NYC Chinese Cultural Events and Art Exhibitions: August 19 – August 25, 2016

In addition to the listings below, one local artist is participating in group show:

Catherine Lan and Ginger Chan are part of a new media group exhibition, Always On Never Off at Macy Gallery, Suite 544 Macy Building, 525 120th Street, Teacher’s College, Columbia University.  The opening reception is 8/12 from 5 – 8 PM.

Ping Wang exhibits his photographs inspired by dreams and the surrealist movement which use strong lighting and symbolism to create an atmosphere of psychologically charged unease at SVA’s In Cylinder group exhibition 8/13 – 9/10.

Opening and Newly Added:

1) Li Qiang: Solo Show (Klein Sun Gallery, 8/4 – 9/3) – This solo exhibition presents selected works from the artist which were created in 2015 and 2016. In these recent works, Li Qiang focuses on images of political figures, activists, and books. Through breaking up image and text from different magazines, Li Qiang uncovers the figure of several political activists. In another work, Ocean (2015), the artist stacks layers of magazine fragments, creating an image of ocean waves, dissolving the original information and meaning from the magazine.

In the process of tearing, Li Qiang reveals to us that information, knowledge, and the truth can always be reconstructed and distorted, and therefore may have exacerbated the confusion inherent in today’s information age.

Head Portrait, 2015
Magazines
38 5/8 x 32 7/8 in. (98 x 83.5 cm)

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2) Tang-Wei Hsu – Crystal Cave (Asymmetrik Gallery, 8/10 – 8/24) – Crystal Cave is a part of residency program at ASYMMETRIK Gallery in which Tang-Wei Hsu took part in. Through on-site creation, the artist intends to show us a crystal-like visual illusions drawn from his imagining of pressure, temperature, and time emanating from a crystal cave. By so doing, an interesting aura and visual power forms within and outside, bring about a sensible interaction with the viewers.

For this exhibition, Hsu also produces a series of paintings entitled Invisible Mountain.  The artist attempts to create scenes resembling natural environments inhabited by busy insect-like creatures with mechanical features and further draws a number of entomo-creatures with mechanical details shuttling in the scenes.  His unique style and deliberate visual disposition make the Invisible Mountain look like some unknown kingdom in the real world; moreover, the artist’s imagination apparently becomes more realistic because of the compact spatial composition. 

Invisible_Mountain 《大無極山》

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3) Sue Tsai – Misadventures of the Heart (208 Bowery, 8/11 – 8/28) – A gallery and pop-up shop by local artist and designer Sue Tsai.

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4) Zhai Liang: Living Room (Fou Gallery, 8/18 – 10/9) – New works by Zhai Liang are drawn directly on the gallery’s walls turning them into large chalkboard murals.  The works reveal the artist’s thoughts and fantasies surrounding the interchangeability between public and private spaces.

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5) Joanne Wang – Calligraphic Nature (Gallery 456, 8/16 – 8/22) – Born in Beijing, China, Joanne Wang developed an interest in Chinese poetry, art, and calligraphy at an early age.  Since coming to the United States, she has drawn artistic inspiration from the Western tradition.  In her work one sometimes sees the serenity and tranquility of Chinese traditional painting, and other times an adventurous foray into abstraction, as a mode of aesthetic freedom.  Individual works arise as the result of particular occasions and emotions, which explains the wide range of subjects and moods, from classical serenity to modernist dynamism.

6) Wenjie Han: Scenes  (Cloud Gallery, 8/25 – 9/1) – The first New York City solo show of New Jersey based artist Wenjie Han. Han started his photographs and paintings without a specific plan or target, seizing the moment by virtue of those scenes merely touching his personal memories of the past. Han’s works present an illusion when he “saves” the scenes in reality or in computer game, which reveals thousands of lonely individuals’ solitude.

Wenjie Han, Scenes No.3

Closing soon: