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Continuing investigations into the make up of the universe and how painting can be mobilized to describe such vast subject matter, Fung presents his most recent paintings. This body of work acts as a direct response to the collective experience of my recent research trip through west Texas and New Mexico which included visiting: McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains of Texas, Donald Judd's installations and foundation in Marfa, Texas, North America's darkest night skies in Big Bend National Park, Texas, touring Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, the appropriately titled radio telescope the Very Large Array near Soccoro, New Mexico, time in residence at Apache Point Observatory, New Mexico, and a visit to the National Solar Observatory, New Mexico
Upon return from these locations, these paintings evolved simultaneously with process becoming paramount to their creation and are composed of a series of lines, forms, textures, and a range of paint applications. The multitude of layers act as means to conceal, overlap, reveal, and respond to his previous bodies of work. Starting points are lost, redrawn and in rare circumstances, resurrected. The paintings succumb to inertia, hesitating to arrive at a finished point, rather than cting as vantage points, patterns, plans or a search for future visualizations.
This process of searching- to find patterns within and outside the frame of the substrate, draw boundaries around vastness, allowing forms to arise and recede, echoes our search for answers about the universe. We reach out into that busy void just as we look at paintings, primarily through vision. From this vantage point, Fung asks: can we touch the surface of it all, do we see through it, what lies beyond and what is the shape of this thing. This exhibition was made possible with support from Texas Christian University's Research and Creative Activities Fund and Apache Point Observatory in Sunspot, NM.
Adam Benjamin Fung received his MFA from University of Notre Dame and BFA from Western Washington University. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. Fung works primarily as a Painter and has a dynamic range of research interests that touch upon issues such as climate change, landscape, patterns and the make up of the universe. His paintings can be found in public art collections at Microsoft, South Bend Museum of Art, and the US Department of Energy's Fermilab, as well as numerous private collections. Fung's recent exhibitions include Art in the Metroplex (Fort Worth, TX) and the Hunting Prize Finalist Exhibition (Houston, TX). The work on view at Packer Schopf Gallery is the artist's first solo show with the gallery but Fung has previously shown in Chicago area, at Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Art Chicago, Design Cloud Gallery, the Evanston Art Center as well as other local galleries.
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