Yiwei Leo Wang: #SOFAB Quilted Emptiness

#SOFAB Quilted Emptiness is a multimedia installation composed of hanging round quilts. Rather than providing viewers with a quilt’s typical purpose of blanketing, here their warmth is projected as the fleeting comfort of partying. As a retreat from everyday issues, partying and celebration may seem trivial, but such moments of escape can be critical for survival. This installation evokes the dazzling communal experience of clubbing, creating a temporary utopia before we face reality once again, this time with the support from our community.

Yiwei Leo Wang was born in China and educated in the US. He is a millennial world citizen of the digital age, and witnesses the influence of social media, clubbing culture, and the dual stigmatization with celebration of “Made in China”. His work address key phenomena in today’s social media and pop culture pertaining to issues such as body image, gender stereotypes, the illusion of nightlife, and the power dynamics of intimate relationships. With boutique elements, bright colors, and synthetic materials, he projects fabulosity in his works by filtering them through an “ideal” persona.