In a fluorescent color palette that treads the line between candy wrapper appeal and toxic warning label, Jennifer Boyuan Han’s paintings and collages emulate the slick vector and gradient graphics that dominate this decade’s social media feed - the latest frontier for commercialization and propaganda. As bright and flashy as this style strikes our senses, we witness, upon closer examination, some deeply unnerving and increasingly relatable scenes that reflect alarming shifts in our modern psyches: the epidemic of smartphone addiction, the mechanization of human bodies, the manipulative homogenization of collective, and the alienation and suppression of the human spirit among it all. Han’s pieces illustrate dystopian parables - metaphors that stir the apprehensions already steeping in our 21st century hearts.

The main characters of these vignettes, the Humanbots, are smooth and featureless yet existentially expressive beings. Han manages to convey a variety of eerily familiar embodiments via such minimal form - slumped chins consumed in scrolling, cultish hands over hearts, and heads cocked in solipsistic detachment. And as we stare in, the Humanbots stare confrontationally back. In our personal reflection, we can use these blank characters as mirrors to witness our own embodied entanglements in their situations as well as our intuitive responses to break out. Their suspended narratives lead us to questions: What are the roots of the humanbots’ technological malaise? Will they ever be able to overcome their helplessness? And what would it take? We hope you’ll allow more questions to emerge upon your visit.

From November 22, 2023 to January 10, 2024, catch “A Select History of Humanbot” at OneHouse Arts Studio Gallery, located in 306 N. Garfield Ave #A3, Monterey Park, CA 91754. The gallery is free to visit - please text Rachel at (626) 236-7683 to make an appointment.

OneHouse Arts is an experimental art school dedicated to nurturing authentic creative expression in children across Southern California and beyond. Nestled in the heart of Monterey Park, CA, our Studio Gallery serves as a vibrant gathering place for emerging artists to gather and share their work. Through carefully curated exhibitions, OneHouse Arts Studio Gallery aims to inspire and celebrate the limitless potential within each of our minds.