Mother, Call me

10.20.2025 - 10.25.2025

I can’t believe it’s been a full five years since I stopped paying attention. A lot has happened apparently. Last I checked in, moral and cultural relativism ruled the day. Now? You can say something is good or bad and that someone is wrong or right for thinking so. In fact, the more wrong you are, the deeper your conviction about such things will be. It’s refreshing in a “silkwood shower” sort of way. There was a long period of time where expressing earnestness and sincerity would get you labeled as some variation of monstrosity for having the audacity to think the things you were earnest or sincere about deserved attention over other quantitatively lesser things. Now? All labels are either useless or misapplied so we’re free, or at least the opposite of restricted.

A bunch of painters (I hesitate to say group for fear of overstating their level of organization, but a boundary was put around them i.e. “these and not those”) worked to make the best and most important paintings they’ve ever made. Working towards a goal is over rated but that’s what they did anyway. Then, once done (or close enough) they shared the results and collectively decided what (if anything) would get shown. It isn’t a collective, they don’t have a manifesto. They just made the work they wanted to make and pushed the editorial gatekeeping onto the group at large. In no particular order, they are:

Tiffany Gu

Ru Lyons

Corey Weiner

Jeslyn Yoo

Luochen Zhang

Fortune Fechtor

Rachel Zhang

Netanya Buenrostro

Grace Jin

Efrem Fitch

Yeung Yeung Li

Alyah Pfleuger

Yangjingyi Liu

Yujun Chu