Page 143 - Flaunt 171 - Summer of Our Discontent - PS

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Jes Fan
Jes Fan (b. 1990), lives and works in New York. Fan received their BFA in glass from Rhode Island School of Design and works with glass, silicon, and resin to create sculptures that question binary con- ceptions of race, gender, and identity.
Jes Fan’s studio practice is rooted in a haptic approach to understanding how identity is mate- rialized, biologically and ontologically. They use substances such as hormones, silicone and soap— materials that are imbued with erotic and political signifiers to articulate concerns about diasporic politics, transgender identities, new materialism and post-humanism.
Natural or artificial, visible or atomic, named or unnamed, Jes Fan is fascinated by fragments of the body and the identities it holds. Their works magnify the surreal realities of existing as a biological body in the age where the body is re-conceptualized in digital, informational and molecular terms.
How has the pandemic affected your artistic prac- tice?
I stopped trying to be productive. I feel really privileged to say that this lockdown has been a
much needed pause for me to question what it is that propels my practice and what is the role of an artist in these turbulent times. So I’ve decided to stop producing before I can answer these questions. Reading has been the only work I’ve been passionate about. Here’s what I’ve been reading—The Burnout Society, By Ung Chul Han, Purity and Danger by
Mary Douglas, The Warmth of the Other Sun by Isabel Wilkinson, Darkwater: Voice from Within the Veil by W.E.B Du Bois and Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Tsing.
JES FAN, SITE OF CLEAVAGE, 2019. INSTALLATION, CERAMIC, FLOCKING, GLASS, 660 X 550 X 50 MM. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND EMPTY GALLERY.