BINARY STAR

Jessica Cheung & Susu Pianchupattana

May 14th, 2019 — May 20th, 2019
Opening Reception: Tuesday, May 14th, 6pm-8pm

SFA Projects is proud to present “Binary Star,” a two-person collaborative exhibition of works by Jessica Cheung and Susu Pianchupattana.

Cheung and Pianchupattana are longtime friends and have been connected through each other’s work since meeting at the New York Studio School in 2005. In this exhibition they collaborate for the first time and across continents; swapping two, unfinished small paintings each to be completed by the other in Hong Kong and the United States, respectively. Jessica’s paintings are in the rectangularly formatted, while Susu’s new work is in a round, circular format.

While living in New York, Jessica Cheung’s intimate world was influenced by German-American artist, Vita Peterson (1915-2011). A student of Hans Hofmann (1880-1966), Vita became mentor to Jessica’s emerging talent and her influence endures. Jessica works in the “push and pull” of colors situated in a particular place in space and sees it as an expression of the “yin and yang” of the East. She builds in her work a deep and complex connection between a seen (macro) and unseen (micro) reality using her own belongings as a catalyst to explore the dynamics of color and painting space. She is surprised by the spatial journey between positive form and negative space and how it creates new and unexpected images. An inner beauty, though unseen, is sharing the same space with us.

Susu Pianchupattana is Thai born and raised and a permanent resident of the United States, currently living and working at the Jersey Shore. Her focus is in the application and layering of colors with varying degrees of abstraction and realism. Her method is in adding elements of human form, subtracting and directing the space until the image starts to reveal itself while removing weight to further sculpt the subject. Her work touches on interpersonal connections and the bonding of one person to another. Through multiple layers of paint, Susu paints and draws from observation and invention and seeks the contrast and subtlety of value in the spaces between.