Featuring portraits of familial relations, triptychs on social interaction, and paintings centered around amorous affairs, my body of work focuses on interpersonal relationships. The main premise of the exhibition is to showcase the dichotomy between positive and negative human relationships. Each piece embodies a specific trope to convey a form of human unity. 

 

I sought to portray a symmetry in how I presented my art. With this exhibition, I wanted to divide each art piece by thematic approach: pieces that depicted a positive relationship would be placed on one side, while pieces that depicted a negative relationship would be placed on another. Through this layout, the audience can view a sharp contrast based on the underlying mood and atmosphere associated with each showpiece. Furthermore, the middle would leave space for works that do not necessarily fit into either categories and in this case, the work presented in the middle of the layout would be Time and Speak. Time is the piece that stands out the most compared to the rest of the body of work in the exhibition considering that it focuses on one individual. As an art piece that represents themes of isolation and alienation, Time goes against the main concept of relationships, since it lacks in portraying a duo. It addresses detachment with the single skeleton and how consuming loneliness can become overtime. It’s ambiguous in how it presents relationships, which is why I wanted to place it in the middle as it falls under this gray area of whether or not it highlights a positive or negative relationship. 

 

Directly above Time, is Speak and I placed these two works in the middle because, as I mentioned earlier, are ambiguous in their thematic approach. Speak is the second piece in my triptych, which seeks to show the deterioration of a relationship overtime. At the middle, Speak shows the midst of a breakup due to poor communication, which is hinted by the absence of a mouth on the man and the covered face of the woman. Though it can be argued that Speak has a much more negative connotation, I think that the piece falls into the line where it isn't fully demonstrating that relationships are bad. With the triptych, it is placed such that it shows a timeline where the couple falls apart. Bar is placed on the right, whereas Can We? is placed on the left. In this sense, considering that Speak is both in the middle of the triptych and the exhibition, it shows the narrative in a method that the audience can follow regarding how the mood transitions as they move from left to right. 

 

To the left of Time and Speak, are three artworks: Embrace, Mother Mother, and Can We?. Each artwork in this area highlights the positive aspects of different varieties of interpersonal relationships. With Can We? and Embrace, both pieces showcase two romantic affairs in a manner that uplifts and celebrates the concept of human unity. Mother Mother is a portrayal of a mother-son relationship and again, it exalts that form of relationship. As the viewer walks past the exhibition, the right side signifies modest beginnings by commemorating same-sex love, connection, and family, which is directly contrasted by the three works on the right.

 

On the opposite end, the right side consists of three different artworks: Trapped, Father, and Bar. These three works directly juxtapose the three corresponding works of art on the left. With Trapped and Bar, it emphasizes the destructive nature between two dysfunctional relationships by shedding light on issues related to physical and verbal abuse. As with each of these two pieces, it conflicts with Embrace and Can We? because it points out the flaws in shared intimacy and contact. Moreover, Father presents itself in an ironic method by using bright and vivid colors in a painting that aims at looking into an absent father figure that is locked away. Compared to Mother Mother, this stark contrast where Father makes use of color and Mother Mother doesn’t plays on irony to punctuate on certain undertones and issues.

 

Through these parallels and juxtaposition, these bodies of art take on a slow transition to a nihilistic perspective on mutual relations. Due to the positioning where good relationships are placed on the left and bad ones on the right, the audience will finish examining the display on a poignant end. In doing so, it subconsciously displays how relationships are not necessarily pristine all around.