Annesta Le "Inner Space"

About

The exhibition includes two of Le’s previously unexhibited floating neon structures, alongside three marker drawings, and a group of neon on wood panels. The neon on wood panels were made thanks to the Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant, which Le was awarded in 2017. She conceived the works early on but was not able to realize them until 2019. During this time, Le went through a significant physical transformation, which profoundly changed the way she views her body, herself, and womanhood. In 2019, Le returned to the studio and established a drawing routine, which created a pictorial practice that intersects with her more known and vibrant neon work. Whether sculpting, painting, or drawing, she uses her hands and approaches each piece in an open-ended, improvisational way until arriving at the final composition - a work reflecting her own internal image. Underlying themes in her work are psychological and explore the Jungian ideas of the self, shadow, and individuation. These ideas helped her find power and self through her art. 

Inspired by how light can affect an atmosphere and create a mood, Le utilizes neon in a non-pictorial way. Le handmakes all her neon-related works at a glass studio in Brooklyn and completes the compositions later in her studio. Krypton is rarely used in the retail application of neon, but Le uses the noble gas for its subtle and gentle aesthetic qualities. Glass, a hard yet fragile material, links to the psychological feeling of being exposed and vulnerable. Le forms tight and fluid angles while heating the glass tubes over the flame of a ribbon burner, and it becomes an extension of her limbs and thoughts. Le approaches each piece organically, and the result is a reflection of her inner space captured in physical form. Le’s art is dynamic in its creation - an open, experimental, unpredictable method, balancing the intentional and unintentional. 

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Annesta Le is a multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, NY. The iconography of her work is formed by drawing on psychological themes of the self, duality, and alchemy. Le presented her first solo show in 2014 at Parenthesis Art Space in Brooklyn, and has exhibited in various other venues in New York, including The Wassaic Project, David & Schweitzer Contemporary, Wayfarers, Storefront Ten Eyck and The New School’s Wollman Hall. Le has also exhibited at Museo Internazionale Italia Arte in Turin, Italy, the Zhou B Art Center in Chicago, Illinois, and was a featured artist on BRIC TV. In 2017, Le was awarded the Peter S. Reed Foundation grant.