Auspicious
Jan 11 – Mar 1, 2025
Opening ceremony onJan 11, 2025 from 4:30 - 6:30 PM PST
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 19, 2024 (Palo Alto, CA) - Qualia Contemporary Art is pleased to announceNick Dong: Auspicious, an immersive solo exhibition of 13 works by the Oakland-based artist. Dong’s technologically engaged work reflects his Taiwanese-American identity and Tibetan Buddhist upbringing, referencing spirituality and heritage through a distinctly contemporary lens. At the exhibition's core are the first 11 works of an ongoing series of 88 works entitled “Auspicious 88”, which is set to be complete by 2028. Two separate series of pencil and ballpoint pen drawings on acrylic will complement this monumental project in the gallery. Nick Dong: Auspicious will be open to the public from January 11, 2025, to March 1, 2025, with an opening celebration hosted on Saturday, January 11, from 4:30-6:30 PM PST. For more information, please visit www.qualiagallery.com.
The primary focus of the exhibition, “Auspicious 88” takes as its inspiration the number eight and its auspicious nature in Buddhist teachings. Its significance is represented in the Eight Auspicious Symbols (ashtamangala), a set of visual symbols that are prevalent throughout Tibetan religious art and also appear in other religious traditions outside of Buddhism, such as Hinduism and Jainism. Dong reinterprets these classic eight symbols—the Precious Parasol, White Conch Shell, Two Golden Fishes, Eternity Knot, Treasure Vase, Victory Banner, Lotus Flower, and the Dharma Wheel—in service of his own auspicious creation. While much of the artist’s earlier work took a tongue-in-cheek approach, portraying the commodification, Westernization, and simplification of key Buddhist concepts like “enlightenment” with an ironic tone, Dong has since come to realize the powerful effect his work has on viewers from all backgrounds, even when conceived in jest.
The complex technological components of Dong’s work are immediately apparent in his installation and sculptural work, but the inner workings of each piece are expertly concealed so as to highlight their mystique. Beguiling viewers with their multimedia facets, moving parts, and audio-visual elements, the “Auspicious 88” works are the artist’s own form of phantasmagoria. The spiritual connotation of the series is underscored by its immersive, multisensory nature. Qualia Contemporary Art is delighted to put Dong’s artistic practice in dialogue with the tech community in Silicon Valley, showing how the intersection of art and technology is at the cutting edge of contemporary creation and discourse. The gallery looks forward to introducing visitors and the Palo Alto community to Nick Dong’s multidimensional works.
