August 20 - September 28th / Opening Reception, Friday August 23, 5 - 8pm

On Friday, August 23rd from 5 - 8pm the Artists' Studio in the Foohtills (ASiF) invites the public to an opening reception for figurative artist, Carmen Lang, featuring sculptural works in ceramic, paper mache’ and concrete and drawings on paper. The event will be celebrated with wine, refreshments and a live musical performance by pianist Gregory S. Young beginning at 5pm.

In this exhibit, Lang's large scale installations and tiny figurative scenes create a world of joyful play and quiet contemplation. Her installations engage ones sense of self and scale as we are invited to participate in a game of interactive play with a group of larger than life body parts such as legs and feet - each of which can be moved and rearranged by participants.

And though her small figurative ceramic "scenes" in their fragility do not invite the viewer to physically engage in such play, their tiny seated figures invite us to become miniaturized versions of ourselves lounging with them on luxuriously soft, overstuffed chairs while their perfect, smooth porcelain surfaces drip with gorgeous colored glazes.

Carmen Shares some thoughts about her process and narrative: "I see the human body as a container of impulses. I'm invested in tactile procedures, transforming materials such as clay and concrete into figures for what become for me a satisfying apprehension of the human body. The leg sculptures are about building fictional bodies and exploring composition and scale with just one element of the human body. Working with narratives around the leg, led directly to the shoe. I am also interested in the ways human beings have become so sophisticated through clothing. As humans we use all kinds of materials, color, texture, proportion and composition to design what we use to dress up our bodies and personalities".

Carmen Lang grew up in Mexico City. She received a BFA from La Esmeralda in 1991 where she also was a professor of Ceramics and Drawing from 1997-2003. In 2013 she received an MFA from the California College of the Arts. As a grad student she was awarded the George B. Saxe scholarship, and a scholarship at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. In 2014 she was a guest artist at the Human Form Symposium at Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts. Since receiving her MFA in 2013 she has taught at UC Berkeley, SFAI Extension Program, Holy Names University, Richmond Art Center and Sierra College.

Carmen has done artistic residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Uriarte Talavera with grants from FONCA in Mexico. She has been guest artist at the University of Manitoba and San Francisco State University. She participates regularly in national and international solo and group exhibitions. In 2018 she won 2nd prize at Bienal de Cerámica Artistica Contemporanea in Tijuana.

Carmen Lang's solo exhibition will be on display through September 28th. ASiF Gallery hours are Tuesday - Saturday from 11am - 4pm.