Opening August 2 at Marcas Contemporary Art in Santa Ana, “Perverse Foil” is a rare collaboration between two artists building creative momentum and hitting the top of their stride. In this exhibition, painter Dan Quintana and photographer Karen Hsiao are working together and blending their respective mediums to evoke complex life themes through symbolic expressions of dark truths.
Opening August 2 at Marcas Contemporary Art in Santa Ana, “Perverse Foil” is a rare collaboration between two artists building creative momentum and hitting the top of their stride. In this exhibition, painter Dan Quintana and photographer Karen Hsiao are working together and blending their respective mediums to evoke complex life themes through symbolic expressions of dark truths.
For a special hour before the opening night, a limited number of attendees (must rsvp to [email protected]) will be able to witness the creative process as Hsiao will be shooting her subjects live in front of an elaborate backdrop created by Quintana. Her unique approach to her subjects, utilizing a team of models, makeup artists, hairstylists, and couture fashions will materialize the show’s concept, creating a distinctive experience that is both tactile and intuitive. Additionally, the show will feature a number of her oil paintings and illustrative work.
Quintana, working in charcoal, has created eerie environments full of symbolism and shadowy realities to house Hsiao’s photographic specters. These alluring phantoms, which clutch on to their visible form through the existence of the creatures that surround them, can only materialize within the implement of charcoal. The romanticist nature these specters display in their perplexing surroundings is thrilling and unorthodox.
A fine art photographer who uses intense subject matters in an unconventional way, Karen Hsiao was primarily a figurative painter in her early years, who has since explored the figure and its space through various mediums. Hsiao has published two fine art books, the latest, Black Cherries, first appeared in Japan and made its debut November 2013.
Admirers of each other’s work since 2009 when they noticed a similarity between Hsiao’s models and Quintana’s figures, “Perverse Foil” has been a long time coming and is a natural extension of the artists’ creative explorations.
Filmed & Edited by Zane Meyer