With the duo presentation of works, conceived specifically on the occasion of Swab 2024, ChiaoHan Chueh and Sofía Serpa Arango enter territories of deep chaos and survival.

Starting point of a journey through the layered landscapes of human behavior is the sculptural work by Serpa Arango; like a chaperon, her lone rider escorts the observer through different stages of emotional upheaval. Her sculptures operate at the intersection between industrial produced practices and traditionally derived crafts, in this case wood carving practices that are heavily influenced by South American imagery and formal language.

The artist’s own columbian roots inform the characters she depicts, with the rider becoming a recurring symbol of endurance and freedom. Dating back to the 16th century, the equestrian traditions on the eastern side of the Andes have a long-standing history in different indigenous communities. Simultaneously they marked a glaring departure from the old ways when they appeared together with the first horses brought by the Spaniards. In contemporary life a departure from tradition is almost always read as improvement - future forward is the “Zeitgeist”. Drawing on the deep rooted beliefs in Méxica mysticism, Serpa Arango uses this contemplation on modes of societal change to integrate another interpretation, one that sees change as a possible bearer of chaos if not contained and pacified.1

If her lone rider is the chaperone on the journey, then this contemplation is the bridge that leads us closer
to enter ChioaHan Chueh’s microcosm of characters and entanglements. 4 paintings that form an exclusive body of works, Chueh depicts raw and conflicting experiences of survival. Internal Kill is the most immediate interpretation of tension in motion, violence bursting out and at this point becoming uncontainable by the body. The chaos that was implied by references is now given faces, form.

All 4 paintings refer to chaos in a different form, if Internal Kill is the most direct reference to human violence, then a work like Guardian Animal could act as its counterpart, depicting a twisted version of pure tenderness. With heavy brushstrokes and colorful dabs that draw inspiration from abstract pointillism she lets the viewer witness this moment of nurture and security for the otherwise most vulnerable. Unclear what kind of beast lends their body to suckling babies, Chueh plays with the ambiguity of the scene. On one hand referencing glorious scenes like the myth of Romulus and Remus being fed by a she-wolf, an integral part of the founding legend of the Roman Empire, she nonetheless plays with our intrinsic instincts that only hardly let us ignore the mismatch of a ‚natural order‘ taking place and where humans and beasts unite.2

ChiaoHan Chueh draws heavily on her own observations and her need to express oftentimes conflicting experiences of survival. The pressure of experienced crises is followed by an instinct driven madness in her scenes, finding their climax in a „Bacchanalian frenzy,“ as she calls it. Tension and uncertainty in her arrangements are depicted through restrained traces of figurative painting and extensive use of abstract language.

The works on view show these contemplations with themes of sexuality and madness, taboos suppressed by civilization and the chaos that ultimately breaks free and makes away for the most peculiar arrangements.

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1 Méxica people, commonly known as part of the Aztec empire, employed the use of blood sacrifices to pacify the deity Tezcatlipoca. The custom of those blood sacrifices was seen as a way of ‘looking the monster in the face’ and a technique for controlling it. Based on the belief that violence and paranoia become a problem if the society refuses to acknowledge the cannibal at the heart of the community, confronting Tezcatlipoca, ultimately emerged as a controlled measure to contain the pending chaos in society.

2 Wiseman, Timothy Peter, 1995. Remus: A Roman Myth. Cambridge University Press.