CARMEN LANG
COLUMN
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CARMEN LANG
Column
April 9th - 28th, 2016
Opening reception: Saturday, April 9th, 4:00 to 7:00 pm
For her show at Random Parts, Carmen Lang continues her exploration of the human figure through ceramics and papier-mâché. Lang’s interest in physicality is seen in fragmented parts of a pre-existing whole. Her sculptures consists of over-sized legs in convoluted and strange positions, truncated torsos, and suspended, emptied shoes. As Maria Porges wrote, “Lang methodically exploits the way the mind imaginatively interacts with what isn’t there.”
An ongoing theme in Lang's oeuvre is disconnection. The legs are entwined to create a familiar yet abstract mass of body parts. The outcome is both recognizable and uncanny. As Lang writes, "With the legs I identify with the bottom part of the body, closer to the gut and intuition, and away from the head. The legs are separated from the rest of the body, but the edge of these shapes is not the end of it. It is there to describe a point of departure, what continues beyond that limit is a body that exists only in the imagination.“
Carmen Lang grew up in Mexico City. She has a BFA from La Esmeralda where she also was a professor of Ceramics and Drawing. She has an MFA from California College of the Arts, as a grad student she was awarded the George B Saxe scholarship, and a scholarship at Penland School of Crafts. Carmen has done artistic residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Uriarte Talavera with grants from FONCA Mexico. She has been guest artist at San Francisco State University, Sierra College and University of Manitoba. In 2014 she was a guest artist to the Human Form Symposium at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. She has taught at Holy Names University, UC Berkeley and SFAI extension programs. She is currently teaching at HNU, UC Berkeley Art Practice and Richmond Art Center. Recently she completed an artist's residency and show in Taller La Nube and the gallery Celda Contemporánea in Mexico City.
For more information on Carmen Lang:
www.flickr.com/photos/carmenlang/