Butter Gallery presents two new exhibits opening January 8, 2010.
纸 (zhǐ) – Paper
Group exhibition of work on paper debuting 4 emerging artists from Hangzhou, China for their first US exhibition.
123PolutionSolution 2010
Selection from NYFA artist, Chin Chih Yang’s large scale found objects installation.
Curated by Inez Suen, sponsored by ICFAC (International Chinese Fine Arts Council)
About 纸 (zhǐ) – Paper
China’s art market, which has spread the idea of art as a strong social force within Chinese culture, has cultivated vast exposure for younger Chinese visual artists in the west through curators based outside the country. Fresh out of the China Academy of Art, these Western-influenced artists who have also trained within the Eastern Chinese tradition have given the Chinese art market – the world’s third-largest after overtaking France last year – a modern sensibility and expression primed for the international stage. “纸 zhǐ – Paper” – named for a primary media of this new art and in honor of the essential Chinese invention – pries open the minds of four of these young Chinese artists (Guo Tiantian, Qi Yuan, Su Xianpan and Zheng Tianming). These are artists who grew up in the new China, the post Tiananmen Square government that slowly recognized that stagnation equaled death. Appearing for the first time in the United States, these artists’ works reflect the evolving sense of individuality and personal identity formulated because of, or in spite of, a culture that still remains quintessentially Chinese.
About 123PolutionSolution 2010
Chin Chih Yang sees that pollution has become a pervasive part of our lives. His large-scale 123PollutionSolution 2010 project transforms thousands of used aluminum cans into a colorful landscape with its varied topography. Yang collected discarded cans found in New York City trash cans left by students and parents from a local School. Ubiquitous concavities and hills, slopes and peaks, the installation features cans that are bunched into various abstract and geometric shapes. The structure represents an otherworldly utopia constructed out of salvaged waste.
About Inez Suen
Born and raised into a family of art enthusiasts, Inez Suen has an eye for the obvious, the outrageous and the overlooked when it comes to discovering and promoting fine art. Moving to Miami after 10 years in the NYC art world, Suen now oversees and serves as director of the International Chinese Fine Arts Council (ICFAC). A native of Chicago by way of Taipei. She first learned about art from her grandfather, a Chinese painter and calligrapher. Suen holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois and attend of Masters Programs in the History of Design at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Parsons School of Design in New York. She is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
About ICFAC
Formed in 2006, the mission of the International Chinese Fine Arts Council is to create global understanding of the Chinese culture through art and music, to promote Chinese arts across the world and to educate and expose the general public to contemporary Chinese aesthetic. Overseen by Inez Suen, a curator with footholds in contemporary design and art, as well as Asia and the United States, the ICFAC fosters a sense of belonging and communication among the Chinese Diaspora on every continent, bridging the vast cultural gaps with the nation’s rich traditions and modern elegance.
About China Academy of Art
The China Academy of Art in Hangzhou China is the most influential academy of fine arts with the most complete range of degree offerings and programs of study in China. It houses a diverse pool of artistic talent, has a distinctive structure integrating theory and practice, focuses on human care and social needs, and combines modern technical and cultural disciplines with traditional artistic ones. The academy features the study of theories of fine arts, architecture, film and new media, which constitute the humanities and reflect the Chinese national spirit and creative theories of the era.
About Chin Chih Yang
Born in Taiwan, Chin Chih Yang has resided for many years in Lower Manhattan. He moved to the US when he was in his early twenties and attended Pratt, supporting himself by working various jobs. An accomplished painter, performance artist, video artist, and photographer, his interests in ecology and constructed environments have resulted in interactive performances and installations that have been exhibited in such spaces as: the Chelsea Museum, Queens Museum, the Godwin-Ternbach Museum, Exit Art, Flux Factory, the UN, and Union Square Park.
