May Artist of the Month: Diem Chau

With Henny Penny smack dab in the middle of the burgeoning Pearl District, I have the delight of walking by art galleries everyday. Diem Chau is represented by Pullium Deffenbaugh Gallery, a mere skip, hop, and reach away. It's a beautiful, white, open space, peppered with a rotating, careful selection of contemporary paintings, sculpture, prints, and other works. Complimented by the equally spare, pdx contemporary art gallery, with its particular windows full of fantastic installation eye candy, this is one block I love to walk everyday.

While I never had the pleasure of passing by during Chau's exhibition, I adore the photos I have come across of her work. The series of crayon sculptures (in photos) strike me as full of irony with their phallic presence contrasting the tools of childhood scribbles. In person, I imagine the pieces take on a greater nod to childhood innocence and creativity with their tiny groupings set out beneath the average viewer, the pleasing colors, the palpable texture we all know so well of the chalky wax, and the distinct smell. Our senses and our identification with the childhood tools recall our youth, while our towering status over the miniature sculptures emphasize our adulthood. I admire her detailed figurative carvings, the masterful craftsmanship belying the nature of the crayon's use, transforming the tool into the shaped clay, the object. And don't we, as children, have this ability to shape ourselves into what we choose?

Other unique and beautiful series involve ceramic plates with figurative sketches made of silk thread, and porcelain bowls and mugs holding miniature objects created with toothpicks and paper. The small, intricate, simple designs evolve from Chau's inspiration of childhood and storytelling.
The following is a quote from Diem Chau's artist statement, published on the Pullium Deffenbaugh Gallery web site:

"I consider myself an artist whose medium is stories, especially those passed on from grandmother to mothers, from father to sons...I’ve spent countless hours gathering memories and pieces of different cultures by listening to incredible stories...Each story is a journey that gives us greater understanding of our past and our culture. Each story is a thread that connects us to each other, the storyteller holding one end and the audience the other."