Space Uptown
- April 30 – May 21, 2022
- Opening Reception: Saturday, April 30, 3-6pm
- Participating Artists: Buhm Hong, Gyun Hur, Devin Osorio and Dianne Smith
- Curator: Amy Kahng
- Free and open to the public
New York, NY – AHL Foundation is proud to announce the opening of its first gallery in West Harlem in April 2022. The wheelchair-accessible gallery is located on the ground floor 2605 Frederick Douglass Blvd, New York, NY with a basement space for additional programming. The new space houses the Archive of Korean Artists in America (AKAA) and an educational space for the community.
Following AHL Foundation’s move to Harlem after its 19 year history, it is fitting that this inaugural exhibition in the new space uptown responds to its new neighborhood. Guest curated by Amy Kahng, the inaugural exhibition, Space Uptown opens to the public on April 30, 3-6pm and is on view until May 21, 2022.
An exhibition about locality and neighborhood history, the exhibition features artistic practices that reflect the local neighborhood. Participating artists Buhm Hong, Gyun Hur, Devin Osorio, and Dianne Smith, three of whom live and work in upper Manhattan, consider the communities, histories, memories, and environments that make up Harlem and Upper Manhattan more broadly.
Dianne Smith’s dynamic video work, The House of Lois K. Alexander-Lane, celebrates Harlem’s Black cultural history by weaving together footage from Smith’s participation as a young model in the 1985-1989 iterations of Harlem Fashion Week. Buhm Hong’s intricate and labyrinthine architectural designs, rendered both digitally and on paper, draw on various architectural references from his personal biography including his current homebase in Harlem. Devin Osorio’s fantastical paintings and sculptural works document his neighborhood of Washington Heights, highlighting the quotidian experiences of community, work, commuting, and familial connections. The twelve teardrop vessels filled with Hudson and Harlem River water by Gyun Hur reflect on loss, commemoration, and memory, particularly for the victims of the 2021 Atlanta Spa shooting. Installed here in Harlem, Hur’s work takes on new resonances within the current and historical movements for racial justice that have taken place in this neighborhood.
About The Artists
Buhm Hong was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1970. He received an MFA in Photography, Video and Related Media at School of Visual Arts, New York City. He has exhibited works in art institutions and galleries including San Diego Art Institute, Westport Art Center, Doosan Gallery in New York. and Kumho Museum of Art in Seoul. He also participated in the 2017 Jeju Biennale and APMAP in South Korea. Hong has held solo exhibitions at Art Space ZIP of the Paradise Foundation in Seoul, Suwon Art Museum in Suwon, and Soso Gallery, Paju. His work has been exhibited recently at Arko Art Center, Seoul and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Chung Ju.
Gyun Hur is an interdisciplinary artist and educator whose experience as an immigrant daughter deeply fuels her practice. Gyun recently completed Stove Works Residency, Bronx Museum AIM Fellowship, and Danspace Project Writer-in-Residency. She is the inaugural recipient of The Hudgens Prize. Her works have been featured in Cultured Magazine, Hyperallergic, The Cut, Art In America, Art Paper, Sculpture, Art Asia Pacific, Public Art Magazine Korea, and more. Her interest in art making in public space led her to various artist presentations at the TEDxCentennial Women, Living Walls: The City Speaks, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and The New School among others. Gyun has contributed as an artist-writer in fLoromancy, The Brooklyn Rail, and The Forgetory. Born in South Korea, she moved to Georgia at the age of 13. She currently lives in Brooklyn and teaches at Parsons School of Design.
Devin Osorio grew up as a first-generation Dominican American in the Northern Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights, where they find inspiration from the strong Dominican presence and the cultural and socioeconomic diversity. Using shared and self-reflective symbolism, Osorio honors Dominican culture through shrine-like paintings that incorporate plants, animals and glyphs to create a visual vernacular of and for the Dominican American community. Their work has been exhibited in New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and Madrid. Osorio earned a BFA from Savannah College of Art and Design.
Dianne Smith’s career as an interdisciplinary artist spans over twenty years. Her group and solo exhibitions include Visions for our Future; Echoes of our Past, Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, 2022, Stuff, Milstein Center, Barnard College, New York City, Uptown Triennial, Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York City, 2020, and Festival de Artes al Aire Libre, Museo Municipal de Guayaquil- Ecuador, Fulbright, 2013. Smith’s also known for her public art installations such as Gumboot Juba, Armory Week, New York City, Organic Abstract, the New York City Parks Department, Armory Week, and Bartow Pell Mansion as the Andrew Freedman Houses, Bronx, New York, 2011. Smith is included in the following collections: The National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Brodsky Organization, Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art, and Dianne Smith Papers Barnard Archives and Special Collections. She currently lives and works in Harlem, New York, and received her MFA from Transart Institute in Berlin, Germany, via the University of Plymouth, UK, in 2012.
About The Curator
Amy Kahng is an independent curator and PhD candidate in Art History and Criticism at Stony Brook University. Her dissertation project examines twentieth century Asian American artists and their relationship to land and landscape. Other research interests include global contemporary art, modern and contemporary art in Korea, transnational feminist art practices, and critical theory around race and indigeneity. Her MA thesis centered South Korean artist Lee Bul’s practice from the 1990s. Amy recently exhibited Mis/Communication: Language and Power in Contemporary Art and Printing Solidarity: Tricontinental Graphics from Cuba, and she is currently working on an exhibition revisiting Frank Bowling’s historic 5+1 exhibition at Stony Brook University.
About AHL (Art, Humanity, and Love) Foundation
AHL Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit arts organization established in 2003 by Sook Nyu Lee Kim to support artists of Korean heritage working in the United States and promote exposure of their work in today’s highly competitive contemporary art world. AHL Foundation seeks to accomplish its mission by promoting the work of emerging artists of Korean descent active in the United States through exhibitions, informing and educating artists on the business side of the art practice, and building a community of supporters and art enthusiasts.
Major support for AHL Foundation’s programs is provided by New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department for Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts, Yang Won Sun Foundation, E. Rhodes & Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, Kim Family Fund, Chun Family Foundation, T&W Foundation, Grace Charity Foundation, Andrew & Barbara Choi Family Foundation, Dow Kim Family Foundation, and Ran Hwang.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Katie Yook katieyook@ahlfoundation.org | Jiyoung Lee jlee@ahlfoundation.org
Images:
- Buhm Hong, visit (master bedroom), 2016. 3-D Animation.
- Gyun Hur, There is a land beyond the river 저 건너 강 언덕편에, Hand-blown glass, local river water.
- Devin Osorio, Dah Hot Fifth on St. Nicholas, 2015. Digitally printed canvas fabric, vinyl.
- Dianne Smith, The House of Lois K. Alexander-Lane, 2021. HD Video 1080p, 3:34.
[Korean]
4월 30일(토), 알재단 개관 기념 전시 ‘스페이스 업타운’ 개최
- 오프닝 리셉션 오후 3시 – 6시
비영리 한인 예술 지원 단체 알재단 (대표 이숙녀)이 오는 4월 30일(토)부터 5월 21일(토)까지 뉴욕 웨스트 할렘의 새로운 공간(2605 Frederick Douglass Blvd., New York, NY 10030)에서 개관 기념 전시 ‘스페이스 업타운(Space Uptown)’을 개최한다. 2003년 창립 이래 다양한 전시와 교육 프로그램으로 대중에게 한국 미술을 소개해 온 알재단이 이제는 직접 공간의 문을 열어 관람객을 맞이하게 된다. 새로운 장소에는 재미 한인 미술가 아카이브 (Archive of Korean Artists in America) 와 커뮤니티를 위한 교육 공간이 마련된다.
신진 현대 미술 연구자이자 독립 큐레이터인 에이미 강(Amy Kahng)이 기획한 이번 전시는 뉴욕 업타운과 할렘 지역을 주제로 작업하거나 지역을 기반으로 활동하는 작가 4인을 초대한다. 참여 작가는 홍 범 (Buhm Hong), 허 견 (Gyun Hur), 데빈 오소리오 (Devin Osorio), 다이앤 스미스 (Dianne Smith) 이며, 전시는 어퍼 맨하탄과 할렘 지역을 구성하는 환경, 기억, 역사와 커뮤니티를 사유하는 지역성(‘locality’)에 주목한다.
다이앤 스미스는 1980년대 작가 본인이 모델로 활동했던 할렘 패션 위크를 담은 역동적인 비디오 작업 ‘The House of Lois K. Alexander-Lane’을 선보인다. 홍 범은 할렘에서 거주하고 작업하는 작가로서 공간에 대한 자서전적인 시각적 기억을 드로잉과 3D 애니메이션으로 표현한 영상 작업을, 데빈 오소리오는 자신의 거주지인 워싱턴 하이츠를 기록한 조각적인 회화를 보여줄 예정이다. 마지막으로 허 견은 2021년 애틀랜타 스파 총격사건의 희생자를 위한 상실, 추모, 기억을 반영하여 할렘의 강물로 채운 12개의 눈물 모양 방울 설치 작업으로 전시에서 선보인다.
이숙녀 회장은 “많은 분들의 도움과 후원으로 마련한 공간에서 첫 전시를 마침내 열게 되어 대단히 고무적이다. 맨하탄 업타운과 할렘 지역의 작가와 한국 현대 미술 작가를 함께 초대하는 이번 전시는 커뮤니티와 함께 하는 알재단의 방향을 대중에게 보여주고자 기획 하였으며 나아가 연중 프로그램으로 발전 시켜 나갈 계획이다. 많은 분들이 알재단의 첫 공간 그리고 첫 전시를 관람하러 방문해주시기를 고대한다.” 라고 밝혔다.
한편 오프닝 리셉션은 오는 4월 30일(토) 오후 3시부터 6시까지 열린다. 알재단 전시 공간의 입장료는 무료이며, 자세한 문의는 info@ahlfoundation.org 로 하면 된다.
[별첨] 참여 작가 및 작품 정보
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홍 범 (Buhm Hong)
홍 범은 1970년 서울 출신으로 뉴욕 스쿨 오브 비주얼 아트(School of Visual Arts)에서 컴퓨터 아트와 사진 영상학으로 석사학위를 취득했다. San Diego Art Institute, Westport Art Center, Doosan Gallery New York, 서울 금호 미술관 등 유수 갤러리 및 미술관에서 작품을 전시해왔다. 2017년에는 제주 비엔날레에 참여했으며, 파라다이스 재단의 아트 스페이스 집(ZIP), 수원미술관, 파주 소소갤러리에서 개인전을 가졌다. 최근에는 청주 국립현대미술관 및 아르코 미술관에서 전시했다. |
| visit (master bedroom), 2016.
3-D Animation. |
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허 견 (Gyun Hur)
허견은 이민 1.5세로서의 경험과 정체성을 바탕으로 설치, 퍼포먼스, 글, 콜라보레이션 등이 접목된 순수 미술 작업을 하고 있다. 13살의 나이에 가족과 함께 한국에서 아틀란타로 이민을 했으며, 지금은 브루클린에 거주하며 작업을 한고 있다. 파슨스 디자인 대학(Parsons School of Design)의 교수로도 재임 중이다. 스토브 레지던시(Stove Works Residency), 브롱스 뮤지엄 에임 펠로우십(Bronx Museum AIM Fellowship), 단스 스페이스 작가 레지던시(Danspace Project Writer-in-Residency) 등에 최근 참여했으며, 허전스 프라이즈(Hudgens Prize), 아테디아(Artadia) 등 다수의 상을 수상한 바 있다. 허 견의 작품은 Hyperallergic, The Cut, Art In America, Art Paper, Sculpture, Art Asia Pacific, Public Art Magazine Korea 등에서 소개 되었고, TEDx 와 Living Walls: The City Speaks 컨퍼런스, 홍콩 폴리텍 대학, 뉴스쿨 대학등에서 강의를 했다. 또한 fLoromancy, The Brooklyn Rail, The Forgetory 등 다양한 매체에 기고 하고 있다. |
| There is a land beyond the river 저 건너 강 언덕편에, 2022.
Hand-blown glass, local river water. Courtesy of the artist. |
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데빈 오소리오 (Devin Osorio)
데빈 오소리오는 맨하탄 북단 워싱턴 하이츠(Washington Heights) 에서 1세대 도미니칸계 미국인으로서 성장했으며, 그 곳에서 도미니칸의 강력한 사회 경제, 문화적 다양성에서 영감을 얻었다. 자기 반성적인 상징주의를 활용하여 작가는 식물, 동물 및 글리프를 융합한 도미니카계 미국인 커뮤니티를 관통하는 시각적인 토착언어를 만든다. 데빈의 작업은 뉴욕, 애틀랜타, 로스앤젤레스, 멕시코 시티, 마드리드에서 전시 되었으며 서배너 칼리지 오브 아트 앤 디자인(Savannah College of Art and Design)을 졸업했다. |
| Dah Hot Fifth on Audubon, 2015.
Tarragon Leaves, Acrylic Plexi, Laser-cut Acrylic Plexi, Acrylic paint, Disperse dyed vinyl |
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다이앤 스미스 (Dianne Smith)
다이앤 스미스는 올해로 20년 넘게 활동 하고 있는 다원예술 작가로,Visions for our Future; Echoes of our Past, Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design (2022), Stuff, Milstein Center, Barnard College, New York City, Uptown Triennial, Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York City (2020), and Festival de Artes al Aire Libre, Museo Municipal de Guayaquil- Ecuador, Fulbright, (2013) 등 그룹전 및 개인전에 참가한 바 있다. 그는 또한Gumboot Juba (Armory Week), 브롱스의 Bartow Pell Mansion as the Andrew Freedman House 등 공공 미술작업으로도 알려져있다. 국립 여성 예술가 미술관 (The National Museum of Women in the Arts), The Brodsky Organization, Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art 등 유수 기관에 작품이 소장되어있다. 다이앤은 현재 할렘에서 거주하며 작업하고 있으며 독일Transart Institute 에서 석사 학위를 취득했다. |
| The House of Lois K. Alexander-Lane, 2021.
HD Video 1080p, 3:34. |
