Homer PH Wang
1989.08
Chapter 01
Sorrow 35%Awe 25%Calm 20%Unnamed 20%
Bones and plants share a body. Death becomes the moment matter reenters nature’s cycles. Prehistoric animals, human remains, and plant life come together in an exploration of disappearance, memory, and the persistence of living forms.
When the body is gone, in what form do we remain in the world?
Four of the series’ nine works are on view.
Chapter 02
Unreality 40%Romance 30%Melancholy 20%Unnamed 10%
Taking Lautréamont’s chance meeting of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a dissecting table as its starting point, the work brings two everyday objects together after they have lost their original uses. A shared composition and changing colors trace a movement from shadow through interpretation to desire.
When unrelated objects share a space, does beauty emerge in the instant they meet?
The exhibition includes a triptych, an installation view, and the quotation that inspired the work.
Chapter 03
Serenity 30%Elegance 20%Solitude 20%Unnamed 30%
After flowers reach full bloom, creases, shrinkage, and fading become evidence of time. Bronze, burgundy, muted violet, and amber replace vivid colors, revealing a mature, fragile, quiet beauty in decay.
When abundance recedes, can beauty survive in another form?
Three of the series’ sixteen works are on view.
Chapter 04
Compassion 25%Regret 25%Acceptance 30%Unnamed 20%
The work looks at life on the threshold between presence and disappearance. Broken forms hold on to a final will. As illness, war, regret, and identity fall away, the weight of the body, the trace of an expression, and a lingering dignity remain.
When life reaches its end, what remains beyond anyone’s power to take?
Four works are on view.
We experience more than a handful of emotions. We say happy, sad, angry, afraid, as though the mind were a chest of drawers and only one could be opened at a time.
Slow down and look more closely. Emotions are more like a forest, where no two leaves are quite the same.
Some emotions arrive like summer storms, sudden, fierce, and quick to evaporate. Some return like tides, daily at different heights. Others lie beneath us like geological layers, unnoticed for years until a crack reveals they were there all along. So I began numbering emotions.
I used to think maturity meant feeling less. I came to see that it meant recognizing more. Emotions have no rank. They differ in density, duration, and volume.
Maturity means learning to coexist with what you feel without rushing to send any of it away.
Emotion atlas · 01–12
Happiness, cheer, pleasure, delight, elation, exhilaration, ecstasy, satisfaction, ease, comfort, enjoyment, sweetness, well-being, private delight, pride, high spirits, jubilation, gladness, rapture, amusement.
Calm, reassurance, security, serenity, relaxation, relief, composure, stillness, poise, detachment, acceptance, release, peace, a clear conscience, equanimity, steadiness, clarity, harmony, ease, freedom from worry.
Excitement, anticipation, hopefulness, ardor, enthusiasm, momentum, uplift, encouragement, fervor, agitation, eagerness, curiosity, fascination, absorption, longing, aspiration, ambition, determination, courage, energy.
Love, fondness, tenderness, warmth, intimacy, attachment, devotion, yearning, missing someone, nostalgia, infatuation, obsession, admiration, adoration, respect, trust, gratitude, being moved, affection, feeling cherished.
Sadness, hurt, sorrow, grief, anguish, melancholy, dejection, loss, desolation, aloneness, loneliness, emptiness, wistfulness, regret, heartache, heartbreak, mourning, despair, hopelessness, and weariness with life.
Fear, dread, fright, terror, panic, tension, anxiety, unease, apprehension, worry, concern, misgiving, suspicion, vigilance, guardedness, danger, pressure, suffocation, helplessness, and feeling overwhelmed.
Anger, annoyance, irritation, fury, wrath, rage, outrage, agitation, displeasure, bitterness, resentment, loathing, hatred, hostility, aversion, exasperation, indignation, injustice, and the urge for revenge.
Disgust, nausea, revulsion, queasiness, dislike, scorn, contempt, disdain, rejection, resistance, friction, weariness, saturation, disappointment, disillusionment, coldness, estrangement, impatience, and the urge to escape.
Shyness, bashfulness, embarrassment, awkwardness, shame, humiliation, loss of face, self-blame, guilt, remorse, regret, repentance, frustration, inferiority, self-doubt, worthlessness, defeat, failure, pride, and arrogance.
Envy, jealousy, possessiveness, coveting, dissatisfaction, competitiveness, superiority, complacency, vanity, feeling overlooked, excluded, rejected, betrayed, wronged, humiliated, hurt, defensive, suspicious, mistrustful, or understood.
Surprise, shock, bewilderment, confusion, disorientation, blankness, doubt, curiosity, novelty, inspiration, insight, understanding, lucidity, absurdity, unreality, dissociation, enchantment, awe, mystery, and the sublime.
Nostalgia, homesickness, world-weariness, impermanence, nihilism, emptiness, fatigue, burnout, numbness, indifference, boredom, alienation, perspective, acceptance, transcendence, flow, meaning, purpose, sacredness, and connection with the world.