Space 776 New York, in collaboration with Uncommon Beauty Gallery, is pleased to present the duo show, Touch grass featuring Wanying Jin and Emilia Durka. 

 

As people spend more and more time on their screens, phones, or laptops, Art is a way to reconnect with reality. In Touch grass, Wanying Jin and Emilia Durka offer the viewer an opportunity to do just that. The show features 7 portraits by Jin of the 2024 series Lost & Found and Hiding, never shown before. The viewers can identify themselves without fear of labels or mischaracterization. They can then regenerate and reconnect to themselves in one of Emilia’s 8 serene landscapes of the New York series.

 

During her one year in New York, Emilia’s inspiration veered back to the landscape, mostly of her native Poland, possibly as a need to reconnect to nature in the city of high rises.

 

Wanying Jin, born in 1996 specializes in portrait creation. She lives and works in Shenzhen, China. Since 2016, Jin dedicated herself to the creation and study of portraits, exploring the subjects of love and aspects of self-loss through this art form.

 

Unlike the conventional approach of basing creations on real people, the figures Jin paints are not based on specific individuals from the real world. However, viewers can recognize traces of themselves or others in these seemingly fictional figures. In her artistic practice, Jin uses a unique method of deconstructing and reassembling fabrics and second-hand clothing from daily life to dress the fictional characters in her portraits. This not only connects the fictional characters to the real world on a physical level but also deliberately strips away the commercial attributes and social labels that objects might carry by using simplified color blocks as accessories. This unique artistic effect makes her portraits a mirror for self-awareness and intimate Relationships.

 

Emilia Durka, born 1992 lives and works in Warsaw, Poland. Her art practice begins with the observation of landscapes, analyzed through the lens of a landscape architect. As an artist, she reinterprets these landscapes through drawings in pencil and pastel. These initial drawings serve as the basis for further development in the studio, where they are transformed through various techniques, including acrylic, oil paint, oil stick, and pencil.

 

The concept of her paintings is to capture momentary impressions, whether observed or remembered, and to immerse the viewer in the sensations of ephemeral landscapes. Some pieces function as visual diaries, capturing fleeting beauty, while others reflect human existence in the context of solastalgia, emotional or existential distress caused by environmental change. Through her exploration of place and memory, she uses the natural world as a cipher for human nature and emotion.