What Do You See? Liz Tran’s Appropriations of the Rorschach Test Examine The Nature Of Viewer Subjectivity
Washington, D.C. – Morton Fine Art, in collaboration with Homme DC, is pleased to present Matriarchs and Daughters Dream Oceans of Braille, an exhibition of polychromatic inkblot prints and Heirloom (2022), a new 17-foot wall-mounted installation, by artist Liz Tran. Matriarchs and Daughters Dream Oceans of Braille will be on view by appointment from December 9, 2022 to January 6, 2023 at Homme DC’s Washington, D.C. space (2000 L ST NW).
Inspired by early memories of the artist being administered Rorschach tests — a psychological evaluation of mental health and trauma through associative responses to inkblots — Tran transforms and transports the familiar monochromatic prints into a world of vibrant, technicolor panels that explore the nature of viewer subjectivity. Featuring work from her Mirror and Cosmic Circle series, Matriarchs and Daughters Dream Oceans of Braille is an explosion of colorful dots, circles, blot, and splashes that accumulate on the panel and create a thickened impasto.
Varying her compositions from symmetrical renderings–like a Rorschach print–to others more liberally abstracted, Tran’s works challenge the notion of a correct way to view art. Like the
well-known psychological test, Tran’s art performs an introspective function in which the viewer’s interpretation is self-reflexive and can facilitate self-knowledge.
Lovingly sewn by her quilt-making mother, with whom Tran often collaborates, Heirloom encapsulates fabric culled from voyages, memories and installations created around the world. Tran views Heirloom as an homage to her artistic practice and a tribute to the women who came before her. From the curtains of a circus tent, an oversized fiber womb encased in a vintage trailer or a space suit onesie–each piece of fabric contains a distinct story.
“As I found myself delving into the history of my own mental health, I began to simultaneously study perception and subjectivity both in visual art and psychology,” said Tran. “What do we bring to what we see? The viewer’s experience of my work is completely different than my own, yet that experience is equally valid. Is what we see simply a reflection of our self?”
Opening the door into a meditative and healing atmosphere, Matriarchs and Daughters Dream Oceans of Braille actively encourages personal interpretation and projections of meaning.
Through a form of abstraction that combines precision and instinct, Tran’s joyful works imagine dreamlike surfaces to question the nature of abstraction and our responses to visual stimuli, whether that be art on the white walls of a gallery or observations of planets and stars circling overhead.
Liz Tran (b. 1979) explores the shapes of nature, with the infusion of fantastical, pulsing synthetic hues, channeling subjects such as dream imagery, imagined landscapes, geodes, outer space and The Big Bang. Public collections of Tran’s work include the City of Seattle’s Portable Works Collection; Capital One; Vulcan Inc.; Baer Art Center; Camac Art Centre; The El Paso Children’s
Hospital; Harborview Medical Center, Seattle; and The King County Public Art Collection. Tran has completed multiple special projects and installations, including work for VH1 Save the Music Foundation, The Upstream Music Fest, The Seattle Art Museum, The Brain Project Toronto, Public Art at The Aqua Art Fair Miami and Vulcan Inc.
She has been awarded multiple fellowships and grants, including a Grant for Artist Projects (GAP) from Artist Trust, Clowes Fellowship for residency at the Vermont Studio Center, the Nellie Cornish Scholarship and residency at The Camac Art Centre in France, The Baer Art Center in Iceland, Jentel Foundation, Millay Colony for the Arts and The Center for Contemporary Printmaking. She resides in Seattle, WA. Tran has been represented by Morton Fine Art since 2020.
Morton Fine Art
Founded in 2010 in Washington D.C. by curator Amy Morton, Morton Fine Art (MFA) is a fine art gallery and curatorial group that collaborates with art collectors and visual artists to inspire fresh ways of acquiring contemporary art. Firmly committed to the belief that art collecting can be cultivated through an educational stance, MFA’s mission is to provide accessibility to museum-quality contemporary art through a combination of substantive exhibitions and a welcoming platform for dialogue and exchange of original voice. Morton Fine Art specializes in a stellar roster of nationally and internationally renowned artists as well as has an additional focus on artwork of the African Diaspora.
Homme DC is a boutique for emerging artists of all disciplines. Homme provides a platform for artists to exhibit and sell their art in an intimate gallery experience.
Homme DC
2000 L ST NW, Washington, DC