New artwork from the Hsu sisters of Exit Clov is on display at DCAC under the name “imoM.”

This year’s Wall Mountables at the DC Arts Center holds some true surprises. At first glance, this annual fundraising show looks like round two of Artomatic—with less walking, fewer bands, and of course, much less space. Stick around awhile though, and you start to appreciate the wealth of talent hanging side-by-side salon-style: some new faces, some familiar, and some touching and brilliant work.

A new project of Exit Clov‘s Hsu sisters called imoM, which stands for “in memory of Ming,” fills two squares of space with soft, colorful, enchanting collages. About 15 images are printed on notecards, and two are printed larger at 12 x 18”. Most mesmerizing are the depictions of flower vases using colorful shreds of text-filled paper, displaying varying sizes of letters and words like “anxiety” and the upside-down and cropped “calm” (pictured right). ImoM works are not created by the Hsu sisters themselves, but by their Dad, Ming-Yen Hsu, who died in May of last year after a thirty-seven year battle with a recurring brain tumor. Emily Hsu spoke to us over the weekend about why she and her sister decided to begin the imoM project.

Throughout his life, he loved making visual art, including collages, watercolors and pastels, and would spend many leisurely evenings and weekends in his basement studio. He always had a dream of sharing his art with more people in the form of greeting cards and poster prints, which is what we’ve started to do with imoM. We really regret that we weren’t able to get this started earlier when he was still around, because nothing made him happier than to have people enjoy his artwork. His style matched his personality and his perspective on life, which was very zen-like and innocent—he never expected more from life than life itself.