"Keeping up One's Standard" - Oct 14 - Nov 7, 2004AAWAA Gallery Alternative Space, 136 15th Street, Brooklyn, NY
11215
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| Place: | AAWAA Gallery/Alternative Space, 136 15th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215. (Directions: F train to 4th Ave. Or R/M train to Prospect Ave.). | |
| Gallery hours: | Thursday - Sunday, 12 PM - 6 PM. By appointment only. | |
| Opening reception: | Friday, October 15, 2004, 6 - 8 PM with a Ramayana duet by Carlos Fittante and Robin Gilbert of Balam Dance Theatre. |
"Keeping Up One's Standard" explores perspectives
on self-image and how we effect and are affected by social pressures
and perceived
norms. The eight artists participating in the exhibition approach
this subject from diverse cultures and viewpoints and emerge with
compelling work of various disciplines in a wide range of media.
Seema Christie's paintings of decorative patterns and color
are meditative mark-makings inspired by her Indian heritage as
well as her ongoing life practice of yoga, meditation and holistic
healing. Tomoko Fujiki's spit bite etching examines
the effect of vice on the inner workings of the body. EunKyung
Jeong, of Korean descent, creates marks with her personal
textures, colors, and forms in quiet protest to commemorate the
plight of traditional womanhood in conventional society. An artist
also from Korea, Su Ok Kim's sensuous and tactile
paintings reflect invisible sensory perceptions and phenomena.
Yan Kong’s painting is an investigation into the complexity
of the pictorial space; of constant searching for new relationships
of forms and colors–juxtaposing and carefully considered
sometimes, and at other times, impulsive and half haphazard. Yan
is a naturalized American citizen from Hong Kong. Donna
Powers, an American artist, derives her narrative from
figure and landscape combined with random thoughts, moods, and
reactions. Her painting refers to an ancient bridge that was destroyed
in the early 90's, killing a young Muslim boy on his way to visit
his Christian girlfriend during the war in Yugoslavia. Marianne
Ramos' photographs are part of an ongoing series using
bread to create sculptures that remind us of our own physical forms
in order to provoke contemplation on the delicacy of our bodies
and the transience of life. Marianne is an artist of Filipino descent.
In her mixed media work, Heeseung Sung, of Korean
origin, uses materials and changes in scale to create an obsessive
documentation of the complexity of life, and by affecting the perception
of the real and unreal, she attempts to find a personal passage
into her own memory.
AAWAA is also pleased to sponsor a collaborative essay by Yvette
Castro, Rose DeLuca, and Mercedes Nunez delves into the extreme
beauty standards that are expected of women. In keeping up one’s standards,
the question is raised, “Are they really my standards?” Yvette
was born in America and is of Cuban-Korean ancestry, Rose is a naturalized
American citizen from Italy, and Mercedes is a naturalized American citizen
from Cuba.
AAWAA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports and promotes Asian American Women Artists in the visual, literary, and performing arts by organizing exhibitions, performances, readings, and by sponsoring educational workshops and seminars that help artists develop their careers. AAWAA was formed in 1998 to create an intergenerational, Pan-Asian network for emerging and established women artists. Every year AAWAA showcases a diverse group of artists of all ethnicities. Please visit our web site at www.aawaa.org for additional information about the organization.
