Wednesday, Sep. 23, 2020 – Wednesday, Sep. 23, 2020

Yue Nakayama, conceptual sketch for Nonplus, 2020, digital collage.

Yue Nakayama will present Nonplus, a new work that examines the idea of empathy and survival in relation to the current societal and environmental crisis. The project will be performed and filmed in Houston and other areas of the southwest region of the US in anticipation of a large-scale video installation in the gallery with an entryway that alludes to a storefront “open” for business. In the interim, an online, virtual version of the Nonplus project will be presented.

Nakayama’s work encourages us to reflect upon the interconnectedness of our belief systems, ideas of procreation and extinction, and empathy-related emotions connected to maternity. As environmental disasters and systemic failures of our society continue, how do we locate and process our feelings during the time of apocalypse? Her work navigates different issues surrounding the idea of utopia and survival through an investigation of the limits and regulations placed upon our bodies, and further expands to investigate ongoing environmental failures and existential anxieties.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Yue Nakayama is a Houston-based artist and filmmaker. Screenings and exhibitions of her work have been held at Lawndale Art Center, Houston; Moonmist, Houston; Museum of Fine Arts Houston; ICA Philadelphia; and the Visual Arts Center – University of Texas Austin; among many other venues in the U.S. and abroad. Nakayama is the recipient of awards from the Arch and Anne Giles Kimbrough Fund – Dallas Museum of Art and Houston Arts Alliance Individual Artist Grant. Residencies she has been awarded include the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, the Core Program at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and The Lighthouse Works Fellowship. She holds a BFA from Denison University and MFA from the University of Pennsylvania.