"Luminous Coordinates" Exhibit April 2-17th

Five artists of Korean heritage will be on display from April 2 – April 17 at the Hutchins Gallery at Long Island University's Post Campus in a new exhibit entitled "Luminous Coordinates" thanks in part to the sponsorship of Jason J Kim Oral Design New York. I have teamed up with the AHL Foundation to help make this important cultural event a reality.

The artists who will be featured are:

Zaun Lee, Sungwook Jake Seo, Zin Helena Song, Yusam Sung, JooYeon Judy Yang

I am so excited for the opening reception , which is Saturday, April 4, 3-5pm and hope some of you can make it. The address for the Hutchins Gallery is 720 Northern Blvd., Brookville, NY 11548. This exhibit is curated by Eun Young Choi and is meant to " explore human relationships and complex social phenomenon in visually colorful metaphors that range from minimalist abstract paintings to multi-layered collages."

Read more about the exhibition below and make time to check it out!

"The artworks act as interwoven pieces of the puzzle that combine Eastern and Western traditions as they interpret and define fascinating and intricate narratives of the human condition in order to find coordinates to anchor themselves within the ever changing contemporary world.

Yusam Sung’s “Arrows” series are austere minimalist paintings composed of frenzied and chaotic scribbles, which reference the uniquely defined directionality of arrows, yet explores the complexities of our lives and the world that may not be so unidirectional or orderly. Sung is interested in examining the duality of order and disorder inherent in human life and the challenge of defining what that means. His work often re-examines art history and reinterprets the purpose of familiar objects.

Zin Helena Song’s sculptural paintings are composed of vibrant geometric planes. Though abstract in their final form, Song’s paintings develop out of line drawings and are informed by the fragmented urban landscape. Song's interests lie in the interaction of color, shape, space, and geometry as the polygonal planes meet and create unexpected effects. Song views these phenomena as metaphors for people and society.

JooYeon Judy Yang's “The One Nation Banknote Series” is an ongoing project that deals with the idea of Utopia and the end or beginning of the world. The intricate collage made of real international banknotes act as currency for a fictional country called the One Nation. Taking its cue from myths, religious stories as well as reality, Yang's fanciful narratives utilize the utopian symbols that each unique bank note carries within them, the often hidden and forgotten historical social catastrophes and the exploitation of the social and economic weak.

Zaun Lee's paintings and drawings utilize the grid as a starting off point and a practical tool to efficiently shape and understand contemporary society in physical and symbolic ways. She considers the grid a compositional unit of individual pixels as it is often used in postmodern technology and internet media and by manipulating, reducing or expanding the grid units, she explores the dual functions of mathematic system of division and segmentation that simultaneously functions as connecters to unify individualization, differentiation, multiplicity, and divergence. Lee's beautifully sublime surfaces are filled with both architectural precision and expressive drips.

Sungwook Jake Seo's work is inspired by his experience in the laundromat. The daily chore can tell myriads of stories through its distinct textiles and colorful folds that come together to form a harmonious pattern just as different races, cultures, beliefs, and personalities come together and commingle in our society. Traces of people's lives and stories remain on the clothes and as these clothes are washed and neatly folded, they came to symbolize the people’s hopes and dreams for the future. Seo views the folded cloths as stand-ins for the diverse aspects of daily life that he encounters in the city.

Eun Young Choi is a New York-based independent curator, museum educator, artist and arts administrator originally from Seoul, Korea. She holds a MFA from the School of Visual Arts and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Choi has organized exhibitions and performance events in collaboration with various organizations including the New Museum's IDEAS CITY Festival, National Academy Museum, United Nations Headquarters, Asian American Art Centre and Arario Gallery New York. Her exhibitions and programming have been featured in the New York Times, New York magazine, VOGUE magazine, The Brooklyn Rail, Artcritical and numerous other media outlets. Her most recent project is a feature in Culturehall (http://culturehall.com/feature_issues.html?no=118)."

"NonSelf/NonSite" Exhibit at the Coohaus Art Mora

Another important art event sponsored by jason J Kim oral Design NY! This time it's a our-woman exhibition curated by David Cohen entitled  "NonSelf/NonSite" featuring the works of Carla Gannis, JeeYoung Lee, Katherine Mangiardi, and Yooah Park.

So wonderful to be working yet again with the AHL Foundation on this important exhibit.

 On view from March 19 to April 1, 2015 at the Coohaus Art Mora (547 West 27th Street, Suite 307, New York, NY 10001)

Read below for more on the artists and curator David Cohen! Hope you can all find time to check it out!

About the Exhibit:

Working in modes between photo-based or digital technologies and more traditional, handmade expression, the artists explore issues of the projection or negation of visage within found or constructed environments.

All of the artists have, at times, worked with their own facial features but in each instance in disguised, veiled, camouflaged or displaced aspects.  None of the artists appear to use themselves as means of self-exploration, but rather as vehicles for understanding the potential or actuality of perceptual diminution of distinct identity.  Of related significance, each artist deliberately blurs boundaries between traditional and innovatory mediums and accepted or subverted conventions of portraiture.

Carla Gannis, for instance, has throughout her career actively challenged the divide between digital media and hand-made modes of expression.  For many years she has used her “self” in conceptually and perceptually disrupted avatars as a disembodied presence in the virtual realm, often exploiting the psychologically disruptive relationship between physical and virtual supports.

JeeYoung Lee works in a literal and taxonomical space between mediums, constructing sculptural environments within which she places herself as a camouflaged protagonist.  Her large scale C-prints in turn occupy an ambiguous position between performance and fixed image, sculptural event and cinematic or painterly composition.

Katherine Mangiardi has worked within various mediums to explore the extension, displacement and diffusion of the body in elaborately skilled activities such as lacework and figure skating. She has acknowledged overlooked or undervalued female originality in the historic lace industry through veiled, historically costumed photographic self-portraiture.

The career of Yooah Park has assiduously drawn paths between national tradition and contemporary alienation, incorporating studio painting and ritualistic performance art.  There is an in-built tension in her painterly reworkings of her own photographs of self-conscious social players in which life-like individuality is undone through layered, veil-like whiting-out of faces.

— David Cohen —

David Cohen is editor and publisher of artcritical as well as founder-moderator of The Review Panel which takes place at the National Academy Museum, New York, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts, Philadelphia, and is podcast here at artcritical. He was Gallery Director at the New York Studio School from 2001-10 and art critic and contributing editor at the New York Sun from 2003-08. His books include “Serban Savu” (Hatje Cantz verlag, 2011) and “Alex Katz Collages: A catalogue raisonné” (Colby College Museum of Art, 2005).

The Smile Artist's Exhibit To See: Wonju Seo: Dual Identities

Another incredible art exhibit presented by the AHL Foundation and sponsored by jason J Kim Oral Design NY!

You simply can't miss the solo exhibition by Wonju Seo entitled Dual Identities: a contemporary interpretation of Korean Bojagi from February 11 to June 8 at the BBCN Bank Manhattan Branch. 

Seo’s boldly colorful yet delicate contemporary textile pieces are inspired and rooted in the tradition of bojagi making (patchwork). Combining traditional hand sewing, embroidery and silk painting techniques with contemporary mixed media collage techniques, the abstract, beautifully hand stitched textile works reflect the intimate daily life experiences of the artist while evoking a mirror through which the artist redefines herself as a contemporary woman who grew up under a patriarchy in Korean cultural. The artwork acts as a window through which Seo views, defines, and experiences the outside world around her. The unique geometric abstractions bring together the artist’s dual identities of being a Korean woman and a woman who is living in a western society.

This exhibition is presented as part of AHL Foundation’s Art in the Workplace Program which exhibits contemporary artwork within the work and business environment. BBCN Bank and AHL Foundation’s initiative to provide cultural enrichment to the local business community has received much applause from employees, customers, the local community, and art enthusiasts. The program aims to create greater exposure for talented artists while fostering easier access and support for the arts among Korean-American business leaders.

Date: February 11 – June 9, 2015

Place: BBCN Bank, 16 West 32nd Street, New York NY 10001

From the Artist himself:

"The main theme on my work is my root where I came from including the history of Korean women’s lives. My work answers several life-long questions of where I come from, where I am, and where I am going. The colors I have selected in my work represent my own visual language that contains various personal circumstances, life experiences and knowledge. The significance of the rectangular shapes of my work mirrors the window from where I would gaze and imagine the outside world as a child. In addition, the “window” evokes the freedom to explore the unknown world around me that so many Korean women who grew up in a traditional Confucian culture like me has often wondered about. From inside my window, I redefine my confidence and boldly throw open the window to the outside world and understand its limitless opportunities, just like the developments in the lives of contemporary Korean women. Certainly, my work brings together dual identities of being a Korean and being a woman who is living in a modern society. "

You can learn more about Wonju Sep on his website HERE.

Jensen Education Day 2015 In Pictures

It was such an honor to be a keynote speaker at JED 2015 in Chicago this year! I love how Jensen Dental made sure everyone could participate and learn from this event, even if they couldn't make it to the windy city, by holding a webcast of their lectures that was streaming live!

They really innovated this event by introducing a new education format to allow for further development of participants skills in a small group, interactive environment with some of the industry’s leading experts in the dental field.

Below are some more great photos from they day as I got to speak one on one with some very engaged students and colleagues in the field!