New York-based Von Hyin Kolk and Boulder-based Madison Warp join forces to present Infinite Valley, a duo exhibition presented by Tchotchke Gallery. Opening on June 27th, Kolk and Warp delve into the profound exploration of memory, self-reflection, and the intricate nuances of human existence.

Kolk, known for her works on vinyl, invites viewers into a realm where multiple events, actions, and thoughts coexist simultaneously. Describing her approach, she shares, "My paintings are interstices. They begin as whole images but fissure into paradoxes - fantastical realities, corporeal memories, fabricated histories. The paintings themselves mimic the fractured and ever-evolving qualities of my constantly assimilating self. Fragments collide and dissolve into one another, devouring and abstaining, weaving in and out of the surface." Through layers, textures, and compositional tension, Kolk's paintings create an interplay of movement and stillness that captivates and engages the audience on a perpetual journey of discovery.

Complementing Kolk's immersive narratives, Warp presents a series of paintings that confront memories of emotional trauma and explore the path of self-healing. Warp's introspective approach revolves around self-portraiture, deliberately avoiding direct eye contact with the viewer. "My current series deals with confronting memories of emotional trauma, navigating the complicated road of self-healing, and hopefully, the ability to release and move forward," shares the artist. By placing the viewer as a participant in the scenes, Warp allows for personal projection and empathetic engagement. Set within the intimate spaces of her bedroom and home, her paintings become vessels of personal dialogue, lived experiences, and trauma-fueled imaginative projections. Warp elaborates, "This environment provides me with every object I require to tell the story of this time in my life. It grants a level of intimacy necessary for this extremely personal work."

Infinite Valley brings together the creative visions of Von Hyin Kolk and Madison Warp, highlighting thematic intersections of memory, self-exploration, and the uncanny. Both artists challenge conventional boundaries through their distinct techniques, inviting viewers to delve into liminal spaces between dreams and reality, nostalgia and surrealism. The exhibition aims to create a profound exploration of the human experience, where fragments of self collide, dissolve, and intertwine within the artworks.

Infinite Valley will be on view from June 27th, 2023 through August 12th, 2023 at Tchotchke Gallery, located at 311 Graham Avenue. The opening reception for the exhibition will be held from 6 - 8 pm EST on Tuesday, June 27th.

About Von Hyin Kolk

Von Hyin Kolk’s paintings address the tensions and idiosyncrasies of her multicultural existence. In her work, she draws upon her experiences as the daughter of Chinese-American immigrants. Her visual memoirs and depictions of nostalgic Cantonese dishes juxtaposed with uncanny scenes and environments are the vehicles through which she explores the margins between memory and fantasy. Through the maximal collaging of vignettes from her childhood and current daily life, she chronicles the process of assimilation as it occurs within the creation of the paintings themselves. Furthermore, her choice of material also invokes the interstice of the assimilated experience: she mainly paints on vinyl, a synthetic material that is largely manufactured in China and exported elsewhere. By using the traditional process of canvas-stretching on the vinyl, Kolk imposes a naturalization onto the material in order to synthesize a familiarity; but the chemical makeup of the vinyl remains an unprecedented and unorthodox painting surface—mimicking her concurrent realities as both a homogenous and divergent identity.

About Madison Warp

Madison Warp’s paintings play at the fringe of dreams and the waking world, with as much detail focused on capturing the reality of the domestic scenes as the emotive projections that she lays upon them. Working in eye-avoiding self-portraiture and vignettes of intimate ephemera, Warp remedies her trauma rooted in patriarchal forces and creates lucid spaces for empathy and catharsis. In marrying her oil painting and drawing practices,  her scenes straddle vivid reality and smokey fantasy, combining the fantastical narratives that her trauma inspires and the spaces where she seeks to heal. The paintings burst at seams with staticky energy,  exploding into the mind of their beholder and eliciting a personal connection. Through sharing her world’s peculiarities- the White Claws that quell her anxieties, the fish pregnancy that symbolizes her journey through shame, the people that have grown into memories and shrouded figures- Warp tells stories that make her trauma quiet yet profound, universal yet rare, and a burden no longer hers to bear alone.