Charlene Tan
Research and Remembering: Reptile Ube, 2023
Ube (purple yam) powder, manganese violet pigment, acrylic paint, giclee print, di-bond, aluminum, and PVA glue
Charlene Tan was born in Houston, Texas but spent most of her childhood in the Philippines. She returned to the United States and settled in San Francisco to begin her education at the San Francisco Art Institute. Her diverse practice investigates topics such as assimilation, consumer culture, digital loss of imagery via facsimile, and post-colonial immigrant diaspora.
Her recent series of work utilizes traditional Filipino goods, including mung beans, tapioca pearls, powder made from ube (purple yam), and pearls. The materials are meticulously hand-glued, piece by piece, on the surface of wood panels in tight patterns that reference traditional Filipino tribal tattoos and hand-loomed weavings. The patterns utilize sacred geometry, and often reference the natural world, mimicking the scales of snakes, crabs, or menacing crocodiles.
Tan researches these patterns and uses the massive investment of time each piece takes as a meditation on her own heritage and culture.
Photos courtesy of Henrik Kam.
Left Image: Charlene Tan, Love Forever (Homage to Yayoi Kusama), 2010
ARTIST BIO
Charlene Tan is an artist who lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. Born in Houston,Texas she spent most of her childhood in the Philippines only to return to San Francisco to begin her education. Her work has been shown at Intersection for the Arts, Marin Headlands Center for the Arts, [2nd floor projects ], ampersand international arts, and Southern Exposure among other spaces. Her practice is diverse ranging from sculpture to performance, investigating topics on assimilation, consumer culture, digital loss of imagery via facsimile, and post-colonial immigrant diaspora.
