Date: August 14 – September 11, 2010
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 14th, 4pm – 6:30pm
Gallery Hours: Monday – Saturday, 12-6pm
Artists: Charles Yuen, Dinh Q. Le, Dorothy Imagire, Eunjung Hwang, Howardina Pindell, Nancy Hom, Roger Shimomura, and, Sin-ying Ho.
In collaboration with the Artists Alliance Inc. and Asian American Arts Centre is pleased to present an exhibition entitled “Eight Artists: from the Archive”, which will be installed in the Cuchifritos a gallery/project space located inside the Essex Street Market from August 14th – September 11th 2010. This exhibition is part of AAI’s Art(Inter)Actions program that is dedicated to fostering the opportunity for development of alliances and connections between art institutions in a variety of communities.
This exhibition of Eight Artists from the Archive brings a few chosen artists to the public, focused on those presented in AAAC’s digital archive – artasiamerica.org. The best way to present a context for such art at Cuchifritos is through the presence of the digital archive. Making this resource available on site and demonstrating the ease of tapping into it. AAAC has been gathering its physical archive of images and documents of Asian American artists for over two decades, and a good portion of this resource is now online. Go to artasiamerica.org and/or come to the gallery and ask for a tour of it there.
ARTISTS:
Dinh Q. Le is a fine arts photographer, best known for his woven-photographs. Growing up in Vietnam, Lê watched his aunt weave grass mats. Lê used these memories of weaving as a metaphor for his hybridized identity. While Lê produced works in a myriad of different media, this inventive photo-weaving technique became the hallmark of his oeuvre. Deploying his photo-weaving technique, Lê fused together iconic images of the war, from found and personal photographs, and film stills.
Dorothy Imagire’s work has addressed issues of Asian American identity through installations on the Japanese American concentration camp (history/family memory), and mixed Japanese American identity since 1989. Recently, she has explored Asian American female stereotypes through her vampire series and other “exotic” fetishes.
A Soho-styled slickness is not what Charles Yuen’s paintings are ever about. The influence of the New York art world feels distant; even someone like Francesco Clemente whose sensual figuration and Eastern leaning seem akin. What Yuen eschews is gorgeousness. It’s not to say that his pictures aren’t beautiful, but Yuen seems to be saying that too much attention to beautiful craft might lead viewers away from deeper meditations on tensions in every canvas, large or small. Informed by archetype, Yuen invites us to participate in ritual space.
Eunjung Hwang‘s work represents unique combinations of digital and physical form. Her projects start by creating a variety of characters derived from personal dreams and structure interwoven by dream logic. This method attempts to formalize a larger and more intangible narrative. The works are meant to be enjoyed like rhythmic structure of music rather than as a readable story.
Howardina Pindell, an African American artist with strong ties to Asia as well as being significantly influenced by Asia. Known for the wide variety of techniques and materials used in her artwork, Howardena Pindell has created abstract paintings, collages, “video drawings,” and “process art.” Her work explores texture, color, structures, and the process of making art; it is often political, addressing the issues of racism, feminism, violence, slavery, and exploitation.
Nancy Hom, a long time friend who began with the Asian American Movement in NY, giving direction for Kearney Street Workshop in San Francisco for many years, and evolving in her life and work to become active in the practice of American Buddhism.
Roger Shimomura‘s paintings, prints, and theatre pieces address sociopolitical issues of Asian America and have often been inspired by diaries kept by his late immigrant grandmother for 56 years of her life.
Sing-ying Ho, a ceramicist from Hong Kong who uses historical and new digital images in her work, referencing a global culture emerging from the collision of East and West.
The tours and presentations will welcome students, educators and general public to Cuchifritos and the Lower East Side, introducing visitors to the neighborhood that AAAC calls its new home. We will be available to give tours and answer questions from the public, as well as the press. Tours will include local available highlights such as Ming Fay mosaic tile art in the Delancey Subway Station, located underneath the Essex Street Market. Cuchifritos is located in the market, which is located within the same city block as AAAC office space, which houses our physical archive.
Opening reception will be accompanied with live music by 7 Tier Tien and complimentary food & drink.
Come and join us! Exhibition is free and open to public.
artasiamerica is a professional digital archive of Asian/Asian American contemporary visual artists. It is a historical image & document archive specialized in Asian American visual culture from 1945 to the present. Currently emphasis is on artists participating in Asian American Arts Centre (AAAC) exhibition program initiated in 1983.
artasiamerica is a high-quality research tool accessible globally to scholars, historians, curators, artists, as well as an educational resource for college and high school students, teachers, and community members.
Asian American Arts Centre is now located in the Lower East Side:
111 Norfolk Street, Ground Floor, New York, NY 10002.
Tel:212.233.2154Email: aaacinfo@artspiral.org
Website: www.artspiral.org Digital Archive: www.artasiamerica.org