BY ANGELA MATUA
The Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning welcomed a new exhibition by Queens College students on June 4, which was inspired by the Daghlian Collection of Chinese Arts that is being hosted at the school.
The exhibition, titled “Metempyschosis,” was curated by Professor Sin-Ying Ho, who chose artists Cindy Leung, T.J. Meadows and Liza Rong to display their work.
T.J. Meadows — who was inspired by the Daghlian Collection of Chinese Arts, a selection of cups, jars, figurines and other clay vessels from different Chinese dynasties — created and designed his own set of vessels.
“I want viewers and other artists to see beautiful art as something to be looked at and admired, but at the same time the viewers can follow through with their the urge to pick up and feel the work due to the fact that my art is all functional,” Meadows said. “I have a passion for making art that people have a use for.”
Liza Rong, who works with mediums including stoneware, ceramics, cast molding and wood sculpture, made cast-molded guns from porcelain. She decorated each gun with flowers and calls the collection Harmless Beauties Guns.
“In today’s society the image of the gun is so strong and is always used to portray violence, harm and death,” Rong said. “I was hoping to desensitize this image of the gun and give it a vibe of elegance and preciousness by hand-decorating each one with flowers. I wanted viewers to be able to approach my guns with a feeling of trust and comfort rather than fear and terror.”
Rong said she wants her art to show that though guns are usually associated with violence and death, it all depends on how people use them.
The exhibit will be on display until August 25.
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