I am participating in a group exhibition in Flinn Gallery, which is housed in Greenwich Public Library in Greenwich, CT.  The opening is Thursday, October 27, 6pm-8pm.  I am also giving an Artist Talk on Sunday, October 30 at 2pm at the Gallery.  The exhibition is on October 27 – December 7, 2011.

DIRECTIONS
Train Travel
From New York City: Take the Metro North ”New Haven” Line from Grand Central Station. Get off at Greenwich.  Trains run about every 30 minutes during week days and every hour on weekends and holidays. It is a short walk from the train station to the Library.

Driving Directions
From I-95 North: Exit 3 ”Arch Street” , turn left on at light. Pass under the Metro North Railroad bridge. Go over Railroad Avenue at the stoplight. Continue on Arch Street and turn right onto Sound View Drive. At the top of the hill bear right and continue on to Fiield Point Road (Town Hall will be on your right). At the second traffice light, bear left to West Putnam Avenue. The Greenwich Library is on the northeast corner of the intersection.  The parking lot is on the right rear of the building. The Flinn Gallery is on the second floor of the library.

Hours 
Sunday – 1:00PM to 5:00PM
M-T-W -F 10:00AM to 5:00PM
Thursday – 10:00AM to 8:00PM
Saturday – 10:0AM to 5:00PM

One of the leading riders at Tour de France, Andy Schleck cheered on by the fans from Luxemburg

Chaque Juillet, j’attends avec une grande impatience l’arrivée du Tour de France, la plus grande et la plus célèbre (aussi la plus difficile) course cycliste du monde.  Normalement je ne suis pas une grande fan de sport (bien que je fasse du vélo régulièrement), mais j’essaie de regarder chaque moment pendant toute la durée du Tour (une gageure, étant donné que la course dure 4-6 heures chaque jour pour 3 semaines).  J’ai découvert le Tour quand j’essayais de trouver quelque chose d’intéressant à la télévision en me remettant de mon opération du ventre à la maison.  J’ai d’abord été fascinée par l’étrangeté absolue du cyclisme: avant je pensais que le coureur le plus rapide sur la route gagnerait toujours.  Pas si simple!

Contrairement à la célébration de la gloire d’un vainqueur individuel, le cyclisme est absolument un sport d’équipe.  Il y a 9 coureurs pour chaque équipe dans le Tour de France (chaque année les organisateurs invitent 20 – 22 équipes d’élite du monde). L’équipe court pour soutenir le capitaine, qui a les meilleures chances d’être le leader du classement général à la fin de l’épreuve et qui gagne le maillot jaune, l’un des symboles les plus émblématiques du Tour de France, à Paris.  Les autres coureurs appelés les «domestiques» font tout leur possible pour rendre le trajet plus facile pour le leader de l’équipe: ils courent à l’avant pour protéger le leader du vent et pour founir le sillage (un nouveau mot que j’ai appris du Tour); ils vont vers les voitures des équipes qui suivent le peloton (une groupe majoritaire de coureurs qui demeurent ensemble durant la course et qui essaiyent toujours de parvenir à s’extirper des «échappées») pour porter de la nourriture et de l’eau.  Le plus expérimenté et le meilleur grimpeur d’entre eux (appelé le «superdomestique») accompagne son leader dans les étapes de montagne, où la course se décide souvent, pour fournir le même service de soutien.  Puis il y a des spécialistes dans chaque équipe: les sprinteurs, les grimpeurs, les professionnels de l’échapée, ce qui complique les stratégies de chaque étape, dont le terrain varie quotidiennement.  Il y a aussi d’autres prix très prisés: le maillot vert pour du meilleur sprinteur, le maillot blanc à gros pois rouge du meilleur grimpeur, le maillot blanc du meilleur jeune (25 ans maximum) au classement général, le dossard jaune pour le classement par équipes, et enfin un Super combatif, le coureur le plus combatif pendant toute l’épreuve.  Le cyclisme ressemble à un jeu de stratégie où le directeur de chaque équipe doit caculer differentes stratégies pour chaque coureur tous les jours.

Mis à part le plaisir évident que le beau paysage français offre le long du parcours, les spectateurs peuvent apprécier la forme surréele du peloton, qui ressemble parfois à une sorte d’expérimentation physique tandis qu’ils coulent autour du rond-point et se rejoignent comme une longue colonne; aussi les fans, qui s’habillent follement à la manière d’un viking ou Borat, en courant le long des cyclistes.  Finalement, je suis très fascinée par le masochisme et le stoïcisme des coureurs.  Ces jeunes hommes minces avec des casques et des lunettes de soleil parabolique, qui ont l’apparence d’une race surhumaine futuriste, font du vélo tous les jours pendant 3 semaines, 6 heures par jour, dans la pluie torrentielle, sous le soleil brûlant, dans les plus hautes montagnes des Alpes et des Pyrénées, après être tombé du vélo, avec les coudes et le poignets brisés.  Je ne sais pas ce qu’est la passion si ce n’est pas ça.

Riders climbing up Col Agnello in the Alpes at Stage 18 of 2011 Tour de France

I am participating in an Artist Talk this Friday as a part of Bronx Calling: First AIM Biennial.  If you have missed the opening, this will be a wonderful chance to see the show (for free ), and hear about the work from some of the participating artists.

An artist talk with AIM artists Kira Greene, Chris Bors, Jacob Rhodes and Allyson Ross for Bronx Calling: The First AIM Biennial, curated by Wayne Northcross and Jose Ruiz
Friday, July 22, 2011, 6:30 – 8:00pm
Bronx Museum, 1050 Grand Concourse @165 Street, Bronx, NY

Bronx Calling: The First AIM Biennial
June 26 through September 5, 2011
Bronx Calling: The First AIM Biennial features sculptures, works on paper, video installations, photographs, and other works by the 72 participants in the 2011 AIM program. On view at the Bronx Museum and Wave Hill. Five site-specific commissioned projects at Randall’s Island as part of FLOW.11. The exhibition is presented in collaboration with Wave Hill and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.

AIM artists: Hannah Smith Allen, Tomer Aluf, Thomas Bangsted, Nina Barnett, Joell Baxter, John Bent, Gabriela Bertiller, Lea Bertucci, James Bills, Chris Bors, Laura Braciale, Calvin Burton, Anton Cabaleiro, Brian Scott Campbell, Noa Charuvi, Andrew Chan, Michelle Cheikin, Cecile Chong, Matthew Conradt, Corey D’Augustine, Katherine Daniels, Dennis Redmoon Darkeem, Priscila De Carvalho, Dennis Delgado, Stella Ebner, Nicky Enright, Carl James Ferrero, Xavier Figueroa, Veronica Frenning, Christine Gedeon, Sarah Granett, Kira Greene, Debbie Grossman, Nathan Gwynne, Meg Hitchcock, Erik Hougen, Michael Clyde Johnson, Laura Kaufman, Hein Koh, Nick Lamia, Heidi Lau, Robert Lucy, Jongil Ma, Luis R. Maldonado, Jr., Glendalys Medina, Kenneth Millington, Monica Moran, Julia Oldham, Maia Cruz Palileo, Shani Peters, Gregory Reynolds, Jacob Rhodes, Viviane Rombaldi Seppey, Allyson Ross, Alan Ruiz, Jennifer Sanchez, Romy Scheroder, Tina Schneider, Gabriel J. Shuldiner, Hrvoje Slovenc, Christopher Smith, Jessica Stoller, Benjamin Tiven, Jerry Torrens Torrens, Meghan Wilbar, Randal Wilcox, Scott Wolfson, Natalie Collette Wood, Karla Wozniak, Sean Wrenn, Marina Zamalin, and Jenny Zhang

Directions:
D/B train to 167 Street/Grand Concourse or
4 train to 161 Street/Yankee Stadium
Hours: Thurs, Sat, Sun 11 – 6 PM, Friday 11 – 8 PM
http://bxma.blogspot.com/2​011/06/aim-biennial-at-bro​nx-museum.html

For Immediate Release

Making the Leap: Crossing Borders
December 1, 2010 – January 2, 2011
Reception: Thursday, December 2nd from 6pm to 8pm

Yijun Liao, Relationships work best when each partner knows their proper place, 2007, c-print, 20” x 24”

BROOKLYN, NY December 2010 – A.I.R. Gallery is pleased to announce Making the Leap: Crossing Borders, a group exhibition of Asian-American women artists curated by Renee Riccardo, and organized by 2009-2010 Fellowship Artists Jee Hwang and Kira Greene. The opening reception will be held December 2nd from 6pm – 8pm.

As an international center for art, New York City attracts artists from a multiplicity of cultural, ethnic, and national backgrounds. Making the Leap: Crossing Borders features the work of 14 Asian-American Immigrant artists who confront issues of identity, separation from the familiar, and deviation from conservative social structures and gender roles with diverse perspectives and methods.

The artists in Making the Leap: Crossing Borders confront the reality of their new situations by challenging preconceived notions of reality. Haejae Lee’s fantastical paintings meld the harsh political propaganda of North Korea with the Western pop culture. The work of Ajean Ryan investigates Western fairy tales by rewriting and re-narrating the stories that Ryan tells her own bi-racial daughter, while Deniz Tirpanci’s collage Dinner Party depicts multicultural reality by acknowledging the chaos, displacement and discomfort of this reality.

Notions of adaptation and assimilation are dealt with directly in arresting photographic and video pieces. Arin Yoon documents the everyday lives of Korean-American women in Northern New Jersey, and Naoko Wowsugi examines language problems and stereotypes many Asian immigrants face in her humorous and compelling video Frank. Kyoung Eun Kang creates a beautiful metaphorical struggle of adaptation, as she contrasts stones sent from her Korean mother with New York City Streets. And the sculptural work of Saeri Kiritani entitled 100 lbs of Rice addresses the shocking dietary changes immigrants face.

Traditional art forms and modern realities collide as the artists reconcile temporal, cultural, and technological differences. Sin-ying Ho blends customary porcelain vases and Pop Culture imagery using computer decal transfer techniques. Suyeon Na photographs herself in the public sphere of New York City, as she wears native clothing traditionally intended to hide Asian women. And traditional ink drawing collides and interacts with computer animation in Yen-Ting Chung’s breathtaking video piece Nest.

Four of the artists specifically address physical and gendered identity. Jeesoo Shin documents herself as a character in the Asian subculture cosplay, and undergoes dramatic identity changes that subvert traditional expectations of Asian women. Yi-Hsin Tzeng pours paint over her shaved head in her video The Last Painting, challenging her own personal physical boundaries as well as those Asian women experience globally. Yijun Liao boldly questions the roles of sex, power, gender, race, and age as she photographs and exhibits the taboo – her relationship with a young immigrant. Gyung Jin Shin also uses her body as a medium in her performance video Smiley Suicide, where Shin herself exists as a field where opposite values, meanings, and emotions meet to ultimately deny a standard or fixed identity.

Each of these 14 artists has a unique experience as an immigrant, woman, and artist. The past personal experiences and cultural dialogue these artists bring to Making the Leap ultimately express a dynamic and plural vision of what being an Asian-American woman means now.

A.I.R. Gallery is located at 111 Front Street, #228 in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. Gallery hours: Wed. – Sun., 11am to 6pm. For directions please visit www.airgallery.org. For more information please contact Gallery Director, Kat Griefen at 212-255-6651 or kgriefen@airgallery.org.

PROVISIONS
OPENING RECEPTION: THURSDAY, NOVEMEBER 4, 2010 | 6 – 8pm
Live music and refreshments
RSVP by October 28 to 646-484-1284

LOCATION: The Nathan Cummings Foundation
475 Tenth Avenue (between 36th & 37th), 14th Floor, New York, NY 10018
www.nathancummings.org

VIEWING HOURS: November 4, 2010 – January 28, 2011
9am to 5pm, Monday – Friday by appointment.  Please contact Arnita Morabito at 212-787-7300, Ext. 206

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS: Kira Greene, Claudia Alvarez, April Banks, Michael Ray Charles, Cecil Chong, Ernest Conception, Carrie Cooperider, Boyce Cummings, Catherine de Zagon, Michael Genovese, Julia Jacquette, Peter Kastner, Miwa Koizumi, Don Lambert, Alisoun Meehan, Vik Muniz, J. Morgan Puett, Karen Tam

Provisions

We invite you to apply to
Making the Leap: Crossing Borders
The deadline for the juried exhibition Making the Leap: Crossing Borders applications is September 19, 2010
Show dates: December 1, 2010 – January 2, 2011
A.I.R. Gallery, Dumbo, Brooklyn, NY

The curators seek works by Asian women artists who have immigrated to the United States.

As an international center for art, New York City attracts artists from all over the world, many of whom deal with dual cultural, racial and national identities, and issues of separation from families and loved ones.  In the city, one may experience culture shock due to peculiar living situations, and to different gender role expectations than those experienced in more male-dominated Asian countries. These experiences can be both funny and profound.

America is a place where one can escape one’s own circumstances and reinvent oneself.  This has been particularly true for many women artists from Asia, where conservative social structures discourage  women who deviate from the traditional trajectory of obedient daughter and devoted mother.  The curators encourage women artists from Asia to submit work that specifically addresses the challenges of balancing their own hopes and dreams with expectations of society and family. Works should originate from personal experiences related to this transition.

The juror for this exhibition is Renee Riccardo, an independent curator and the founder of ARENA Gallery in New York.

For more information, and to apply to  Making the Leap: Crossing Borders, please go to http://www.airgallery.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.page&pagename=makingtheleap&pageid=148/

A.I.R. Gallery
111 Front Street, #228 Brooklyn, NY 11201
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Sunday 11am – 6pm
212-255-6651
info@airgallery.org<mailto:info@airgallery.org>
www.airgallery.org<http://www.airgallery.org/>

A.I.R. Gallery
111 Front Street, #228, Dumbo, Brooklyn

Wed. – Sun. 11am – 6pm