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Exhibition

September 6 – October 13

 500 Broadway
Millbrae, California 94030

Going Outside: Kunlin He and Yi Xin Tong

Going Outside is a duo exhibition of work by Kunlin He (b. 1992, Nanchang, China; lives San Francisco, CA) and Yi Xin Tong (b. 1988, Lushan, China; lives Brooklyn, NY). These two exceptionally talented artists blend a variety of art genres from experimental documentary, music video and tapestry, to drone imagery, graffiti and Shan Shui drawing into expansive multi-media presentations. Their narrative and conceptual references are fluid, open-ended, transcultural and transhistorical. He’s and Tong’s resolve to find their own way and resist systems of control is bolstered by examples from the distant Chinese past: from the Xiaoxiang poetry and painting that pictured a retreat from civic life as an act of disagreement with the policies of the governing powers; to the benefits of reclusion, such as a solitary fisherman seeking solace in his boat, representative of the Confucian practice of withdrawal as a moral objection to the status quo. Yet, while there are layers of distancing in these works, there is also a deep desire to participate in a generation hyper-connected to the pulse of global culture—especially current theories on ecology and vernacular forms of youth media. Their work’s hybrid and collage aesthetic reveal qualities of agency and subjectivity born from the realities of their lives in the USA, and nurtured by childhood memories in China.

He and Tong strive towards liberation from constraints in very contemporary forms—with special attention to creating images of documented and invented landscapes marred by human interventions yet still regenerative and alive. Incorporating new digital technologies of the gaze into his explorations of the environment, He overlays fictions onto GPS-oriented scenes of place from the fire-destroyed semi-rural neighborhoods of California’s Marin County to a fictional biographical tour of his home town. Tong’s digital images document his new fascination for the fishing culture at little known sites along the shores of New York City. In both cases unruly, marginal and ravaged natural sites become symbols for the challenges of life’s journey. He’s and Tong’s works, while filled with feelings of displacement and a yearning to go outside and explore, refuse to give up on a sense of cultural belonging.

This exhibition is curated by Betti-Sue Hertz. She is a contemporary art curator whose work focuses on the intersection of aesthetics and social issues. She has extensive experience in Chinese contemporary Art, having organized major exhibitions in her role as director of visual arts at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, and as curator of contemporary art at San Diego Museum of Art. Hertz was a curator in residence at HOW Art Museum, Shanghai in 2018.

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Symposium

October 5

Asian Art Now: Curating, Collecting, and Writing The Contemporary 2018 Asia Week San Francisco Bay Area Symposium

1:30 pm–5:30 pm

Seating is limited. Please RSVP here: https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07efnjkee6b0496daf&oseq=&c=&ch=

In conjunction with Asia Week San Francisco Bay Area and jointly sponsored by NanHai Art, Christie’s, and The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the 2018 Asia Week San Francisco Bay Area Symposium Asian Art Now: Curating, Collecting, and Writing The Contemporary will convene museum directors, curators, collectors, scholars, and art critics, distinguished in their fields, for an informative and inspirational discussion on four crucial themes of contemporary Asian art: curating, collecting, research and criticism.

Panel One of this two-part symposium will delve into the excitement and complexity of the decision-making processes of curators and collectors (both institutional and private) as they selectively and perceptively acquire and exhibit contemporary Asian art in a global context. Devoted to unfolding the scope, perspectives, and major topics and issues of the current discourses in academia and art writing, Panel Two will examine the values and functions of research and criticism as well as their power and efficacy to shift cultural landscapes.

Agenda

1:00-1:30 Registration

1:30-1:50 Opening Remarks:
Edward Gui, Director, NanHai Art; Organizer, Asia Week San Francisco Bay Area
Ellanor Notides, Deputy Chairman Americas, Christie’s
Jay Xu, Director, The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

1:50-3:20 Panel 1: Curating and Collecting
Betti-Sue Hertz, Independent Curator; former Director of Visual Arts at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Michael Knight, Consulting Curator, former Senior Curator of Chinese Art at The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
Andrew Lick, Specialist of Chinese Works of Art, Christie’s
Karin Oen, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

3:20-3:50 Coffee Break

3:50-5:30 Panel 2: Research and Criticism
Richard Vine, Managing Editor of Art in America
Lilly Wei, Art Critic and Independent Curator
John Zarobell, Associate Professor, Department Chair of International Studies, University of San Francisco
Shengtian Zheng, Adjunct Director for the Institute of Asian Art, Vancouver Art Gallery; Managing Editor of Yishu

5:30-7:30 Opening Reception

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Exhibition

October 5 – November 9

 520 Broadway
Millbrae, CA 94030

All This

Chen Ruobing lives and works in Düsseldorf, Ma Shuqing in Paris and Beijing, Shen Chen in New York while Chen Qiang is based in Shanghai and Liu Xuguang and Du Jie in Beijing; all have shown internationally and all are contemporary abstract painters of the more reductive kind. They are also considered to be Chinese artists. But are they? The exhibition All This explores the ways they may and may not be. In a globally interconnected world (despite the current rise in nationalistic tendencies and xenophobia,) are there clear divisions? How does one identify Chineseness in contemporary art? Should there be other criteria?

This exhibition is curated by Lilly Wei. She is a New York-based independent curator, writer, journalist and critic whose area of interest is global contemporary art and, in particular, emerging art and artists.

Opening Reception

Friday, October 5
5:30pm-7:30pm

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