Leon Tongwei Haouzi

Taxonomy of a curated group of individuals, 2019

In the context of a group show I co-curated, I explored the dynamic between artist and curator through the lense of taxonomy and chronological historical writing. The artists were incorporated through portraits distorted to fit the isometric grid, and arranged with questions.

Profession, signs, and species, 2020

Frame, string, silkscreen, inkjet print

Still image from Paralleled Uninstitutional Critique, 2019

Paralleled Uninstitutional Critique 2019 Live stream video, screening, survey, snacks, faculty and peers, from 3:00 to 4:00

My final review with faculty was live-streamed and screened for my peers for them to crit my work and discuss the institutional setting of critiques. The discussion was activated with snacks and a survey.

Still image from Study of an Open Studio, 2019

Study of an Open Studio 2019 Livestream video, hd video, artists and visitors

This video, composed of live-streams of cameras in other studios, and footage of artists preparing for the event, was screened on a large monitor in my studio, which is one of the first studio that visitors would encounter on their tour.

Study of a Studio, 2019

Aquatint copper etching

Artist Statement

Through the comparison of different fields of study and artistic practices, my work investigates how knowledge and meaning is created, and how these different processes can feed each other. This research appears in the use of different mediums with a focus on printmaking and time-based technology-driven media. The former is explored as a link between art and production and the latter is explored as a link between art and communication. Site and audience are intently considered in my practice. This appears specifically in works that attempt to deconstruct systems, through observation, mapping, and questioning. The concern with the audience is part of a larger inquiry on social bonds, also explored in deconstructing art-making as an individual practice and by exploring collaboration.

The site I am currently experiencing is the Parsons BFA Senior studios floor, imbedded in a larger academic institutional site. Working in this space has led me to explore the relationship between the space and me, between peers, and between faculty and students. The art institutional context creates an audience that is majoritarily endogenous which drives my work to be primarily for and about them.