Gloria Duan
July 7–30, 2017
Mobius Waves
Mobius strip n. A surface with only one side, and one boundary
Wave n. a disturbance that travels through a medium
Gloria Duan’s “Mobius Waves” was created using large cyanotypes on fabric sewn together to construct a sculptural environment so the visitor feels as if they are traversing through a wave itself. Duan creates the work by hand painting large swaths of fabric with the blue photo-chemical cyanotype, then places transparent objects such as hand-blown glass and clear plastics on top of the fabric. The transparency of these mediums allows sunlight to reach through each object to permanently create abstract images onto the fabric.
This series aims to semantically describe mutable and ephemeral subjects, phenomena, and materials, through their unguessed synchronicities. Topics include waves, water, wind, shadow, light, glass, pure energy, floating, suspension, and universal expansion. Through Duan’s process, the materiality of the objects is contained and becomes indexed within a photographic afterimage. Exploring the catalytic effects of light and heat, the cyanotype process visualizes the dynamism and fluidity of the chemical reactions and thermal energies that form each medium.
Gloria (b. 1993, Massachusetts) is an Asian-American artist currently living in the Washington, D.C. metro area. She received her BFA in 2015 from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her practice is involved in the poetics between art and science culture, from exploring the similarities of a minimalist process and the scientific method, to visualizing the unseen, augmenting space platforms for art-viewing, and creating perceptual intersections that challenge the use of labor and technologies, as and through an art-form.
