Whereas getting ready her undergraduate thesis exhibition at Parsons Faculty of Design in 2022, Angela Fang Zirbes craved one thing totally different. She was working with conventional brushwork on canvas however was dissatisfied with the approach’s means to realize heightened distinction. By the way, her pet rabbit of 13 years additionally died that autumn.
“She had been with me by a few of my most early life, and her demise had a deep influence on me,” Fang Zirbes says. “I started pondering so much about my upbringing and household historical past in Iowa, and I began working from plenty of previous black-and-white household pictures in addition to discovered imagery from round my hometown.”
Drawing on the monochrome snapshots, Fang Zirbes started to make use of graphite, then later dabbling in airbrush. She says, “The black-and-white model enabled me to reference the aged pictures and learn to painting gentle and shadow in a brand new method.”
The paint clings to the feel of uncooked canvas, making a velvety texture of deep blacks juxtaposed with extremely outlined, masked edges. “It mirrors the content material of my work,” the artist says, “the place my compositions are sharp with worry and nervousness however the topics and settings firstly seem unusually pleasant.”
Fang Zirbes’s course of revolves round world-building, connecting references in each composition to her private historical past or recurring desires. “I consider this recurrence has a which means that’s rooted in my childhood recollections or calls again to my previous and the way it impacts me at present,” she says. “For instance, I used to be at all times round rabbits and fashioned a particular affection for them, which explains why I discover myself portray rabbits again and again when eager about my upbringing.”
Home objects like Chinese language pickle jars, lamps, couches, or stitching scissors seem inside wallpapered rooms that faucet into the artist’s residence or her grandparents’ home in rural Iowa. “They’re a mix of influences from each my American household and my Chinese language household, in addition to the Midwest which has its personal distinctive tradition that has had an impact on me,” she says.
Fan Zirbes is working towards a solo exhibition scheduled to open in March at Hashimoto Modern in New York. “I’m persevering with my monochromatic work about my upbringing in Iowa, however I’m introducing a brand new focus across the supernatural and American theories surrounding ghosts and hauntings. It’s an idea I’ve been researching over this final yr and I can’t wait to see it by.”
Discover extra on the artist’s Instagram.
