There's one startlingly poetic piece in the "The Way We Are Now" exhibit at the Cincinnati Art Museum: Shih Chieh Huang's "EX-C-FW." It outshines all the other art in the show because it creates its own element and does not seem interested in announcing itself or even desiring attention. Positioned in a portico upstairs, all alone, this flimsy bag-and-battery jellyfish haunts space. It might be giving birth to itself. Innocent junk and cynical science intermingle: plastic bags breath in and out, as if they are being sucked through broken car windows. A little video screen located inside the "body" of the piece reveals odd-shaped eyes staring out at you like the dream sequence Dali did for Hitchcock's Spellbound. Electrical cords spill in and out, vines twisting into the carousel that slowly oscillates the whole contraption. Technology has blurred into daydream, and daydream has concretized into living and breathing nothingness. When you approach Huang's "EX-C-FW," you are in the presence of some sci-fi-funky Medusa, and yet also you feel the vibration of a hummingbird wings. It's a beautifully tender trap.
Above are photos of some other Huang pieces I found online... He's definitely one to watch.
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