Because | Why

Exhibition dates Oct 14, 2022  to Nov 27, 2022

Meantime Co. is pleased to present a two person exhibition of paintings by Jac Lahav and drawings by Seldon Yuan titled Because | Why. Both artists draw from their personal histories to create works that entertain existential questions and reflect on their experiences. 

A large part of Jac Lahav’s artistic output is portraiture; he questions the cultural underpinnings that inform our perceptions of a subject, playing with iconography and visual tropes to evoke alternative notions about that individual. However, a recent group of 23 abstract pictures referred to as the “Foster Paintings”, presents a formal departure for the artist. Physically, these works are a symphony of hues and texture, mixing the luscious matt surface of Flashe vinyl paint onto a subtle velvet gradient. Using a palette of blues that refer to his birthplace in Israel, these paintings are Lahav’s attempt to process the hardships of his journey in becoming a foster parent, with each painting memorializing his moment of contact with a child in the foster care system.  

Installed alongside Lahav’s abstract paintings are his sculptures and depictions of plants. These plant forms are another evocation of memories, growth, propagation, and adversity. The vines represent Pothos, a common houseplant, that in its native jungle environment can grow to become an enormous, towering plant. Its name is similar to  a Greek god of love, Pathos, and means to learn from experience, especially that of hardship. Lahav says that “finding moments of joy in adversity is a recurrent struggle, being a foster parent is an attempt to do “good enough” while keeping in mind that life is ephemeral, subject to hardship and change.”

Seldon Yuan’s work combines text, poetry, and drawing to play with optical effects and the semantics of language. These works are Yuan’s reflections on the absurdity, existentialism, humor, coping mechanisms, and surrealism of daily life. The text and drawing expand each other conceptually, sidestepping the rules of graphic design and typography, in a manner that is both stoic and succinct. The work engages the space between when an image/object becomes an icon of the English language and the reverse, activating the passive act of reading, and contending with the expansion and contraction of language in both its ambiguities and specificities. Yuan’s ongoing body of drawings is presented here in two formats, on paper and as a digital slideshow. The experience of Yuan’s work as a digital slideshow creates a mounting tension, as one image after the next moves you up, down, and around emotionally.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Abshalom Jac Lahav (he/them) is a Persian Polish artist, curator, and author. Born in Jerusalem, Israel and raised in the United States, Lahav earned an MFA from Brooklyn College, studying under Vito Acconci. Solo shows of his work have been presented at Richmond Art Museum, Indiana, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Texas, Saginaw Art Museum, Michigan, Florence Griswold Museum, Connecticut. His work can be found in museum collections including the Jewish Museum Milwaukee, Mount Holyoke Art Museum, Massachusetts. Jewish Museum, New York, and others. Lahav has recently expanded their social practice to be an advocate for foster parents, and he helped found the group Public Art For Racial Justice Education (PARJE).

Seldon Yuan received his BHA at Carnegie Mellon University and his MFA at Hunter College. He has published a book of poetry entitled morning, afternoon, evenings and performed his poetry across the United States and in Europe. His art has been exhibited nationally and internationally in various galleries and venues including the Museum of Modern Art, International Center of Photography, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Arario Gallery, Rare Gallery, La Generale in Paris, Gallerie 69 in Oslo, Norway, Around Space in Shanghai, and the Museum of New Art in Detroit. He has completed residencies at Chashama North, Bowery Poetry Club, and Naropa University. He has completed a commission for Socrates Sculpture Park, New York for their Emerging Artist Fellowship and was a part of the 2013 Bronx Museum of Art AIM Biennial exhibition. Yuan lives and works in Bushwick.