Pelage
Chang Yao-Chang Solo Exhibition
02 March - 13 April 2024
Organisms in nature engage in camouflage of color and form on their skin to survive and adapt to their environment. By mimicking the characteristics of other species or their surroundings, they convey signals of danger or insignificance, achieving objectives such as self-protection, foraging, mating, and hunting. Various environmental factors influence changes in appearance, forming a survival strategy. Despite fur being a visible medium to the naked eye, the true identity beneath it remains obscured; in the artwork "Pelage," the emphasis on the visually perceivable surface brings about unstable perceptions. What is seen on the surface may not necessarily reflect reality.
Artist Chang Yao-Chang utilizes clay from nature, molding it into feather-like ceramic pieces, which are then interwoven and arranged into continuous imagery. Through various transformations in his hands, the material's form and appearance drastically change. Lifeless mineral materials ultimately acquire the texture of fur and the fluctuating breath of living beings within the realm of imagination. Chang Yao-Chang, through labor-intensive crafting processes, creates the splendor and complexity on the surface while actually exploring the uncertain underlying thoughts, referring to the elusive conscious states generated by human instincts to adapt to the environment, just as organisms do.
