Sweaty Wedding

Juntae TeeJay Hwang: Sweaty Wedding

Union Hall

1750 Wewatta Street, Suite 144, Denver CO, 80202

November 10, 2022-January 7, 2023

Admission: Free

Review by Paloma Jimenez

Everyone is invited to Juntae TeeJay Hwang’s Sweaty Wedding at Union Hall. Lined up against the walls, sweating under hot spotlights, confidently crafted ceramic forms emit the austerity and discomfort of ancient vessels in contemporary drag. Their probing gazes remind us that we are as much a part of the exhibit as the artwork.

A view of Juntae TeeJay Hwang’s exhibition Sweaty Wedding at Union Hall in Denver. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Juntae TeeJay Hwang, Jib Jib Queen, 2022, fired and painted clay, 8 x 10 x 16 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

These ceramic forms are caught in the midst of performing what it means to be a vessel in the most primal sense. Vessels were originally created to hold water and relied upon for sustaining life. Hwang’s artworks strain under the pressure to be useful—sweating out what they are meant to hold in. Jib Jib Queen is covered in clear droplets and dons a furrowed brow, seemingly overwhelmed by the weight of its own top-heavy shape. The emotion behind this functional failure exposes the even more immense pressure of societal expectations. 

Juntae TeeJay Hwang, Lady Money Bag, 2022, fired and painted clay, 7 x 9 x 14 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Through repeated formal elements, Hwang’s collection reads as members of a family, but can also be viewed as the many versions of self. Candy-colored droplets and expressively frilled shoes lend an unexpected pop of frivolity to the base forms’ earth tone glazes. The different characters in attendance hope to present their finest selves, yet their attempts to please are blatantly obvious. Lady Money Bag’s chartreuse sweat belies an otherwise aloof demeanor. It is both a money-filled purse and an iron kettlebell; work and wealth existing hand in hand.

Juntae TeeJay Hwang, Sassy Lolo, 2022, fired and painted clay, 8 x 10 x 16 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Hwang explores the complexity of performing the different roles we must play in life, which can range anywhere from profound to humorous. The phallic Sassy Lolo, teetering on a set of shapely legs, looks like it might be caught in the middle of landing a death drop at the disco. Glistening golden sweat droplets remind us that being beautiful has never been easy. As an artist, a member of a large family, a consumer, a cheeky friend, or a loyal lover…you better work. With his bold red maker’s mark never far from sight, the artist’s own physical and emotional labor insists on being recognized. 

Juntae TeeJay Hwang, Jolly Goblin, 2022, fired and painted clay, 8 x 10 x 16 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

A group of small ceramic works by Juntae TeeJay Hwang on display in a vitrine. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

In one corner of the exhibition rests a more subdued group of white ceramic vessels— their ghostly white glaze indicating a gathering of past ancestors. Each piece possesses a singular self assurance, only displaying the faintest hints of unease. The distinct form of Jolly Goblin stands proudly on feet adorned with sparkling pink heels,  and a robust lid doubling as a hat. In contrast, smaller amoebic forms huddle together in a glass vitrine towards the back of the exhibition, suggesting a gathering at the kids’ table for a serving of primordial soup. Their oozing molecular shapes are in a state of transition, identities still uncertain. 

Juntae TeeJay Hwang, Confetti War, 2022, fired and painted clay, rubber, and polyurethane on stretched canvas, 24 x 24 x 5 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Relief works that hang on the walls hint at where Hwang’s forms might exist in a larger context. Individual perceptions of self fade away in light of the longer geological timeline. Confetti War evokes mold in a petri dish or an aerial view of a landscape. Neon droplets fall like acid rain around a group of pastel breast-like mounds. The piece is at once dissolving and emerging. It holds both a beginning and The End inside its four walls. 

Juntae TeeJay Hwang’s ceramic works in vitrines in the exhibition Sweaty Wedding. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Juntae TeeJay Hwang’s Sweaty Wedding unveils the performative potential of ceramics. He juggles tradition with irreverence and organic with artificial. His work is never one thing or another, choosing instead to travel through the most difficult and earnest space in between. 

Paloma Jimenez is an artist, writer, and teacher. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States and has been featured in international publications. She received her BA from Vassar College and her MFA from Parsons School of Design.