At first glance, Vian Sora’s works look like cosmic implosions. Flat, organic forms act as viewfinders for boisterous textures that resemble bubbling, oozing acid; wet, dense cement; and hazy cosmic dust. But Subduction, the artist’s first solo exhibition at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, does not speak of intergalactic or otherworldly realms. Rather, it pertains to the entropic and ever-changing geological processes of the earth.
From the Latin prefix, “sub-,” meaning under, the process of subduction occurs when two plates collide, causing one to thrust beneath the other before it is recycled into the earth’s mantle. Iraq, Sora’s native country, sits on a portion of the Arabian plate and forms part of a massive and complex zone of continental conflict. Drawing a parallel between Iraq and subduction zones as sites of collision, Sora’s works ruminate on the forces that feed the chaos and instability of the country. Echoing the way in which earthen matter is recycled post-collision, Sora contends that society, too, engages in cyclical processes of regeneration, rebirth, and replenishment.
Sinuous forms found in works such as An, Ki, and Subduction (all 2022), add the human body into this precarious mix. Heads, feet, and limbs morph into textured surfaces and compositions that reflect humankind in the face of social, ecological, and political adversity. But in materializing the entropic forces often unavoidable in life, Sora reminds us that all is not lost. Like two plates, chaos and instability collide with regeneration and rebirth. Regardless of which one plunges beneath, all will eventually be recycled, returning anew.
– Alitzah Oros
