Steph Huang: There is nothing old under the sun at esea contemporary

esea contemporary presents the first solo exhibition by Steph Huang, a multidisciplinary artist and winner of the Mark Tanner Sculpture Award 23/24. 

There is nothing old under the sun is a multilayered exploration of the ethics and history of food production and consumer culture through storytelling with objects. The work is inspired by Huang’s upbringing in Taiwan as well as her travels and professional experience as a chef.

The artist describes materiality as a key focus of her oeuvre, and it is perhaps this sensitivity to material that earned her this year’s MTSA. Her broad skill set includes printing, glassblowing, casting, welding and woodwork all of which are showcased in the exhibition. 

Huang’s installations are filled with smaller elements, satisfyingly connecting the pieces into a larger whole. The textures, colours and materials chosen create a tension between the intended use of some of the objects and the configurations they’re found in. The resulting work is not prescriptive but alludes to ideas of food and production in ways that can organically trigger the viewer’s own musings on the subject.

In practical terms, the installations in There is nothing old under the sun are minimal yet rich in detail. Glass gherkins rest on a pastel green gauze, on top of a pickle tin all presented to the sounds of a street market in I’m in a pretty pickle (2024). Elsewhere, a large pale pink board with rounded cutouts is the backdrop for a collection of smaller, carefully arranged objects, from bronze branches to wax shells.

Huang cites her Taiwanese upbringing as well as her decade-long residency in the UK as central to her process of generating ideas. Far from only basing the work on herself, she states that “field trips are essential, and they also keep my work grounded. Instead of forming an artwork on myself, I create something that reflects the surroundings and resonates with the people.”  Walks through the street markets of London, Paris and her native Taiwan have all fed into the creation of this body of work. 

As part of the MTSA’s National Touring Programme, There is nothing old under the sun was first exhibited at Standpoint in London. Following the show at esea contemporary, the exhibition will tour to Cross Lane Projects in Kendal in March 2025.