Tag: tina kim gallery

Ghada Amer at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Inspired by Egyptian traditions of decoration on tents used for weddings or feasts, Egyptian-American artist Ghada Amer substitutes contemporary text for Islamic or calligraphic imagery in new work at Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea.  Using applique, in which fabric is sewn onto other fabric, Amer incorporates feminist phrases and text into designs resembling QR codes.  Those these designs don’t scan, they open up histories of struggle for women’s rights via texts by late Egyptian feminist and activist Nawal El Saadawi or late Australian women’s liberation activist Joyce Stevens.  Here, the writing reads, ‘A woman’s voice is revolution.” (On view in Chelsea at Marianne Boesky Gallery through Dec 22nd.  Ghada Amer’s bronze series ‘Paravent Girls’ is on view at Tina Kim Gallery in Chelsea through Dec 9th).

Ghada Amer, A WOMAN’S VOICE,’ “A woman’s voice is revolution,” cotton applique on canvas, 82 ½ x 83 ½ inches, 2023.

Kang Seok Ho at Tina Kim Gallery

The short lag times between reading late artist Kang Seok Ho’s paintings at Tina Kim Gallery as abstractions and then understanding them as representations of the human body generates little thrills of discovery.  In this untitled painting, the energy of the bold floral pattern is overwhelming; a second later, two arms to either side resolve vivid leaf-like shapes into the pattern on a skirt, seen from behind.  Abstraction becomes decoration, fine art becomes fashion, and flatness turns into curving form in just seconds while reading this vibrant and monumental painting.  In selected paintings from c. 20 years at Tina Kim, radical cropping (Kang worked from photos he took or found in mass media sources) allowed the artist to zero in on bodies without faces, the better to put the focus on form over identity.  Inspired by Asian landscape painting, Kang connected his contemporary vision of life with histories of rendering the natural world, rooting observations of the now with enduring imagery from the past.  (On view through July 29th in Chelsea).

Kang Seok Ho, Untitled, oil on canvas, 92 ½ x 80 ¾ inches, 2005.

Tania Perez Cordova at Tina Kim Gallery

Titled ‘Precipitation,’ Tania Perez Cordova’s new body of work at Tina Kim Gallery manifests a rain shower in the gallery, thin gold-plated chains representing drops of water.  Falling from ceiling to floor through holes pierced in the leaves of artificial plants, the chains form straight lines that contrast the elegant curve of stems and leaves, creating a tension akin to a bow or the strings of a harp.  As visitors advance through the gallery, the number of chains increases to suggest a more intense downpour, inviting viewers to follow their instinct in interpreting and appreciating Perez Cordova’s poetic practice.  (On view in Chelsea through March 25th).

Tania Perez Cordova, Philodendron Stenolobum (70% chance of rain), iron, epoxy clay, plastic, acrylic, gold plated brass chain, patterns of leaf damage, ’22.
Tania Perez Cordova, (detail) Philodendron Stenolobum (70% chance of rain), iron, epoxy clay, plastic, acrylic, gold plated brass chain, patterns of leaf damage, ’22.