Faces + Traces

Inside the show, cries of “that’s so cute!” can be heard like clockwork, but the last and most resonant time I heard this cry came from someone outside it. Following the voice, I left the gallery and quickly stumbled upon the source of the reaction — a window display of adorable plushes, drawings, and figurines from the “Oriental Gift Shop” located within the same mini mall. Little animals and people with enormous bubbly eyes, pastel colors dominating the palette, an abundance of winking; the same products that cover this window have become ubiquitous to the Western eye. Precious cargo from East Asia, this style of imported cuteness is frequently donned by westerners as “kawaii” or “ke’ai” — the Japanese and Mandarin words which are often translated reductively into the english “cute.”

However, the relationship between Teng’s show and the "Oriental Gift Shop" isn’t one created exclusively through coincidental proximity — the two engage in a direct dialogue. Utilizing a similar visual language to the one found inside the shop, Teng interrogates her persona using the same style that in many ways has boxed her in, effectively translating her conflict between internal and external self into a material world that exists within the walls of Whaam Gallery.

The show is undoubtedly cute, but to only call it this is reductive in the same way that translating the highly complex “ke’ai” into simply “cute” is. An audience’s tendency to generalize is precisely what allows Teng’s show to thrive, so come for the cute, but challenge yourself to see through it to find the essence of Teng.