Angela Su - by Angela Su & Betti-Sue Hertz (Paperback)

About the Book

Angela Su: Melancholia is published in conjunction with the artist's eponymously titled first solo exhibition in the Western Hemisphere.

Book Synopsis

Angela Su: Melencolia is published in conjunction with the artist's eponymously titled first solo exhibition in the Western Hemisphere. The richly illustrated book provides an overview of the artist's work since 2013 which includes installations, speculative docufiction videos, and drawings and hair embroideries of composite cyborgian bodies. The title is a tribute to Albrecht Dürer's engraving "Melencolia I" (1514). In medieval philosophy, melancholy is associated with insanity, and late in the Renaissance it was also linked to creative genius. This print is a divining rod for understanding Su's varied practice. Weaving a spiritual dimension in works that veer into strange and uncomfortable spheres, she reenvisions interlocking symbolisms and expands into the mediums and realms drawn from the modern and contemporary archive.

About the Author

Angela Su holds degrees in biochemistry from the University of Toronto and visual arts from the Ontario College of Art and Design. She presented Arise, Hong Kong in Venice in the Hong Kong pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale and Lauren O--The Greatest Levitator in the Polyhedric Cosmos of Time at M+ in 2023. Su's commissioned work, Contagious Cities: Far Away, Too Close, was exhibited at Tai Kwun, Hong Kong (2019). Group exhibitions include Levyhalli (Suomenlinna, Helsinki, 2021); Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (Mexico City, 2020); The Drawing Center (New York City, 2020); Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (Beijing, 2020); Frieze London (London, 2019); Whitechapel Gallery (London, 2019); Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (Vienna, 2017); The 2nd CAFAM Biennale (Beijing, 2014); and the 17th Biennale of Sydney (Sydney, 2010). She published an artist novel, Bert (2013), and science fiction anthology, Dark Fluid (2017), where she uses science fiction as a tool for social justice.