Diyan Achjadi and Brendan Tang: Sugar Bombs Guest Curated by Kristen Lambertson

Sugar Bombs features new work by two of British Columbia’s exciting young rising artists, Diyan Achjadi and Brendan Tang. These artists combine traditionally minor fine art techniques with pop culture visual vocabulary, creating a fusion that is truly 21st century Canadian. The artworks in Sugar Bombs invite us into an imaginative terrain where innocence and beauty meet violence. Achjadi’s inkjet prints and Tang’s conceptual ceramic sculptures juxtapose childlike playfulness with worldly tensions. They feature candy-coloured rockets, imploding robots, and pink hued military parades. These elements direct our attention to the presence of militarism in popular culture, questioning its role in the construction of collective and personal identity. Borrowing and combining aspects of diverse cultures, from France to Indonesia, the works in Sugar Bombs critique racial and gender stereotypes and militaristic patriotism, signaling a possible reconfiguration of identity. Diyan Achjadi has a BFA from The Cooper Union in New York City and an MFA from Concordia University in Montreal. She is now based in Vancouver. Brendan Tang has a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and an MFA from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. He is now based in Kamloops.