Slow Dance is very proud to present “Fading Echo,” an exhibition of new and recent works by Fengzee Yang. This is the artist’s first solo presentation. The exhibition opens November 4th, with an opening reception from 2-5pm, and is on view through Sunday, December 17th.

Working primarily in clay, with additions of wood and metal, Yang has described her sculptures as embodying “precise moments of longing.” Familiar-but-unknown, subtly suggestive of living creatures but also of geological formations and other features in the natural landscape, these works muddy distinctions between organic and inorganic, “real” and imagined, memory or premonition. The curved, spinal qualities of several of the works, while subtly resembling vertebrae or fossil shards, might as much speak to the form of an insect’s exoskeleton, or to the ridges of a mountain range; they are unfixed as imagery, mutable and flexible, responsive to our associations and projections, informed as much by memory and experience as by our dreamlives.

It is through this movement in and out, from intimate observations of small creatures and natural minutiae to broader views of entire landscapes, both external and physiological, which Yang then abstract into a new visual language—akin to a poem materialized in space. The weight and solidity of Yang’s ceramic forms, while suggestive of an assertive presence, places them in the position of mediator between physical and psychological worlds. While there is often the suggestion of prior or potential use, as Yang explains: “empty hooks and drawers serve as metaphors not just for a physical void but also for the profound gaps within the human experience.”

In Yang’s words, these moments of mystery and questions of use “symbolize the absence of function, the lack of context, and the void of knowledge—stark reminders of the intangible aspects of our lives.” “Through the touch of my hands, space becomes a boundless expanse where the ethereal meets the tangible, transcending the ordinary confines of reality.” In this way, Yang continues, “Time undergoes a metamorphosis…no longer a linear progression but a fluid, ever-shifting continuum that weaves through the intricate narratives of my sculptures.”

Artist’s Bio
Fengzee Yang is an interdisciplinary artist who works with meaningful materials such as clay, wood, and metal. Seeing the world as mystical and opaque, Yang tackles the unknown through object-making. She intuitively utilizes organic and inorganic forms, moments, and engagements to indicate narratives around representation and self-definition. Her sculptures are mediators between spirituality and reality, examining themes of longing, loss, and nostalgia. She received her BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her works have been shown in Comfort Station Chicago, 1922 Gallery SAIC, and the Plan Gallery. She was the artist in residency at Taoxichuan International Art Studio and Oxbow School of Art.