GALLERY 881
881 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC
Canada V6A 3Y1
gallery881.com
@gallery881_
Undercurrents
Exhibition by Kristin Man
Opening Reception
March 16, 2024 from 12 -5 pm
Exhibition
March 16 - April 13, 2024
Artist Talk
April 6, 2024 from 2 - 3pm
Moderated by Josema Zamorano
Artist Tour
April 13, 2024 from 2 - 3pm
Artist Statement
“The sea is the symbol of the collective unconscious, because unfathomed depths lie concealed beneath its reflecting surface.” (1) Dr. Carl Jung
Centred on locating her own “Self (2)” amidst a passage through six countries and ongoing global upheavals, Kristin Man began this series with a couple of questions: “What would the impact be on my consciousness if I were able to see my mind as a radiologist can examine an x-ray?”, and “What form would my art take if I were able to combine my inner and outer Seascapes?”
In February 2023, while pursuing her advanced yoga teacher training certification program, Man contacted a local university-based neuroscience laboratory to make simultaneous investigations in the studies of philosophy-bodywork and science. The goal was to explore the potential paradoxes and parallels and perhaps, to find her sense of reality somewhere in between. The lab’s neuroscientists assisted her in making EEG recordings of her own brain activity over meditations. These recordings are embedded in the majority of artworks here. While Undercurrents is predicated on the mother series A-MARE (to love-to sea), based on the overriding concept of connections signified by woven waves, conveying interconnected themes such as ecology (human-others), memories (between times and places), history (between past and present), here she focuses mainly on the waves between those of her brain and the ocean. These efforts by Man to place a scientifically measurable reality of the human brain in dialogue with a transcendent experience derived from metaphysical investigations, suggest that her project is an ongoing experiment. This exhibition represents her recent artistic rumination and embodiment of her micro-macro cosmos.
Which drives 95% of our behaviour/actions according to Dr. Carl Jung
In yoga philosophy, “Self” is interchangeably used to refer to consciousness and conscience
Artist Bio
Kristin Man (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist and author of two publications. Born in Hong Kong, after having lived around the world, she is now based in Vancouver. She writes in English, Chinese and Italian. In projects A-MARE (to love-to sea), 9_9 and Fragments of Grey Matter, she marries her written and visual poetry.
Man holds an IB from UWC of the Atlantic in Wales, a BA in International Relations from Brown University and an MBA from Columbia University in the US. She is also a certified yoga teacher and believes that life and her art traverse inside-out and outside-in.
Since 2018, she has been focusing on project A-MARE which initiated with weaving her photographic images printed on various materials into 3-D artworks and has evolved to include found plastic objects and industrial scraps. Undercurrents is an offspring. In addition to galleries in Vancouver such as Canton-sardine, Burnaby Art Council and Pendulum Gallery, Man has exhibited internationally and her work is in the collection of foundations and private individuals. She has presented her work at institutions such as the Museum of Anthropology and Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden in Vancouver, Les Rencontres d’Arles in France, the Italian National Archives in Rome, Rizzoli in Milan, the Museum of Contemporary & Modern Art in Naples, and PAN Palazzo delle Arti Napoli as well as radio and TV interviews in Italy. Her works of art invite viewers to question what being human means by exploring disconnects between shared human issues like social justice, migration, anthropocene and consumerism.
kristinman.com
@kristin.man
The Artist would like to thank the following people for their friendship and participation:
VR Creator - Mana Saei @manasaeiart
Music for VR - Andy Hepburn @hepandy
Video Participant & Support - Laura Cisneros @unfoldingsenderos
Video Assistant - Alice Bi @bismuthbta
Artist Talk Moderator - Josema Zamorano @josema_zamorano
Kristin Man, Undercurrent_0661 (2023), 13.5 x 9.85” LED panel
Kristin Man, Undercurrent_0696 (2023), 13.5 x 9.85” LED panel