and checks on our privacy continue to grow and change. Through the use of video, sculpture, mixed media drawing and installation the artists collectively and individually explore the polarities between life and death, public and private, safety and danger, comfort and distress particularly examining the similarities and differences between Canada and Taiwan.
Both artists work deal with found material of the everyday from various topographical landscapes like Nicolay's mixed media on paper drawings or Kang's reconstructions into sculptural forms and clothes. Through this exhibition the artists individual and collective works examine cultural borders and social constructions of the human identity and how we identify ourselves in a growing global fabric increasingly becoming crisscrossed and blurred.
In 2012, the video Recoil won the Make it Short Video Contest award based at the NW Film Center in Portland. Click to view Recoil video
Recoil is a collaborative video work in which Nicolay and Kang play with the idea of Safety by repetitiously popping balloons held close to their faces. This explores the human body's reflex and reaction of external energy by expanding and blowing up balloons. The tension created in the moments between the balloon and the human body displays the different response from man and woman, western and eastern. The spontaneous explosions create random patterns of colour through strain and pressure causing the inevitable recoil and an invisible boundary of attraction and repulsion. Christian Nicolay & Ya-chu Kang started collaborating in 2010 and have exhibited their projects in Canada, Taiwan, Finland, Japan and upcoming at the Schmiede Art Festival in Austria.
A Catalog Launch, Artist Performance and Closing Reception will take place on Saturday, April 21st from 2:00 to 4:00 pm at the gallery. (Catalogs can be pre-ordered). There is no fee to attend and all are welcome.
Bag-Self-Portrait Series No. 7
26.7 in x 21.6 in
mixed media
$850
Axe Chicken
25.6 in x 16.7 in
mixed media
$1800
Bag-Self-Portrait Series No. 10
7.5 in x 2.75 in
mixed media
$850
Bag-Self-Portrait Series No. 11
7.1 in x 20.5 in
mixed media
$850
Bag-Self-Portrait Series No. 8
33 in x 19.6 in
mixed media
$850
Bag-Self-Portrait Series No. 9
49.2 in x 23.6 in
mixed media
$850
Beauty and the Hero 1
19.3 in x 19.3 in
mixed media
$1500
Beauty and the Hero 2
19.3 in x 19.3 in
mixed media
$1500
Beauty and the Hero 3
19.3 in x 19.3 in
mixed media
$1500
Beauty and the Hero 4
19.3 in x 19.3 in
mixed media
$1500
Break Glass in Case of Emergency
11.5 in x 9.5 in
mixed media on panel
$1700
Connection to Nature
7 in x 10.5 in
mixed media
$810
Country Flag
in x in
mixed media
Country Flag
in x in
mixed media
Country Flag (detail)
in x in
mixed media
Cover the Bird
16.7 in x 25.6 in
mixed media
$1800
Cover the Bird 2
16.7 in x 25.6 in
mixed media
$1800
Go Ask Alice
46 in x 34 in
mixed media on panel
$5200
Healing
in x in
mixed media
$2290
Heroic Bearing 1
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
Heroic Bearing 2
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
Heroic Bearing 3
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
Heroic Bearing 4
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
Heroic Bearing 5
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
Heroic Bearing 6
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
Heroic Bearing 7
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
Heroic Bearing 8
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
I.D. Table
in x in
mixed media
Identity Theft
15.5 in x 7 in
acrylic paint, pencil, oil pastel, found paper detritus, fabric, thread
$850
Information Age
11.75 in x 9 in
mixed media
$850
Knot Covering - Comic Book Kimono
59 in x 31.5 in
mixed media
$4000
Occupied
42 in x 30 in
mixed media on panel
$4800
Occupy
20 in x 13 in
mixed media on paper
Occupy 2
19.4 in x 12.9 in
mixed media on paper
$1650
Occupy 3
19.4 in x 12.9 in
mixed media on paper
$1650
Portable Walls
48 in x 60 in
mixed media on paper on panel
$8100
Public Private
40 in x 60 in
mixed media on panel
$6000
Recoil
in x in
video still
Red Tape
15 in x 23 in
mixed media on panel
$2200
Rosie’s Landscape
35.5 in x 19.5 in
mixed media on panel
Safety 2
20 in x 14.5 in
mixed media on paper on panel
$2125
Safety 3
20 in x 14.5 in
mixed media on paper on panel
$2125
Safety 4
20 in x 14.5 in
mixed media on paper on panel
$2125
Safety 5
20 in x 14.5 in
mixed media on paper on panel
$2125
Safety 6
20 in x 14.5 in
mixed media on paper on panel
$2125
Safety 9
20 in x 14.5 in
mixed media on paper on panel
$2125
Safety Instructions 10
20.5 in x 14.5 in
mixed media on paper on panel
$2125
Safety Instructions 11
20.5 in x 14.5 in
mixed media on paper on panel
$2125
Safety Instructions 12
20.5 in x 14.5 in
mixed media on paper on panel
$2125
Safety Instructions 7
20 in x 14.5 in
mixed media
$2125
Security Blanket
in x in
mixed media
Security Blanket (frontal view)
in x in
mixed media
Self-Portrait
3.5 in x 12.5 in
mixed media
Showtime 1
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
Showtime 10
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
Showtime 2
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
Showtime 3
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
Showtime 4
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
Showtime 5
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
Showtime 6
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
Showtime 7
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
Showtime 8
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
Showtime 9
11.75 in x 11.75 in
mixed media
$1250
Talking to God
39.75 in x 25.75 in
pencil, graphite, pen, acrylics, watercolour, whiteout, pastel, crayon, collaged found papers, gum, coffee, and linseed oil on panel
$4000
Under Face Clay
27.7 in x 44.2 in
mixed media
$3200
Urban / Rural
14 in x 6 in
pencil, pastel, felt, found detritus paper, cloth, and thread
$850
Wash
8.5 in x 12 in
soap & video installation
With Two-Headed Rabbit
25.6 in x 16.7 in
mixed media
$1800