Irvine — Art advisor and Irvine resident Lorraine Han was troubled by the lack of art galleries in her area.
“I was traveling to L.A., going to different galleries and museums, and I found it very strange that there were not many galleries in Orange County in the more strict, contemporary art sense,” said Han, “especially in Irvine.”
Inspired by the opening of the Orange County Museum of Art in Costa Mesa and encouraged by the work of nonprofits like Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana, Han felt compelled to contribute to Orange County’s growing art scene.
“I live here and I love this city and I do want to contribute a little bit,” said Han. “Having one art institution in O.C. is not enough.”
Han partnered with friend, artist and fellow Irvine resident Dan Yang to open Unveil Gallery at 200 Technology Drive, and on Sept. 23, the gallery’s grand opening hosted about 100 people. Unveil’s inaugural exhibition, “Displacement and Belonging,” features the work of four female artists, each with unique backgrounds.
“We are very, very happy to have these four amazing female artists showing with us here,” said Han. “They are united here, telling their different stories.”
Shuling Guo, Bing Liu, Fei Xue and LaRissa Rogers use different mediums and themes in their work, but each uses their talent to explore the world they come from and their place within it. The artists in the group show are united by diasporic experiences, and Han said “Displacement and Belonging” is balanced by two well-established artists and two new voices.
A series from Shuling Guo, titled “Every Flower That Opens its Sweet Eyes,” for example, showcases a new direction for the young artist.
“Shuling Guo is originally from China, and she migrated to the East Coast in 2019, before the pandemic,” said Han.
Guo was classically trained at an art school in Beijing but now is based in Philadelphia where she lives on a boat with her husband and their 1-year-old daughter. Using pencil on paper, Guo creates images that evoke the exultation of nature.
“Her work is very organic, abstract with a lot of natural figures,” said Han. “The title is inspired by a poem from William Blake called ‘To The Evening Star.’”
The original line reads, “Blue curtains of the sky, scatter thy silver dew / On every flower that shuts its sweet eyes.” But Guo changes the line to a flower opening instead, signifying an awakening rather than slumber.
“Having a new baby around her makes everything seem so new, so like it is like a flower opening,” said Han.
Bing Liu’s work also draws inspiration from travels outside of Beijing, where she is also from.
“If we look at Bing’s work, it is very different from traditional Asian artists,” said Han. “It is very expressive and it is very colorful.”
Liu is an established artist in China and her work has been shown in major museums and galleries, like Line Gallery, Beijing, and her oil paintings on canvas feature vegetation and animals found in her travels abroad, balancing rocks similar to those found in Lake Victoria in the city of Mwanza, in “Spring #1” or the falling leaves in “Cat’s Eye Autumn Camellia,” modeled after cat’s eye camellia leaves found in Africa.
Fei Xue, from Chongqing, China, paints surreal characters directly on found tiles from ruins and abandoned houses using a technique that incorporates sand and color, making for earth-toned pigments with a fine texture. Xue’s series “Sweetwords” is made up of 12 tiles that tell individual stories but also come together in one narrative.
“If you look carefully, the story isn’t about kind sweet words but conflict,” said Han.
LaRissa Rogers is easily the most established artist in the exhibition, and her work at Unveil is powerful and looming.
Rogers is a Los Angeles-based artist originally from Charlottesville, Va. Her African American and Korean identity is a prominent theme in her work. She began her ceramics journey two years ago, while researching sugar for her exhibition “We’ve Always Been Here, Like Hydrogen, Like Oxygen.” The result is “Textures of Enfleshment (a silent viewer),” a handpainted wallpaper pattern that depicts multiple images of a soldier, a mother and child, a home, trees and a small girl wearing a traditional Korean outfit encrusted with a thick, fragrant layer of crystallized brown sugar. A sculptural self-portrait, not unlike a funerary mask, also made of sugar, protrudes from the wall.
The most striking piece is Roger’s ‘of eaters and the eaten,’ where a mahogany table is dusted with white sugar and set with surrealist china and sticky puddles of brown sugar. The opulent rug and place settings are juxtaposed by melting glassware and finery that can’t seem to hold its shape. The table settings are styled after the 17th and 18th centuries and tell the stories of European economic hegemony based on colonial exploitation as well as the European fascination with Chinoiserie and Asian ceramics.
“This a dialogue with her past and with her future,” said Han. “There are lot of messages echoing back and forth between each other.”
Han and Yang said they were encouraged by the turnout for their first show.
“We are very grateful that we have received so much support for our artists and friends that showed up for our opening,” said Han.
The duo hopes Unveil will continue to champion contemporary art in O.C.
“We have a mission in a way; I do want a really authentic contemporary art gallery to flourish here in Irvine, to serve our community and have everyone have a place to go to enjoy contemporary art and a place for our talented artists showcasing their work,” said Han.
