Gi (Ginny) Huo

ARTIST STATEMENT

Stemming from my highly conservative Mormon religious upbringing, I am interested in exploring what are the intentions of what we believe. I construct allegories concerning nature while splicing imagery to discuss and question the ideas of the subtle conscious and unconscious violence that seeps into our everyday lives formed from religious dogma. Through these re-constructed landscapes I question cultural modern myths and power structures by creating alternative dimensions and portals to imagine peculiar spaces. These scenes intersect multiple perspectives of nature, imagery and varied dimensionality to reconstruct myths and offer a movement, a threshold.

ABOUT THIS PAGE

This webpage provides both images and description to render a virtual experience of each artist’s work. Below is an image gallery that includes installation shots and details of Gi (Ginny) Huo’s sculptural works. In-depth written descriptions of the sculptures, which provide visual, contextual, and other sensory information, are below the image gallery. Audio recordings of this material are available through the SoundCloud embedded above.

IMAGE GALLERY & DESCRIPTIONS

INSTALLATION

Gi (Ginny) Huo’s work is installed in the central alcove of the gallery, facing the opposite wall of industrial windows. The three smaller sculptures fan out in front of a towering pink pyramid with blue paper cascading down its center. They point their sloping fronts away from the central sculpture, all four seeming to face the audience in either confrontation or invitation. There is a slight pink gleam on the white walls behind this quartet, giving the scene an ethereal halo. 

7 Steps to Circle Around the Moon, 2020, 96 x 68 ½ x 11 inches, wood, acrylic and charcoal on paper

Seven large warm pink rectangular wooden boxes ascend like stairs, each one decreasing in width as it rises in height. The structure stands 8 feet tall. Cascading down the pink stairs, a wavy piece of paper is painted with large brushstrokes of deep bright blue, resembling flowing water. The paper follows the right angles of the stairs, affixed to the sculpture on its way down from the top until splaying out, extending several feet on the floor beyond the stairs, before curling up slightly at the paper’s edge. Running the length of the paper, black, light and dark blue lines flow in and out of each other in a curvy criss-cross pattern. On top of the blue paper water, several photographs of hands pop out. The hands are all raised, as if from unseen bodies of people beneath the water, perhaps drowning. The hand gesture is made to consent to Mormon leaders at church or conference. 

Glimpse, 2020, 34 x 24 x 34 inches, acrylic paint on wood, plaster, metallic print

The sculpture has four sides; the front is painted yellow; the sides and back are painted gray. From the side, the sculpture is a triangle cut from a hard right angle, thick at the bottom and pointy at the top, which from floor to peak is nearly 3 feet high. From the front, the sculpture appears to be a flat sloping surface––all yellow with two holes cut out. The depths of the holes look almost like an optical illusion. At the top of the slope is a smaller hole the size of an orange, a circle. Inside this hole, there is a blurred nature photograph on a metallic print. The photograph depicts a forest with spindly trees, with green leaves and long, thin, leafless branches, which recall many arms outstretched. Beneath the trees, in the photograph, are dark and light gray rocks, stones and pebbles––with water running down the creek. Imagining this place, it smells crisp and tastes fresh, of earth. It feels smooth, like a stone beneath the water. The photograph appears to be in motion, cannot focus, perhaps cannot hold this memory in place, though the photograph itself tries. From the center of the flat, sloping yellow surface of the sculpture, to near the bottom, there is a larger hole, about one foot wide. The hole looks like a crescent moon that’s had pieces added and pieces taken away. It’s been cut into the wood as if cut by scissors on construction paper. The bottom of the crescent shape bulges; its top is pointy and sharp. Inside this crescent-shaped hole, there is a white plaster sculpture of a hand with the three middle fingers raised––index, middle, and ring––while the thumb holds down the pinky. This hand appears to emerge from jagged stone, a rocky hill-like base. The hand and its base rest on another photograph of what appear to be more rocks, stones, and pebbles alongside a creek. There’s a sense of motion in this photograph, too, both of the photographer and of the water, which may or may not be there. The image suggests the streaming of water; the crunching of rocks underfoot. There is also a peak of the interior of the sculpture’s structure painted orange and receding into darkness inside. The holes take on more or less light, depending on the angle you approach the sculpture from. From some angles, the contents of the holes are covered in shadow.

Remember, 2020, 34 x 24 x 34 inches, acrylic paint on wood, plaster, metallic print

The sculpture is white on all sides. From the front, though the structure is made of wood, it resembles a leaning piece of sheetrock covered in thick dollops of plaster that haven’t yet been smoothed away, each 2-3 inches high. Most of the mounds are indistinct but one raises up into a clear figure––an outreached hand. The three middle fingers of the hand––index, middle, and ring-–are raised while the thumb holds down the pinky. The hand appears to be encased in jagged stone, attached to the surface of the sculpture. From a distance, the other clumps of plaster look as if they could be mimicking the cragged surface of the moon. Towards the center of the sculpture’s surface is a dark, elongated hole that looks like an asymmetrical pear or an oblong teardrop or a lake seen from above. It’s been cut into the wood as if by scissors on construction paper. Inside the hole, mostly cast in shadow, is a black and white photograph on a metallic print, popping up. The photo depicts a white man with glasses. He is holding up his right hand with his palms open, facing out; with his left hand he is holding the wrist of my Korean father or uncle’s arm. My father or uncle is photographed from behind. Both men are wearing white; the space surrounding them is black and reflective where you can see their shadows. Both their waists disappear into what appears to be water but, in the photo, is indistinct from the black of the background behind them. From the side, the sculpture is a triangle cut from a hard right angle, thick at the bottom and pointy at the top, which from floor to peak is nearly 3 feet high. The sides and back are also painted white, like the front but have smooth surfaces. When viewed in profile, the base in which the hand sculpture is encased appears to be a rocky hill among the other raised surfaces of a landscape and its gaping hole. From this angle, the photograph inside the hole is completely shrouded in shadow.  

Forget, 2020, 34 x 24 x 34 inches, acrylic paint on wood, plaster, metallic print

The sculpture is painted with large brushstrokes of deep bright blue on all sides, resembling flowing water. From the front, it appears to be a flat, sloping surface; a long wavy shape is cut out and running down its center. The wavy shape has been cut into the wood as if by scissors on construction paper. Beneath the cut, there is a photograph of the surface of blue water rippling in gentle waves, reflecting the light of what appears to be a morning or evening sun. Imagining the space inside the photo, it smells and tastes like salt water and sounds like waves crashing. The color of the water forms a gradient from yellow and light blue to a metallic darker blue. From the side, the sculpture is a triangle made of a hard right angle, thick at the bottom and pointy at the top, which from floor to peak is nearly 3 feet high. On the right panel in the bottom corner, a white plaster hand is sticking out. The three middle fingers of the hand––index, middle, and ring-–are raised while the thumb holds down the pinky. The hand appears to be encased in jagged stone, resembling a rocky hill. It is attached to the surface of the sculpture on top of a yellow crescent moon that has been painted on the right panel. On the left panel of the sculpture, a large red-orange dot is painted, surrounded by a circle of a white brush strokes around it on top of the blue-painted underlayer. The dot resembles the center of a target or a sun. 

ARTIST BIO

Gi (Ginny) Huo is an interdisciplinary artist and educator who’s interested in exploring the dynamics and intentions of beliefs. She received a BFA in Visual Arts at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT and a MFA at the Maryland Institute College of the Arts in Baltimore, MD. Huo’s work has been exhibited in places such as the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Korea Cultural Service of New York, Abrons Art Center, New York, NY. She is a participant of NADA House Residency, NY (2020), SHIFT Residency, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, NY (2020), Queens Museum Art Action Academy, NY (2016), Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, ME (2015), Takt Artist Residency in Berlin (2015), Visiting Artist at American Academy in Rome (2014).