The Standard

Tuesday night was Julia Chiang’s art opening presenting new works entitled Security is Mostly a Superstition. Julia is one of our beloved guest bloggers for the Standard Culture site. The opening, held at the Half Gallery, contained a room size installation of white chains, handcrafted of ceramic links. Julia’s sculpture work traditionally seems a simple item at first, but a pause usually begets more thoughts, delving into deeper themes that tickle the mind. In this case, the chains evoke a spirit “marked by connectivity and confinement”.

(Artist Julia Chiang at her Opening. Photo by Rey Parla)

The opening and dinner were good vibes all around. It was a gathering of downtown creatives including KAWS, Peter Sutherland, Eric Elms, Anna Sheffield, Jose Parla, Bill McMullen, Todd James, and Todd Jordan among others — all of whom gathered to witness and celebrate Julia’s meteoric rise in the art scene.

We asked a few creatives from our tribe to tell us their thoughts on the night. Our Standard hotel web guru, Kevin Kearney of AllDayEveryday, thinks Julia is the perfect mash-up of “beauty, talent, humility, and class”. The digital head honcho admits “there is something so simple yet beautiful in how she executes repetition and simplicity in a way that is setting her apart from the rest”.

Rey Parla, artist, and brother of painter Jose Parla (both of whom attended the opening and dinner) shared his dogs-eye-view of the night describing his back table as “blazing”. Sitting with artist RoStarr, photographer Sue Kwon, and friends Ken and Owen, the crew heavily discussed and debated Radical Evolutions over pizza at Lil Frankie’s. Rey spotted Tony Arcabascio who briefly mentioned that he brought his own Budweiser to the opening from work. Ah, the life of an artist. 

(Keep It Together, detail, 2011, Unglazed Ceramic. Artist Julia Chiang)

Standard guest blogger and friend Anna Sheffield pontificated over the installation in her own mind. ”The more I ponder them, the pieces in Julia’s show can only be described as magical”, shares the jewelry designer. “Though they seem fragile, they are in fact much stronger than they appear. Also, I love how the chains are sort of quiet…like tactile thoughts all in a row”.

“Julia’s installations always make me ask myself, ‘how’d she do that?’ “, says artist/designer Othelo Gervacio, and Creative Associate at AllDayEveryday. ”In this instance, with my little knowledge of ceramics, I tried to come up with a handful of different ways she could have made the realistic movable ceramic chains, but always came to a ‘nah, that wouldn’t work’…”

Then Othelo wraps up the ethereal chains in his final breath, “In the end I came to the realization that it just simply had to be magic”.

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Security is Mostly a Superstition is available to view at Half Gallery from April 5- May 2nd, 2011, Monday to Friday from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm. Located at 208 Forsyth Street, New York. email info@halfgallery.com to make appointment.