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24/3/2006

The Far East

Bamboo Lane Gallery, Los Angeles

Daniel Lim, Melissa Sims, Rebecca Norton, Kimmy Kim, Jane Goren, Belle Yang

Bamboo Lane Gallery opens its spring exhibition season with The Far East, an exciting group show. Meet contemporary Asian and Asian American artists at our March 25, 2006 opening.

From Beijing to Los Angeles, the spectrum of contemporary Asian and Asian American arts has become more complex. Media culture, globalization, and technology have inspired and shaped not only the content, but the dissemination of Asian art. Bamboo Lane Gallery will exhibit paintings, videos, photography, performances, assemblages, sculptures and installations. Symposia and artist/audience forums will bring the art and ideas directly to you.

This group exhibition surveys the notion of otherness. Six Los Angeles artists explore The Far East, not only as a geographic location, but also as a cultural, spiritual and psychic terrain.

The gallery is located on the site of the once renowned 107 year-old General Lee's Banquet Hall, the oldest Chinese restaurant in Chinatown Los Angeles.

Daniel Lim's work matures at a time of the growing influence of the illustration and graphics . With the considerable painterly skill, Lim unfolds his emotional resistance and enlightenment through various narratives and executions. The large detailed cityscapes are painted with acrylic on wood panels, crowded with faces, billboards and flashy neon signs; yet, the paintings conjure an unmistaken sense of loneliness and fear. All the characters suggest the motion of escaping from the picture frames. We also include a series of Lim's meticulous color pencil drawings: portraits of young women tenderly rendered with softness, affection and innocence, which can easily survive any context.

Melissa Sims' photorealistic paintings explore the power of iconic cultural ephemera in constructing a splashy dialogue about time, place, and memory. In this exhibition, Sims creates playful images based on a series of photographs that she took in Chinatown: the facades of the buildings, the toys on the shelves and the hustle and bustle on the streets. Precisely painted with oil and acrylic on wood boxes and finished with layers of resin, Sims' work references her lifelong fascination in collecting evocative images of an earlier chic era.

Rebecca Norton's peaceful, intimate and mystical oil and acrylic work on canvas suggests Norton's poignant spiritual journey embarked after the loss of a dear friend. Her application of tigers and horses as motifs for this series reflects Norton's investigation into Eastern philosophy and spiritual tradition. On top of layers of paint, Norton uses vibrant colors of red, green, blue in the foreground and massive void in the background to conceive beautifully metaphoric and deeply meditative connotations.

Kimmy Kim's body of collage works investigates her identity as a Korean immigrant in a bold yet sensitive way. She draws inspiration from her love for fashion. Instead of using the found objects, Kim exclusively collects and recycles fashion pictures from magazines into collage art. Every collage work incorporates hundreds and thousands motifs: cutouts of lipsticks, outfits and underwear from magazines; and her own image often emerges from beneath. By doing so, Kim explores the idea of cultural homelessness or rather cultural aspirations via the inventory of Western lifestyle.

The primary objects in Jane Goren's assemblages are underwear, newspaper, old photographs collected from China, when she lived and painted there in 2000. Often framed within discarded windows, Goren's 3 dimension works render her observations into a sensuous, tender and humorous symphony of sights, scents, and emotions. Her tightly focused pieces register a highly personal response to the rich repository of source and punctuate a visual tension of nostalgia.

Belle Yang's art involves words and images. In this exhibition, Yang reveals her affection with Chinese folk arts and storytelling. Each gouache painting is accompanied by a commentary on the back to extend the meaning of the picture. What makes Yang's work extraordinary is her direct employment of traditional Chinese painting elements, as well as her intimate derivations of the stories from her own family. Embracing her heritage and transcultural legacy has been the motivation for her creativity.

Reception: Saturday, March 25, 2006, 7pm - 10pm

Bamboo Lane Gallery
418 Bamboo Lane (Chinatown) - Los Angeles
Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 12-6pm
Directions: The bamboo lane is between the Central Plaza and the Bamboo Plaza, parallel with Bernard St. and College St. The east entrance to the lane is beside the Golden City Restaurant on Hill St. The west entrance to the lane is beside the Phoenix Bakery on Broadway.

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