↳ Exhibitions

Brook Hsu at Deli Gallery

December 23, 2017

Artist: Brook Hsu

Exhibition title: Panic Angel

Venue: Deli Gallery, New York, US

Date: November 17 – December 22, 2017

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Deli Gallery, New York

Have you ever imagined your orgasm as the fluttering of wings?
Have you ever wondered why the Greeks called the soul the butterfly?

★
M.P.:
Maybe because it’s this incredible transformation? Most holometabolous wormy things don’t grow up to become so strikingly beautiful. They’re like the supermodels of the bug world. Each one is like Nature’s billboard. It’s funny to see highway billboards with creepy humans loaded with makeup and airbrushing and then a butterfly floats by…

Me:
omg yes so true

I mean, who will ever know, but I def see that

M.P.:
I guess both processes (holometaboly and the crap humans do to ourselves both physically, digitally, psychologically) involve visual transformation.

But there are all sorts of beautiful transformations that happen to a soul.

And maybe, like the butterflies, the beautiful part is that tiny fraction of the end of our lives. And who knows—maybe it’s just as surprising and striking.

At★ the end

Remember they don’t spend most of their time on earth looking like that.

★
This new body of work brings together seemingly disparate stories and life events of fact, fiction and myth, in the form of paintings, sculptural clothing, and digitally printed fabrics. Inhabited by an unusual cast of characters from bunnies, butterflies, and the ancient Greek god Pan to her mother and Kim Kardashian, the artist continues her focus on the symbolic, the sentimental, the erotic, and the spiritual.

Brook Hsu (b. 1987) grew up in Oklahoma. Hsu received her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2010 and her MFA from Yale University, New Haven in 2016. She has exhibited nationally and internationally including Carrie Secrist Gallery (IL), GRIN Contemporary (RI), Vernon Gardens (CA), BBQLA (CA), Tomorrow Gallery (NY), Page Gallery (NY), Vacant Farm (MO), Double Double Land (Toronto, Canada), and Galleri CC (Malmo, Sweden).

Brook Hsu, Panic Angel, 2017, exhibition view, Deli Gallery, New York

Brook Hsu, Bellybutton Ring, 2017, Oil on panel, 5 x 3 in.

Brook Hsu, Reclining Pan, 2017, Oil on panel, 18 x 24 in.

Brook Hsu, Valentine, 2017, Oil on panel, 18 x 24 in.

Brook Hsu, Essay (Panic Angel), 2017, Digital print on fabric, grommets, s-hooks, 18 x 24 in.

Brook Hsu, Panic Angel, 2017, exhibition view, Deli Gallery, New York

Brook Hsu, Psyche 1, 2017, Oil on panel, 8 x 6 in.

Brook Hsu, Antique, 2017, Oil on panel, 16 x 14 in.

Brook Hsu, Panic Angel, 2017, exhibition view, Deli Gallery, New York

Brook Hsu, Butterfly, 2017, Oil on woodblock, 4 x 2-1/2 in.

Brook Hsu, Psychedelic Outfit (Sweatshirt and Bellbottoms), 2017, Felted llama wool and mesh, 48 x 84 x 10 in.

Brook Hsu, List (In the Order of Lepidoptera), 2017, Digital print on fabric, grommets, s-hooks, 54 x 36 in.

Brook Hsu, Panic Angel, 2017, exhibition view, Deli Gallery, New York

Brook Hsu, Psyche 2, 2017, Oil on panel and woodblock, 12 x 6 in.

Brook Hsu, Bellybutton Ring, 2017, Oil on panel, 5 x 3 in.

Brook Hsu, Psyche 3, 2017, Oil on panel, 8 x 6 in.

Brook Hsu, Two Fairies Carrying the Green Ear, 2017, Oil on panel, 8 x 6 in.

Brook Hsu, Panic Angel, 2017, exhibition view, Deli Gallery, New York

Brook Hsu, Reclining Pan, 2017, Oil on panel, 18 x 24 in.

Brook Hsu, Valentine, 2017, Oil on panel, 18 x 24 in.

Brook Hsu, Essay (Panic Angel), 2017, Digital print on fabric, grommets, s-hooks, 18 x 24 in.

Brook Hsu, Panic Angel, 2017, exhibition view, Deli Gallery, New York

Brook Hsu, Rug Jacket, Butterfly, and Bunny Box, 2014-2017, Acrylic, watercolor, pencil, ink, carpet, cardboard, thread, and wood sticks, Dimesions variable