FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“CalAsia”
Special Guest Curator Chip Tom
Featured Artists Ruth Asawa, Benny Chan, George Chann, Emily Cheng,
Aragna Ker, Ji-Sun Kim, Arthur Ou, Jung Eun Park, Tyrus Wong, and Rene Yung.
September 13 – November 3, 2007
Opening Reception Thursday, September 13, 7-10 pm
Closing Reception Thursday, November 1, 7-10 pm
1225 Hermosa Ave., Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
Tel, 310-798-0102, Fax, 310-798-0039
For enquires please contact Gallery Director, Alisun Woolery
E-mail, info@galleryc.com
Web site, http://www.galleryc.com
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Ruth Asawa, Plane Trees (T1472), 1965, lithograph.
CalAsia, a multi-generational group exhibition of Asian artists from California, will present art that spans the period from 1940 through 2007. While the combination of traditional Asian art forms with Western paintings styles has been a reoccurring theme for decades, as seen in the works of Tyrus Wong and Rene Yung, the issue of identity has played a larger roll in current subject matters of Asian-American artists such as Benny Chan and Aragna Ker. CalAsia will create a visual dialogue between generations and art forms, and address issues of identity and assimilation of Asian American artists.
Ruth Asawa was born and raised in Southern California. An artist at an early age, she counted Josef Albers and Buckminster Fuller as teachers. Asawa said, “There is no separation between studying, performing the daily chores of living, and creating one's own work." Asawa’s lithographs, like her sculptures, are free flowing, organic shapes. Mimicking Japanese ink, Asawa was also a prolific public sculptor, with wire, bronze, mosaic and other mediums throughout San Francisco, California and Arizona. Her works are included in the permanent collections of the Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art and de Young Museum.
Benny Chan has a background in architecture, which has aided his fine art photography with subjects such as Southern California traffic, airports and lonely Laundromats. With a degree in architecture from Southern California Institute of Architecture, Chan turned to commercial photography 14 years ago when he founded Fotoworks, a commercial photography firm. But it is Chan’s Laundromats series that evoke haunting images of not only stark beauty but social isolation.
Jung Eun Park’s “Paper Menagerie” series are floating sculptural flora and fauna shapes. Inspired by “The Glass Menagerie,” she identifies with the title character, Laura, and creates her own menagerie with paper. Drawn to paper for its fragile and ethereal nature, Park manipulates the medium to make it three dimensional with her own embossing method. Jung Eun Park has exhibited internationally in Korea, Japan and throughout the United States, specifically at the Pacific Asia Museum and Korean Cultural Center. She has been included in reviews in Los Angeles Times and New York Times.
