Marymount University’s Barry Gallery is pleased to present “Recycle, Rinse, Repeat,” a solo exhibition of Jenny Wu’s sculptural work, installation, video and participatory projects. The public is invited to a free reception with the artist on Friday, March 22, 6:00 -8:00 PM. The exhibit will be open March 1 – 30, 2019.
Born in China, Wu integrates an immigrant’s perspective to current events into her work and lets curiosity lead the way in her studio. Through a cross-disciplinary practice in sculpture, installation, new media, and participatory projects, she aims to embrace the tenets of new material ontology and deliver playful experiences and memories with a sense of humor.
Process, personal space, boundaries, social interaction, and deconstruction are elements that filter through the show. The work is elegantly and directly connected to the current political climate and events. In her sculptural objects, or “wall sculptures” as she calls them, Wu’s process of pouring many layers of latex paint, cutting it up, and building the new pieces up on wood panel, bridges definitions of painting and sculpture. Through her process she is disrupting one wall of sorts and creating a new one.
“On the day each ‘wall sculpture’ is finished,” Wu said, “I go to Trump’s Twitter account, and find one phrase or sentence to title the piece. Living in Washington, D.C. in this era is a surreal experience — even introverts are out on the street protesting.”
In her mixed media installation, viewers are invited to separate themselves from the environment in which the installation hangs by entering the swaying columns made from deconstructed cassette tapes. Wu also uses real footage of speeches, interviews, rallies, and alternative facts as raw materials for videos.
“I hope my work can humorously stab the truth by magnifying the seemingly innocent details they hide behind,” Wu said. A compilation of her videos loops on a monitor and viewers can hear a collage of statements, such as the repetition of Trump saying wall in various public broadcasts.
Wu is an artist and educator who is the 2018 – 2020 Touchstone Foundation for the Arts Emerging Artist Fellow, and an adjunct professor at American University and Marymount University. Recent solo and two person exhibitions include Davis Gallery, Geneva, NY; Margaret W. and Joseph L. Fisher Gallery, Alexandria, VA; and Blackrock Center for the Arts, Germantown, MD. Residencies and fellowships include the Torpedo Factory, Vermont Studio Center, and Woodstock Brydcliffe. She received her MFA from American University and her BA at Hobart and William Smith.
The Barry Gallery, located in the Reinsch Library at Marymount, 2807 North Glebe Road, is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Admission is free. (The Reinsch Library and Barry Gallery entrance is at 26th Street, just north of Yorktown Boulevard. Access for individuals with disabilities is available.)
For more information on the gallery, go to marymount.edu/barrygallery
Image: Jenny Wu, #Walkaway, 2018, detail, Latex paint and resin on wood panel, 12 x 12 x 1 inches
