Tacked on a wall, from floor to ceiling, in the gallery space at Real Art Ways in Hartford are shirts; t-shirts, button-down cotton shirts; short sleeved jersey shirts, some stripped, some with logos, colors range from yellow to blues to reds. There are cutouts in the shirts, looping circular holes, some act as frames for photographs of a family. My favorite is a tan button down, with floral patterns, slashed to reveal a brown-framed photograph of a father, mother, young son holding a stuffed animal.
https://www.realartways.org/
Michael Chang, a Taiwanese American conceptual artist. utilizes clothing to reflect on identity construction and personal memories. In the work “Real Wall,” “Chang has created a large-scale sculptural tapestry that is a record of his fluctuating emotional and mental state during his time so far in New Haven, Connecticut. The clothes are sourced from multiple trips to Saver’s 50% off sales, at which he would hoard menswear. In addition to the fabric piece, framed photographs and prints hide behind the surface of the quilt curtain.” (www.realartways.org)
Image Credit: Real Art Ways
I always find in my engagement with a work of art, a deeper perspective from the artist and/or curator. I did not realize, for example, Chang’s shirts came from a Saver’s store. The shirts, like remnants of a quilt fashioned together, reveal a more personal story; the photos document Chang’s lineage evoking more questions. Is the ripped orange t-shirt with the stitched letters that spell “Guyana” next to a small photo of a family (the frame is dotted with “smiley” emojis) one of the “quilt-like patches” illustrating a family trip?
Chang’s choice of media, the artistic process of “hoarding menswear” from the 50% off rack at a Saver’s store is a conceptual work that “genuinely is tied to me, letting it relate to whoever chooses to participate with it.” But he notes, “Instead of reinforcing a prescriptive definition of what it means to be Taiwanese American because I’m uncertain there is an answer.”
To learn more about Michael Chang, please click the link below. If you are in the Hartford, CT area, please experience Chang’s installation “Real Wall.” (April 18-May 17, 2019)
https://www.realartways.org/event/real-wall-michael-chang/