The Transcendental Paintings of J. A Feng
A review of J. A Feng's show "Daylight Burning" on view at 12.26 Gallery Los Angeles from February 1st - March 1st 2025
As technology serves up new ways to mediate connoisseurship, a post-Covid audience has grown accustomed to the atemporal experience of art. In the normalized context of this disembodied reality, a painting that rewards in-person viewers feels like a rebellion. The work of J. A Feng exemplifies this experience perfectly. Photography may stand as evidence of her vibrant compositions, but to truly understand the complexity of each surface, and the color stories embedded within, it is necessary to put your nose right into the painting. Each work has a unique surface comprised of molten layers of color that separate and coalesce to allow glimpses of what lay beneath. At times a cool passage of mauve may reveal a subterranean layer of hot orange peeking through the cracks. In a surprising turn, the orange may burst forth to interrupt a passage of green. While Feng’s paintings are decidedly representational, the physicality of the surface contains a lingering poetry. Flecks and licks of color are expertly deployed in varying thicknesses that make each tactile surface dance with life to a polyphonic harmony of rainbow hues. Emerging from this world of color like a dandelion growing miraculously out of the sidewalk are neatly rendered details of flora and fauna which suggest the existence of a full ecosystem in this painted world.
J. A Feng’s latest show Daylight, Burning on view at 12.26 Gallery in Los Angeles, offers glimpses of this world that is equal parts mystical and banal, where flowers, birds, dogs, people, and even unicorns all have their place in the revolving door of existence. A strong theme that can be felt throughout the artist’s latest collection of images is the equality of all forms of life. In “Lateral Moves”, a crimson peacock fills the composition with its otherworldly tail in an homage to the mid-Edo period artist Ito Jakuchu who often rendered birds with dramatic plumage. The eye-catching design of Jakuchu gave Feng the idea that each feather could carry a heart shaped portal at the end, and so she crafted this painting to commemorate the minting of this new mythology. Entering in and out of each lime green portal is a representation of animal spirits who sport a set of wings to escort them in their passage. Here, a whale holds the same space as a beetle, and while one is shrunken and the other enlarged, they are both dwarfed by the presence of this storied bird with its wry smile and knowing eye, whose tendrils represent the veil between life and death. The whimsy of this work is centered in a deep reverence for the time that each life is able to share on this plane of existence before shuttling off to the mysterious other side.
In the painting “Embers”, another mythological examination of life and decay is depicted through the figure of a phoenix in repose. Coiled in center stage, the resting creature is surrounded by poppy flowers which were notably laid on tombs as offerings to the dead in Greek mythology. The comparatively muted palette is meant to evoke a sense that the usually flamboyant bird has come to the end of its fiery life cycle, and is curled in waiting, until eventually it is reborn. Here, the warmth that emanates from within the phoenix can be seen radiating just beyond the figure. As classical antiquity decrees, this bird is destined to regenerate, emerging from its own ashes to live an infinite amount of lives, and just as it will rise again, so will the sun. Knowing that this regeneration is inevitable makes this peaceful depiction of passing on into an emblem of hope.
Moths have also come to represent the mystery of metamorphosis that occurs between stages of life. You can see them floating through many of J. A Feng’s canvases - most prominently perched atop the vertical triptych “Side Eye”. Perhaps in a reflection of her recent experience clearing out invasive Buckthorn and Bittersweet plants from her partner’s home in upstate New York (in order to support biodiversity in the marshy ecosystem surrounding the property) this trio of paintings is overwhelmed by a giant thorny vine which obscures an aerial view of a golden river. The giant moth presides over vignettes of caterpillars munching through roses, eagles nesting, ducks keeping formation, and bears fishing. The diminutive size of each creature is a reminder that they are all subject to the transformation that moths stand for.
Scale of each subject is used in Feng’s works to hint that magic could be hiding under every fallen leaf, and this is most evident in the painting “Big Top”. In many cultures, fungi have come to signify a bridge between our mortal plane and the realm of spirits. In folklore they become a backdrop for fairies to dance around, and a quizzical reason for monks to laugh. In another mythological reimagining, the mushrooms of Feng’s paintings are having their own party under a giant kaleidoscopic canopy of another mushroom fitted with speakers. The revelry of this gathering gives Fantasia a run for its money as the scene scintillates with color and motion. The canopy created by the largest mushroom cap is one of the most densely constructed color stories present within the group of works, and lends itself to a mystery of how each hue came to be layered on top of each other to create the visual diapason that sets the jovial mood.
In what appears to be a tonal outlier at first glance, “Last Unicorn Painting” continues this play with scale. Here a hot pink egg carton containing newly hatched unicorns rests neatly on a bed of hay amidst discarded bottles. Fans of J. A Feng will note that this image is a sequel to the previous depiction of these same unicorns when they were not yet hatched. While the breadth of her paintings maintain a reverence for the equality of life, this painting exhibits a cheeky humor in showing a baker's dozen of the famously rare creature. Specifically, artists may feel a resonance with this image, as people who must maintain their unique attributes within a standardizing marketplace in order to survive. While being gathered into a carton may make the uniform existence of these unique creatures seem absurd, it is also a joyous sight to witness them together, and to fantasize about being the one that is bolting away into the forest where a new context will restore its mystery.
If ever you get a chance to view J. A Feng’s life affirming works in person, the pilgrimage is well worthwhile. Like the phoenix in “Embers”, each painting emanates warmth that could dispel the coldest cynicism. In times of struggle, both collective and personal, it can be a challenge to remain flexible and open to what dreams may come. These paintings, though small in comparison to the weight of the world, reveal the possibility for experiencing a radical joy that acknowledges sorrow. Paradoxically they are filled with life and movement, though they are objectively silent and still. This dichotomy of painting is reminiscent of the Tao Te Ching which reminds us in the meditation for returning to the root (roughly translated here):
Emptiness is the Way of Heaven,
Stillness is the Way of Earth.
Taking emptiness to the limit,
Resting the mind in stillness,
The perception of all things arise and fall together
And in their arising is their return.
Like flowers and leaves,
They grow, flourish, and then return to their root.
Returning to the root brings peace,
A peace that recognizes
No difference between self and other
And appreciates awareness
As completely perfect just as it is.
Without this recognition,
Perceptions are deluded and confusion rules.
With this complete realization of awareness,
Open-hearted compassion dawns
And brings life without limits.
The body comes to its ending
But nothing dies.
