Underexposed photographs from youth, thread and resin on gatorboard glyph. 24 x 18 inches. Collaboration with Troy Gua for ‘Meet Greet Rinse Repeat.’
Troy designed and hand-crafted nearly fifty of these glyphs.
He then handed them out to artists to work with. After a few months, he collected them, coated many of them with resin, and in March 2010 hung the lot in a truly epic group show at Monarch Contemporary.
When I received my blank glyph, I was perplexed with it, at first. For nearly two months, I merely looked at it, hanging on a bedroom wall. I’d been making postcard collages and was interested in taking this to a larger scale, but couldn’t see it coming together on that strange canvas.
Then one day I came across a box of old 4×6 photographs, taken in my late teens. Sifting through them, looking for gems to share with friends, I was struck by how many of the shots were poorly exposed and considered throwing out the majority. With all of them set aside, however, I was struck with their consistency in color and feel. Despite coming from so many different rolls and taken on so many different occasions, their similarities were what shown through.
So I spread them out, arranged them. The pieces came together alarmingly well, so I set about slicing them and re-assembling them with my new-found love for sewing. Aside from my pleasure at having tackled an abstract canvas with such an abstract visual assembly, I am also pleased with the implied narrative and how it reflects much of my personal growth.
In addition to being a part of the collaborative group, I worked with Troy to put together an exhibition book, an 8×10″ full color collection of all 50 works in the show.
Visit troygua.com to see the full series and much more from the prolific Troy Gua.
Misspent Youth (back)
Misspent Youth (detail, before glazing)