Emily Gui (born 1990, MA; lives CA) has a BA in Studio Arts from Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY and an MFA from University of California Berkeley. Selected exhibitions include Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and Kala Art Gallery, all Berkeley, CA; Print Center New York, NY; Root Division, San Francisco, CA; and Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA. Her work is in the collection of the Morrison Library, University of California Berkeley. Gui teaches at the Kala Art Institute, University of California Berkeley and University of California Davis.
Statement from the Artist:
This work is part of a larger exploration into grass, drought, water and wildfires. Having spent most of my life on the East Coast, I am fascinated with the variety of grasses, from Astroturf to native rye, in the drought-stricken West where I currently live. Last summer, I watched in horror as the hills burned around my home. Since then, I have witnessed them evolve from scorched black earth to bright green spouts to tall, yellow stalks. While grass is all around us, it is easy to ignore. I am interested in grass for the variety of interpretations it can elicit: a lawn in the suburbs is a class signifier. Astroturf is a blanket. A golf course is a sponge for water in a drought. A rolling green hill of native grasses becomes kindling in fire season. Lingering in complexity, levity and anxiety, this work poses questions without answering them. At the brink of familiar, the work encourages slow looking.