Opening Reception | Julian Tan: End Trances | Athenaeum Music & Arts Library

JULIAN TAN: END TRANCES
January 18–April 19, 2025
Opening Reception: Friday, January 17, 5:30–7:30 PM
Gallery Walk-through: Saturday, January 18, 11 AM, free
Artist Talk: Thursday, February 27, 6 PM reception; 6:30 PM lecture, $15/ 20/ 5
“The gaze is ours to give, and the journey is ours to take.”—Chat GPT analyzing End Trances

For his exhibition End Trances, Los Angeles–based painter Julian Tan has created a body of work centered on a blinding, mysterious light in the sky and humans’ moments of wonder, panic, and solace as they witness it. In creating these paintings, Tan was thinking about recent trends including the use of AI in art making, the vastness of knowledge at our fingertips in a world dominated by instant information, public fascination with unidentified aerial phenomena, and a pervasive sense of being at the precipice of something—whether the end of the world or a cultural shift we have yet to understand as a society. The unknown light offers us all a glimpse of our own humanity, a sublime focal point in each work that remains open to interpretation.

Julian’s work reflects his personal experiences and his fascination with the intersection of history, politics, and cultural change. As a second-generation Chinese American, the tension of not fully belonging has given him a unique perspective, one that informs his exploration of identity, culture, and the way people navigate a rapidly changing world. His paintings aim to capture the present while reflecting on the past and imagining the future, offering a lens through which viewers can connect with shared experiences and universal questions.

In his BFA studies at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, Tan immersed himself in foundational principles of design, art history, and critical theory, setting the stage for a serious pursuit of painting and a life as an artist. While the program introduced him to conceptual thinking and problem-solving, it was the painters in the program and the drawing classes that left the biggest impression on him.

He went on to earn an MFA at the University of California, Davis, dedicating himself to refining his techniques and developing an original visual language. Tan spent most of his time at UC Davis deeply immersed in understanding and creating abstract painting and sculpture. While he loved earnestly creating and looking at abstraction, he began questioning whether it could express the ideas he wanted to communicate. This challenge led him to rethink his approach and focus on work that carried more personal and cultural meaning. Painting became a way for him to say things he felt couldn’t be said with words. Now, working from his own studio, Tan is propelled by questions of the future, universal truths, and a desire to create works that capture a “mirror’s gaze of the near future.” Alongside his wife and dogs, Oso and Sumi, he continues his search for expression that resonates with universal truths about the human experience.