HARD/GENTLE is a collaborative effort between two friends, using paint, mixed-media, ceramic, and comic illustrations to build a world of resilience and strength while wishing you a gentle return to yourself. This whirlwind show focuses on healing, the meaning it holds for each artist, and how the process is interpreted and uniquely transpires in their own individual works.
Gu (b.1994, New York, NY) is a Chinese-American artist that uses ceramics and comics to explore the concept of softness as strength, transforming clay and words into stone and support. Her work aims to evoke stillness and forces her viewers to look at the world around them.
Ngan Hoang (b. 1990 Saigon, Vietnam) is a Vietnamese-American artist based in Austin, Texas by way of DC and Virginia. She/they received a BFA in Art & Visual Technology from George Mason University in 2012 and recently graduated from UT Austin in May 2022 with their MA in Design, focused on Health.
If y’all have to put a label on it, their work would fall into these few categories: abstract/expressionism, mixed-media, and/or collage. As a neurodivergent, processing emotions and healing trauma has always been easier whenever Ngan was able to pour her feelings onto the canvas, where found and/or sentimental materials find a renewed sense of purpose and belonging settling into the paint. The act of art-making sorts through the overwhelm when words aren’t enough to provide new perspectives. Their artwork comes along for the ride too, as each piece often emerges as a completely transformed vision. Creating art has been a source of joy and peace since childhood, but only in recent years has Ngan felt confident in claiming themselves an artist.
HARD/GENTLE is their debut gallery exhibition with Gu.
