Anne Chu

Anne Chu�s figures are archetypical characters; pawns replayed and recycled in variations of classical storytelling. Cutting across time and culture, they form a blueprint of universal myth. Showing a goddess hovering above a miniature pagoda, Guardian House draws upon the Asian tradition of protective statues; a subject reverberated throughout global folk-lore. Casting the floating figure in iron, and the building in lightweight polyurethane, Chu uses the discrepancies of her materials to enhance supernatural sensation. Set with stage-like simplicity, Chu offers a minimal suggestion of operatic narrative, allowing viewers to form their own epic drama. Drawing her inspiration from ancient sculptures, such as funerary carvings from the Tang Dynasty, or the medieval friezes at Chartres, Anne Chu�s version of history is something more akin to fairytale. Primitively carved from wood, Chu�s invented relics capture a rich, timeless aesthetic, which makes their authenticity all the more believable. Tombstone For a King is a rough-hewn tableau depicting a �long forgotten� tragedy. Her clunky figures are careful study of craftsmanship, displaying a casual presence rarely found in ancient depictions, her washy pigmentation is convincing as battered remains. But it�s her dreamy colours, greys, pinks, and yellows, which give rise to girly romance: her �ancient dynasties� always seem strangely contemporary, bringing mystery and romance to life. Anne Chu’s work is impressed by a wide range of historical and cross-cultural influences. Her figurative sculptures possess an otherworldliness, transporting sense of time and place to create imaginary scenarios of suggested fantasy. Presented as a life-sized marionette, The Court Lady is a confrontation with the exotic and the theatrical. Her face a marred antique, her robe pristine and ageless, The Court Lady stands regal, drawing the viewer into a hypothetical realm that’s both archaic and serenely futuristic. Carved with a chainsaw and chisel from a compiled block of wood, Anne Chu�s Woman With Pigtails sits uneasily between contemporary caricature and ancient totem. Bearing all the scabrous marks of her making, Woman With Pigtails alludes to a contradictory primitivism, her crude rendering contributing to a sense of precious fragility. Staining the surface with oil paint and dye, Chu alludes to a ritualistic spiritualism, absorbed with dark tones both decorative and mysterious.