March 2022

Meet Me In Between is a curatorial project of two artists’ work; Ariel Zhang and Vivi Niya Gao. Exhibition presents the collected voices of Ariel and Niya to what happened in the ambiguous space between themselves and their physical world. It enables the fluidity of self-consciousness and interpersonal relationships, a sophisticated yet flexible state of staying alive.

t’s been a long time; will you meet me in between?

Ariel Zhang is an interdisciplinary artist based in Chicago. She migrates between different mediums such as painting, installation, sculpture and photography. Ariel’s artistic practice extends from the intangible, subtle experience and reflection gained from the external environment to the internal intertwined correlation between being and nothingness. She is currently a BFA student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is expected to graduate in 2024.

Vivi Niya Gao is an interdisciplinary artist. She works in a variety of different mediums, including sculpture, installation, photography, and painting. She graduated from the Contemporary Arts Program at Etobicoke School of the Arts, Canada. Niya attends the School of Art Institute Chicago, United State, majoring in sculpture. She is the founder and the curator of the Us Gallery Contemporary since 2019. Her work has been exhibited in group shows at Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary, the Albright Knox Gallery in Buffalo, the John B Aird Gallery in Toronto, Stephen Bulger Gallery in Toronto, Art Etobicoke in Toronto, University of Toronto–Trinity Review, and Unwashed, Kunstverein Bayreuth in German.