Solo Exhibition: Nowhere Else To Go But Within
Jocelyn Tsaih
Dates: August 7 - 28, 2021
Opening Reception: August 7 | 11 AM - 7 PM
Glass Rice is proud to present Nowhere Else To Go But Within, Oakland-based artist Jocelyn Tsaih’s debut solo exhibition with the gallery. Following an extended period of physical stillness and simultaneous emotional commotion during a global shut down, Tsaih confronts the discomfort of sitting within her vulnerabilities, sadness, and softness through this new body of reflective and poignant work.
Tsaih’s work in Nowhere Else To Go But Within can be divided into two series, the first being blue-hued figures set amongst deep black backdrops. Tsaih first began conceptualizing these paintings when she began to examine her identity and the deepest parts of her psyche during an emotionally tumultuous time. Feeling isolated and eons away from loved ones, she began having vivid dreams of those who had passed and of friends and family she would be separated from indefinitely. The blue paintings of figures suspended in endless space served as a form of catharsis - fumbling through the darkness and creating dream-like space to process and make sense of it all. The simplicity of her figures allow her audience to identify with those pure moments of complex emotion, while also accompanying her through her individual journey.
In the second half of the work, Tsaih transitions from melancholic to hopeful, mirroring the artist’s eventual shift to a more positive and hopeful outlook. In painting her figures in open and freeing gestures and complementing them with flowers and butterflies in glowing hues of orange, purple, and green, Tsaih uses color as a vehicle to uplift the tone of her work.
Despite these two series of paintings differing from the other visually, Nowhere Else To Go But Within is a gentle reminder that in order to arrive to a place of optimism, we must sift through the darker and more harrowing moments of life to obtain clarity and reach happiness.
Jocelyn Tsaih
Dates: August 7 - 28, 2021
Opening Reception: August 7 | 11 AM - 7 PM
Glass Rice is proud to present Nowhere Else To Go But Within, Oakland-based artist Jocelyn Tsaih’s debut solo exhibition with the gallery. Following an extended period of physical stillness and simultaneous emotional commotion during a global shut down, Tsaih confronts the discomfort of sitting within her vulnerabilities, sadness, and softness through this new body of reflective and poignant work.
Tsaih’s work in Nowhere Else To Go But Within can be divided into two series, the first being blue-hued figures set amongst deep black backdrops. Tsaih first began conceptualizing these paintings when she began to examine her identity and the deepest parts of her psyche during an emotionally tumultuous time. Feeling isolated and eons away from loved ones, she began having vivid dreams of those who had passed and of friends and family she would be separated from indefinitely. The blue paintings of figures suspended in endless space served as a form of catharsis - fumbling through the darkness and creating dream-like space to process and make sense of it all. The simplicity of her figures allow her audience to identify with those pure moments of complex emotion, while also accompanying her through her individual journey.
In the second half of the work, Tsaih transitions from melancholic to hopeful, mirroring the artist’s eventual shift to a more positive and hopeful outlook. In painting her figures in open and freeing gestures and complementing them with flowers and butterflies in glowing hues of orange, purple, and green, Tsaih uses color as a vehicle to uplift the tone of her work.
Despite these two series of paintings differing from the other visually, Nowhere Else To Go But Within is a gentle reminder that in order to arrive to a place of optimism, we must sift through the darker and more harrowing moments of life to obtain clarity and reach happiness.
