Wunderblock

Qualia Contemporary Art is pleased to announce Wunderblock, a two-person exhibition featuring the work of Bay Area artists, Stella Zhang and Paul DeMarinis. The exhibition focuses on memory, with each artist’s interpretations and reflections upon the concept exemplified in the curated selection of works, encompassing 16 new and recent works by Zhang, and three works by DeMarinis. Multiple dimensions of memory are explored in the artists’ distinctive practices – personal and familial, public and historical, spiritual and subconscious. Throughout, the fragility and mystery of memories and their making serve as creative fodder for Zhang and DeMarinis, while the process of art-making itself becomes an exercise in remembering. The exhibition’s title refers to the classic “Wunderblock” toy used by Sigmund Freud to demonstrate the psychoanalytic theory of latent memory (“Notiz Über den ‘Wunderblock’ (‘A Note Upon the Mystic Writing Pad’)”), in which traces of unconscious memories reemerge in consciousness. Both Zhang and DeMarinis grapple with elusive memories held just beneath the surface, evading one’s ability to access them. The artists revisit and engage with the past from the perspectives of others and their long-forgotten experiences. Wunderblock brings together two artists’ experimental approaches to memory in equally experimental media. From Zhang’s beguiling two-dimensional and sculptural works to DeMarinis’s audio-visual collages and machinations, the exhibition encourages viewers to consider their perceptions of the past in new and unexpected ways.