David Khang
Oral Fecal and (Vag)Anal Paintings
May 6 to 28, 2005
Performance May 6
Artist Talk May 12
Oral-Fecal was a pool of ink with a projected image of a calligraphic circle. The work is based on Khang's performance, Linea Lingua, originally produced in California in 2004. Elements of calligraphy, spoken language and ideas of meaning "at the limits of rational articulate speech" are incorporated into the visual work.
(vag)Anal Painting was a new performance that took its impetus from Shigeko Kubota's vaginal painting she did as part of Fluxus in the 60's. Khang said of the work "Impossibly imbedded into my work is my body that is gendered and racialized... How can ambiguous resistance be maintained (and meaning deferred) against fixed readings of the body? ...I interrogate notions of tradition, authenticity and perceived cultural/linguistic 'otherness'"
David Khang plays with language: visual, written, and spoken. In recent performance and installation works, he uses the trope of language and the body to underscore the construction and performativity of gender and race. Khang's art practice is informed by educational backgrounds in psychology, theology, and dentistry. He completed his BFA from Emily Carr Institute (2000), and MFA with Emphasis in Critical Theory at the University of California, Irvine (2004). Khang lives and works in Vancouver.
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