FRESH FRIDAYS FEATURING BRIAN CHAN

What up y'all.

Guess who's back in the building. It's Kai Huang with another track for the children. Man, so it's been a minute since I've checked in with you all here on the EMW blog, so my apologies for that. I took some time to do some away rotations out in the Bay Area, CA. Saw some patients. It was cool. But at the same time, it's wonderful to be back here in home sweet Cambridge, MA, fam. Get back on this blog game.

Alright so y'all might know that for a few months now, we've been hosting different artists here in the main gallery space at EMW. During my time away, our friend the very talented Alahna Watson had an exhibit here entitled g.r.i.t.s. (Girl Raised In The South). I was super bummed to have missed it, but I heard it was bomb af. Shouts to that girl and shouts to all of Jamaica Plain.

Today though, I want to recap an event we had just earlier this week. Gallery openings usually take place on the first Friday of each month and have thus been dubbed Fresh Fridays by our creative director Jeff Cott AKA Kid Koala (so called because of his striking resemblance to the tree-dwelling marsupials native to Australia). Due to scheduling issues, however, this month's Fresh Friday took place on the second Thursday... this Thursday, January 8.

The feature artist was our friend and colleague Brian Chan, who is a craftsman of otherworldly genius. He mostly came up in the MIT and Mass Art scenes and now works over at the MIT Hobby Shop. "Hmm. A craftsman?", you say. What does he do exactly? Man, it's kind of tough to describe what the man doesn't do. He does 3D printing. He makes musical instruments. He makes swords. He folds some of the most intricate origami known to man. If you don't believe me, g'head and type "brian chan origami" into Google and see what happens. He also made this fucking Ironman suit and has been known to sleep in it from time to time:

So, I warn you. Do not attempt to run up on this dude at home. It's not gonna end well for you. I'm saying, don't let the friendly Asian Hufflepuff demeanor fool you... my man really doesn't fuck around when it comes to his art, son. NOBODY IS SAFE.

Actually nah lol he's a really nice dude though. He gave a brief artist's talk and took questions from the audience and we'll have that segment as well as a more in-depth one-on-one interview up shortly, so stay tuned. Our video editing team is still playing Skyrim. But word, it was marvelous having Brian in the space to share his passion with us and I'm honored to count myself among his fans and admirers. To be there and to witness the level of detail in this man's work was really something awe-inspiring. I just imagine this dude locked up in his basement eating nothing but Nongshim ramen from H-Mart for like five months straight, muttering sheepishly to himself the whole time, lost in a parallel universe of unhinged creativity. Then he showers and emerges from the cave like Lazarus and fucks everybody's heads up with whatever new project he was cooking up down there. Crazy. That's EMW for you, man. Props to that dude and to everyone who came through. Gallery hours coming.

Alright I'm gonna get back to video editing now. And by video editing, I mean Skyrim. Peace. To check out more photos from the gallery opening, peep our Facebook.

Love, Kai

OH WORD, and Brian's running a 3D printing and design workshop this Saturday, January 17, y'all. Sign up here! https://openartlabbrianchan.splashthat.com/

EMW GALLERY, FEATURING: NGAWANG JORDEN

This month at the EMW Gallery, we're proud to be displaying the artwork of Tibetan painter Ngawang Jorden. Personally, I love seeing his stuff in the main space. I was blown away when he and our creative director Jeff Cott moved the pieces in a few weeks ago, and I continue to be amazed every time I go downstairs to kick it. Jorden's work is politically incisive and deep as fuck to be sure (ALL THESE LAYERS!!), but also just visually stunning. I can't be mad. This man can paint. Hats off to you, fam.

Here's his tumblr: http://ngawangjorden.tumblr.com/

Here's his artist statement:

Ngawang Jorden began painting and drawing at an early age. When he was 16, he began studying traditional Tibetan thangka painting and he continued his education for four years. Jorden's work is centered around four main themes: man's universe and mental patterns, traditional Tibetan symbolism, political imagery, and the relationship between humans and technology.

His work employs a meticulous classical technique, influenced by traditional Tibetan religious art. It is represented in a space that he has created in combination with various organic and natural forms. Jorden interprets current and past sociopolitical events and human behavior in combination with his own recollection of ideas, most of them learned from his Buddhist background, to enhance artistic creativity. He creates a new reality based on his personal experiences as a Tibetan who has grown up seeing the injustice and pain inflicted on his own country, Tibet, and its people. To Jorden, it has become almost second nature to observe how we have behaved through history and how we continue to repeat the same actions only under different circumstances at different points in time.

This idea, that our own actions can be predicted by looking at how we have behaved in the past, is a recurrent concept that can be seen throughout Jorden’s works.

 So word, drop by and pay us a visit sometime. Stop and smell the acrylic. 934 all day.