A group exhibition featuring works by Kim Beom, Kwan Sheung Chi, Lee Kit, Minouk Lim, Park Chan-Kyong, Pratchaya Phinthong, Ming Wong, and Yang Zhenzhong
Curated by Clara M Kim, Happy Together is the inaugural exhibition of Tina Kim Gallery’s new space on 21st street. The exhibition focuses on works made over the last 15 years, taking an ironic turn to reveal the inherent precariousness and fragility that holds Asia together, a continent with no shared language, culture or religion. The exhibition includes work by Kim Beom, Kwan Sheung Chi, Lee Kit, Minouk Lim, Park Chan-Kyong, Pratchaya Phinthong, Ming Wong, and Yang Zhenzhong.
Happy Together considers the diverse artistic practices coming out of Asia, against the backdrop of global forecasts that prognosticate the 21st century as the “Asian Century.” Through a discrete body of artist’s works, the exhibition attempts to demystify grand narratives and complicate the dynamics that shape everyday life, including the legacies of colonialism, the cold war, rampant industrialization, and more recently, heated territorial disputes. Happy Together borrows its title from Wong Kar Wai’s 1997 film of the same name to conjure the transformation of the public and private space amidst radical changes. Together, the artists in the exhibition from China, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand, represent a generation negotiating the contradictory intersection between political agenda and everyday reality.
Clara M Kim is an independent curator based in Los Angeles. Recent curatorial projects include Mark Bradford: Tears of a Tree at the Rockbund Art Museum (Shanghai); Paulo Bruscky: Artist Books and Films, 1970-2013 at Galerie Nara Roseler (Sao Paulo), The Mistake Room (Los Angeles) and Another Space (New York); the mid-career survey Abraham Cruzvillegas: The Autoconstruccion Suites at the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Haus der Kunst (Munich) and Museo Jumex and Amparo (Mexico); and An Album: Cinematheque Tangier, a project by Yto Barrada and Minouk Lim: Heat of Shadows both at the Walker Art Center. Kim was formerly senior curator at the Walker Art Center (2011-13) and Director/Curator of Gallery at REDCAT in Los Angeles (2007-11).
ABOUT TINA KIM GALLERY
Founded in 2001, Tina Kim Gallery is devoted to showcasing and introducing international contemporary art. The gallery is affiliated with Kukje in Seoul, South Korea, and regularly collaborates on organizing exhibitions, which feature emerging and internationally renowned artists and participates in more than twelve fairs. The gallery also works closely with Vintage 20, a private dealer specializing in mid century furniture and design.
Tina Kim Gallery’s new space on 21st Street has been designed by the architect Florian Idenburg, from SO – IL . The work of SO–IL is part of the collections of the MoMA, the Art Institute Chicago and the Guggenheim Museum, and has received numerous awards, including the MoMAPS1 Young Architects Program, the AIA Young Practices Award and the Emerging Voices award by the Architectural League.
