WET PAINT #3

Title: WET PAINT #3
Medium: Water Color, Color Paper (Mix Media)
Year: 2010

Being (T)here: A Creative Panel Performance

Time: December 6 (Monday) , 9:30pm-11pm Location: Nuyorican Poets Cafe Inc 236 E 3rd St New York, NY Created By Amy Bonnaffons Being (T)here: Creating in the Borderlands A "Creative Panel Performance" Sponsored by Washington Square Review Far removed from a traditional panel, the evening will explore the concept of Art in Exile via text, conversation, and live performances from writer/painter Breyten Breytenbach (South Africa), poet/painter Huang Xiang (China), and performance artists Chaw Ei Thein and Ye Taik (Burma). ... We promise that this is not your typical panel - it will get your heart racing and your brain ticking! Come view exciting, genre-bending performances, hear the "Wild Beast Poet of China," and participate in a dynamic conversation about displacement and creation. All proceeds go to benefit exiled artists! There's no better way to spend your Monday night! Doors open 9:30, show will start by 10. ARTIST BIOS: Breyten Breytenbach was born in Bonnievale, South Africa. He studied fine arts at the University of Cape Town and became a committed opponent against the long held policy of apartheid. He left South Africa for Paris in the early 1960s. When he married a French woman of Vietnamese ancestry, he was not allowed to return. The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (1949) and The Immorality Act (1950) made it a criminal offence for a white person to have any sexual relations with a person of a different race. In France he was a founder member of Okhela, a resistance group fighting apartheid in exile. On an illegal trip to South Africa in 1975 he was betrayed, arrested and sentenced to nine years of imprisonment for high treason. Released in 1982 as a result of massive international intervention he returned to Paris and obtained French citizenship. He currently divides his time between Europe, Africa and USA. He joined the University of Cape Town as a visiting professor in the Graduate School of Humanities (from January 2000) and is also involved with the Gorée Institute in Dakar (Senegal) and with the New York University. The work of Breytenbach includes numerous volumes of poetry, novels, and essays, many of which are in Afrikaans, many translated from Afrikaans to English, and many published originally in English. He is also known for his works of pictorial arts. Exhibitions of his paintings and prints were shown in numerous cities around the world including Johannesburg, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Paris, Brussels, Edinburgh and New York. Chaw Ei Thein was born in Rangoon, Burma in 1969 Huang Xiang, Chinese poet, calligrapher and dissident human rights activist, is considered, according to the Poetry Foundation, the “Walt Whitman of China” by scholars and poets around the world. His work has been banned in China for over forty years. Huang has spent a total of twelve years in Chinese prisons and labor camps (laogai), between 1959 and 1994. In 1978 he generated the Democracy Wall Movement in Beijing; he also created Enlightenment, a journal which initiated the New Modern Democracy Movement and influenced the Misty poets, Bei Dao, Shu Ting and others. In 1997 he and his wife were granted asylum in the United States. Huang Xiang has been published in the United States, France, Taiwan, Japan, Sweden and Hong Kong. Of his twenty books, one, A Bilingual Edition of Poetry Out of Communist China, contains English translations, by Andrew G. Emerson (Mellen Press, 2004). Known as "China's Wild Beast Poet", his poetry performances are not soon forgotten. Ye Taik is a performing artist / avant-garde dancer (Born - Rangoon, Burma).He dedicates most of his time as a collaborative choreographer, performer, curator, experimental theater artist and playwright, to discovering and developing cultural interactions through art and performance. Part of the philosophical background of Ye Taik's work has been his idea of art and performance as a language onto itself without borders or boundaries, the power of art as a vital way to initiate peaceful intercultural communication, and to develop means of conflict resolution. He is not especially attached to the concept of national identity. Circumstances have brought him to move around from an early point in his life, and he has felt compelled to continue on doing so, for this experience has made him consider things in a wider perspectives without restrictions. He has had the pleasure to work with No-Where NOW-here, The Internationalists, Vangeline Theater, Around the World in 24 hours Festival , Performa 09, Williamsburg ArtneXus, AMDat, Center for Performance Research , Collaborations in Dance Festival, Triskelion Arts and public venues including United Nation Plaza. Recently , His work is in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ChawEiThein's up coming show @ Ga Gallery

GIGGLING BUBBLING

December 9, 2010 – January 7, 2011

Opening Reception: Friday, December 10, 6-8 pm

Jonghyun Kwon, Dreaming Village, 2005, Mixed media, 15.8” x 15.8”

Da Gallery is excited to present Giggling Bubbling, a group exhibition featuring thirty-seven artists from around the world. The art works, which hail from London, New York, Paris, Seoul, and Tokyo are the bridge that connects the art world in the celebration of the passing of one year to the next. The show includes a varied range, from paintings, prints, collages, photographs, sculptures, and a video. Highlighting the artists' different approaches to colors, materials, and subject matter, create a lively visual dialogue with the viewers in celebrating human connection with the nature.

The participating artists are Alberto Finelli, Anthony Castro, Aya Kakeda, Benrei Huang, Bo Lee, Brian LaRossa, Chaw Ei Thein, Deniz Ayaz, Elizabeth Meggs, Esther Sherrow, Eunnye Yang, Hitomi Mochizuki, Hyunyi Park, Jeremy Young, Jihoon Oh, Jinkyung Chong, Jiwoo Hahn, Jon Shehee, Jonghyun Kwon, JooYeon Woo, Jungah Kim, Kiyomitsu Saito, Kyaw Swar Thant (KST), Liza R. Papi, Lori Kirkbride, Marianna Ellenberg, Min Kyaw Khine, Mladen Stropnik, Oudi Arroni, Peter Lloyd Lewis, Philip Swan, Sarah Olson, Shingo Francis, Sooim Lee, Soorin Kim, Suhee Wooh, and Yuliya Lanina. A wonderful performance, "impossible landscapes, invisible cities" by Sarah Olson and Cori Kresge will be held at opening reception on Friday, Dec 10, 7pm.

If you have further questions, please contact us at dagallery@nykorean.org

The exhibition is made possible by non-profit organizations of Korean American Association Greater NY and the NARS Foundation

Artscenetv.net | Stories out of Burma @ Thavibu Gallery

Chaw Ei Thein, Far Away in New York, 2010

Chaw Ei Thein relates her personal physical
and emotional struggles
as a Burmese woman
and as an artist living in New York.

CET's stories out of Burma

Invitation to art exhibition View it in your browser STORIES OUT OF BURMA 13 Nov - 4 Dec by Chaw Ei Thein (New York) and Htein Lin (London) Curator: Shireen Naziree You are kindly invited for the opening of the exhibition on Saturday 13th Nov 2010 at 17:00 (5 pm) at: THAVIBU GALLERY The Silom Galleria Building, Suite 308, 919/1 Silom Rd. Bangkok 10500 Tel +66 (0) 266 5454 For direction kindly see the map Both Chaw Ei Thein and Htein Lin are recognised as Burma’s most profiled international artists. Chaw Ei Thein resides and has her artistic practice in New York and Htein Lin works and lives in London. STORIES OUT OF BURMA are their individual artistic dialogues that relates to their lives as artists in the Diaspora. Chaw Ei Thein Chaw Ei Thein relates her personal physical and emotional struggles as a Burmese woman and as an artist living in New York. But her most poignant expressions relate to her comparative studies between her homeland and New York. Her series of paintings relate to her transient status and her ongoing efforts to bring her artistic voice to the forefront. In her accompanying video work, Chaw acknowledges the conflicts between her two worlds. Htein Lin Htein Lin offers intimate views of issues that are vital to his personal world as threads of Burma continue to remain an integral part of his world. Despite having digested a very cosmopolitan outlook and developed a broad image both as a painter and as a conceptual artist, Buddhism remains a key patent both to his personal self and his art. The realization of this is defined both in his paintings and in his performance piece. Collecting Strategies - A Question of Taste vs Investment Not to be missed! A lecture by Phil Whittaker, Director of Sotheby's Institute of Art, Singapore. While some people seem to have an innate sense of taste and seem to be able to construct a collection with little effort this is not common, and even the apparent ease which these collectors seem to put together a meaningful collection is often fraught with many false starts and mistakes. In this session we will look at various collection strategies and ways of ensuring that you at least make fewer mistakes when constructing or expanding your collection. Thavibu Gallery - 3 pm on 13th November Connect on Facebook > here

ChawEiThein's up coming show in ISCP

Opening Reception
Friday, November 5th, 7 - 9pm (shuttle from Grand St. subway station)

Opening Hours
Saturday - Monday, November 6th - 8th, 2 - 8pm
International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) | 1040 Metropolitan Avenue | Brooklyn | NY | 11211


ISCP is pleased to announce its Fall Open Studios, a four-day exhibition of international contemporary art. This event presents works by the 38 artists, collectives and curators from 26 countries currently in residence at ISCP and offers the public access to innovative contemporary art practices from around the world, seen for the first time in New York City. Open Studios also provides an exceptional opportunity to engage with the production, process and archives of artists and curators working with a diverse range of mediums, approaches and concepts.


Participating Artists and Curators
Birthe Blauth (Germany), Ok-Hyun Ahn (South Korea), Sookoon Ang (Singapore), Bertille Bak (France), Elisabeth Byre (Norway), Tania Candiani (Mexico), Chao-Tsai Chiu (Taiwan), Isabelle Cornaro (France), Dusica Drazic (Serbia), Marian Drew (Australia), F4 (New Zealand), Christian Friedrich (The Netherlands), Peter Gregorio (USA), Nicolás Grum (Chile), Aihua Hsia (Taiwan), Claudia Kapp (Germany), Szabolcs KissPál (Hungary), Svetlana Kuyumdzhieva (Bulgaria), Jonggeon Lee (South Korea), Nadja Verena Marcin (Germany), Armando Mariño Calzado (Cuba), Renzo Martens (The Netherlands), Michael Jones McKean (USA), Eline Mugaas (Norway), Regine Müller-Waldeck (Germany), Maryam Najd (Belgium), Alexandra Navratil (Switzerland), Sungyeon Park (South Korea), Pietro Ruffo (Italy), Ana Santos (Portugal), Christian Schmidt-Rasmussen (Denmark), Marinella Senatore (Italy), Chaw Ei Thien (Burma), Magnus Thierfelder (Sweden), Loreta Ukshini (Kosovo), Christoph Weber (Austria), Jinny Yu (Canada)




Participating Artists
Matei Bejenaru (Romania), Factory of Found Clothes (Russia), Cao Fei (China), Chen Chieh-jen (Taiwan), Jean-Marc Superville Sovak (USA), Stephanie Syjuco (USA) and Mladen Stilinović (Croatia)

Opening alongside Open Studios, Factory Makers, curated by Kari Conte initiates a four-part exhibition over the next year that takes ISCP’s site of production – a historic printing factory – as the starting point to reflect on the changing nature and idea of work in society and how we define labor today. This exhibition presents seven artists who address the impact of the world’s rapidly changing economies on new social and cultural realities. Through various approaches, the included works consider the effect of globalization, new modes of ‘outsourced’ production and the blurring boundaries of material and immaterial labor.

ISCP curator-in-residence Svetlana Kuyumdzhieva will present different kinds of artistic engagements from the Bulgarian art community and will show works presented in her recent projects The Temptation of Chalga (2009, co-curated with Vessela Nozharova), AFTER EGO (2009) and The Bold and The Beautiful (2010). Two videos, one by Boriana Venzislavova and the other by Daniela Kostova, will be screened during the presentation.

4 DIRECTIONS FROM ASIA

Lee Wen















Arai














Mongkol

Chaw Ei Thein


4 DIRECTIONS FROM ASIA:

Lee Wen
Arai Shin-Ichi
Mongkol Plienbangchang
Chaw Ei Thein

[Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Burma]


Friday, October 8
9:00-11:00 pm
$5.00 Donation

Grace Space is pleased to announce the Performance Artists:
Lee Wen [Singapore]
Arai Shin-Ichi [Japan]
Mongkol Plienbangchang [Thailand]
Chaw Ei Thein [Burma]

LEE WEN

LEE WEN: “Anyhow Blues # 5” Do folk songs belong in performance art? I have just begun a new series of work called “Anyhow Blues” as a follow-up to my earlier “Too Late The Hippie” started in 2007. It’s my take on a conservative society trying to be hip, expressed so neatly in the tourism board’s slogan of ‘Uniquely Hip Singapore’ and is a vehicle for various issues that need voicing out in this troubled world, which I have put into songs and hence the “Anyhow Blues”. I started to play the acoustic guitar again for this project, and hope to work out with a band in time to come, hopefully my guitar playing improves. At the same time I am working on a tongue-in-cheek book where I will outline the “Aesthetics of Anyhow” or the art theory of the ‘anyhow’ principle of art making.
Lee Wen has been exploring different strategies of time-based and performance art since 1989. His work has been strongly motivated by social investigations as well as inner psychological directions using art to interrogate stereotypical perceptions of culture and society. He is a contributing factor in The Artists Village alternative in Singapore and had been participating in Black Market international performance collective.
He is co-organizer of “Future of Imagination” (2003), an international performance art event and “R.I.T.E.S.- Rooted In The Ephemeral Speak” (2009), a platform to support and develop performance art practices, discourse, infrastructure and audiences in Singapore. He has never been to Patagonia.

Lee Wen The Future of Imagination website: www.foi.sg

MONGKOL PLIENBANGCHANG:

Mongkol is a painter, poet and performance artist from Thailand who has performed since 1995. He is part of ASIATOPIA’s committee and has always been involved in art & social movements groups. His performances are usually very intense, mostly dealing with political sphere of Thai politics and Global situations. He has published 2 books of his drawings and poems ‘Inner & Outer’ and ‘the Man numbers Zero’ He has performed in many performance art events & festival, both in Thailand and around Asia.
He has performed in many performance art events & festival, both in Thailand and around asia. He has performances in Japan,Australia,Indonesia,Hong Kong,Macau,Korea,Myanmar,The Phillipines,Vietnam and China.He also participated in Poland’s International art festival ‘Interakje’ at Piatrkow trybunalski and the 8th OPEN International Performance art festival in Beijing;China

Asiatopa website: www.asiatopia.blogspot.com

ARAI SHIN-ICHI

ARAI SHIN-ICHI: I am a 51-year old unmarried man who gets up at 9:00 a.m. and leaves home (88,000 Yen/month: 6m x 8m, telephone bill: 10,000 Yen/month, heat, light and water expenses: 10,000 Yen/month, note: 1USD = 85Yen, 100Yen = 1.2USD ) at 9:20 a.m. Though I declare that I am an artist, basically I set off for work on a crowded train to earn money, like the average salaried worker. The only difference between them and me is that the total number of days I work varies between 5 and 20 days a month, which I have no control over.

ARAI SHIN-ICHI :ARAI lives and works in Tokyo. He has a B.A. in Chinese Modern Literature from Metropolitan University of Tokyo under Mr.llKURA Shohei.Later he majored in printmaking (Intaglio/Copper printing) from 1981 to 1987 under ex Mr.YOSHIDA Katsuro (Mono-ha group).
He also began experimenting in sound, voice and language performance actions since 1982. As a Japan Overseas Cooperative Volunteer he taught at Nyumba ya Sanaa Art school in Zanzibar, Tanzania 1992-94 where he experienced various insights into the relationship between culture and politics in contemporary society. This led to his radical social-political performances today. In his raw and direct style, ARAI's body appears as a site of social tension presented with humor yet biting criticism. Often exposing the conservative and xenophobic cultural tendencies and contradictions in global and local situations. Besides performing regularly in Japan, ARAI has also presented his works internationally and especially in China such as Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Xian, Chengdu, Changchun, and Beijing.(Lee Wen)

Arai website (official and unofficial): www.araiart.com

CHAW EI THEIN

Chaw Ei is a performance artist, painter and sculptor. She has been making performance art for years, and I first saw her at the NiPAF - Japan International Performance Art Festival - in 2006. Her work deals with her life experiences, especially her feelings towards her home country. In “Transformed Conversation”, a two person exhibition, New York based artist Brad Darcy and Burma based artist Chaw Ei Thein explored the artist’s self conscious role in the engagement of social and political issues, and the responsibility to communicate perspectives on an aesthetic level.

Chaw Ei Thein website: www.chaweithein.blogspot.com

This event is suported by the National Arts Council of Singapore
Photos below of: Lee Wen [Singapore], Arai Shin-Ichi [Japan], Chaw Ei Thein [Burma]

ChawEiThein's up coming show in November, 2010, Bangkok

Stories Out of Burma

Categories: Burmese, haw Ei Thein, Htein Lin, Thavibu Gallery

Art Exhibition: Stories Out of Burma
Artist: Htein Lin (London) and Chaw Ei Thein (New York), Burmese
Curator: Shireen Naziree
Dates: 13 November – 4 December, 2010
Venue: Thavibu Gallery
Open: Monday – Saturday: 11:00 – 19:00

Both Chaw Ei Thein and Htein Lin are recognised as Burma’s most profiled international artists. Chaw Ei Thein resides and has her artistic practice in New York and Htein Lin works and lives in London. STORIES OUT OF BURMA are their individual artistic dialogues that relates to their lives as artists in the Diaspora. Despite distances and time, Htein Lin and Chaw Ei Thein share a common ground both personally as artists and friends that relate prolifically to their shared personal histories in Burma.

In STORIES OUT OF BURMA, Chaw Ei Thein relates her personal physical and emotional struggles as a Burmese woman and as an artist living in New York. But her most poignant expressions relate to her comparative studies between her homeland and New York. Her series of paintings relate to her transient status and her ongoing efforts to bring her artistic voice to the forefront. In her accompanying video work, Chaw lends an eloquent uncertainty to the possibilities and politics of images and their circulation through space and time as she acknowledges the conflicts between her two worlds.














Htein Lin’s series of paintings for STORIES OUT OF BURMA offer intimate views of issues that are vital to his personal world as threads of Burma continue to remain an integral part of his world. Despite having digested a very cosmopolitan outlook and developed a broad image both as a painter and as a conceptual artist, Buddhism remains a key patent both to his personal self and his art. The realization of this is defined both in his paintings and in his performance piece specifically choreographed and produced for STORIES OUT OF BURMA whereby he aims to involve the viewer an opportunity to share his Burmese heritage.

Thavibu Gallery
The Silom Galleria Building, 3rd Fl.
Suite 308, 919/1 Silom Rd.
Bangkok 10500, Thailand
Tel. (66 2) 266 5454
Fax. (66 2) 266 5455
E-mail: info@thavibu.com

Reciting Poem by CET for The Lady Of Burma

ChawEiThein's up coming show in October, 2010

CET's stories out of Burma #02- Jackson Heights, Queens

Drop Box

CET's stories out of Burma #02

Title: CET's stories out of Burma #02
Medium: Print
Size: 40 x 50 cm
Year: 16 August 2010
Place: NY

WE

Title: WE
Medium: Acrylic on Paper
Size: 8.5 x 11 inches

A Call for Help, A Plead for Freedom: Art and Expressionin Burma

A Call for Help, A Plead for Freedom: Art and Expression in Burma
By Maris Gelman


In a land where freedom is a concept and civil rights are non-existent, Myanmar, also known by its previous name of Burma, is one of the last places expected to harbor out-spoken citizens, let alone artists. Set in the middle of South Asia, Myanmar is the sight of the longest civil war. Since 1948, when the Burmese regained power over their colonizers, the British, the country has been at war with itself. The emergence of a junta organization in 1962, which was previously called the Burma Army, but is now officially called the Tatmadaw or the Myanmar Military, the country has been ruled by a strict dictatorship. This dictatorship is known to be involved with shady decision-making. Some of these suspect decisions are such as imprisoning the democratically elected, Nobel Peace Prize winning Aung San Suu Kyi, who posed a threat to the Tatmadaw’s harsh governmental stances. They also secretly moved their capital from Yangon, a booming metropolis, to a mostly underdeveloped area called Naypyidaw. This was done without alerting any of the rest of the world, and even worse, the Tatmadaw did not inform their own citizens of this drastic change. The people of Myanmar are a muted people, they posses little power or freedom within their homeland. Those who do not align themselves with the military are given little rights, let alone the right for artistic expression. This leads me to Chaw Ei Thein, an artist who pushed the boundaries of the junta for her right to express herself through her art.

Within Myanmar, the military runs a very strict society. One could be arrested for being outspoken or even owning a book or magazine with anti-junta information in it. That is why Chaw Ei Thein is so astonishing. Her work, which eerily depicts her life as a Burmese citizen, is shown in her own gallery in Yangon. Beyond her gallery, Thein has shown her work all over Southeast Asia while simultaneously grabbing the attention of international media, such as The New York Times. Her art, which spans from painting on canvas to installations and performance art, displays themes of feeling trapped, oppressed, and even possibly raped by the culture and society she lives in. Her images and use of harsh colors depict a struggle to live within this cruel civilization. She shows the lack of freedom in her life and other’s lives in Myanmar with her art, using images of women’s struggling with men or being handcuffed. In her paintings, there is a common thread of confinement and being caged which shows her life sans freedom. She feels incarcerated in her own homeland, made to feel like a prisoner of this bloody war.
Thein sat down with a newspaper called the Irrawday to discuss her art in January 2009. The Irrawday covers news on Myanmar and Southeast Asia but is most likely highly edited or even banned in Myanmar based on its critical articles on the Burmese government. In this interview, of which the interviewer is not stated in the article, Chaw Ei Thein speaks frankly about her art, her life in Myanmar and the struggle for freedom. The interviewer asks Thein, “How do you assess the freedom of creating art in Burma?” She responds honestly when she says,
“To be truthful, there is no freedom to create art inside or outside the country. Some might think that they are free outside [Burma]. As for me, I don't feel free, no matter whether I am inside or outside. That is my problem. When I was outside the country for the first time, I thought that I was free and free to do anything. But fear rode piggyback. So before anybody censored our art, we censored ourselves. We always take into account that we have to return home.”
Interestingly, Thein’s art seems anything but censored. Its brutal honesty in its depiction of female Burmese life is anything but muted. Her work is vivid and powerful. Most of all, it captures the unrest of the Burmese people and the lack of freedom that the citizens live with daily.
Thein’s art speaks volumes about the state of life in Myanmar. It expresses the pain and fear that Burmese people constantly deal with. In her series, entitled He She I, II, III, she paints the nude bodies of both a male and female and depicts their interaction. In all three images, all very similar, there is a man standing behind a woman, holding the woman forcefully. These images, in uniform with the rest of her work, show the Burmese struggles with pain and domination. It portrays the woman being captured and tamed, kept as a prisoner in the man’s arms. Thein’s nude art, unlike other forms of nudes,
which usually depicts the beauty of the naked body, shows the unhealthy power dynamics between men and women. The woman in the series has a down-turned mouths, showing her unhappiness. The man’s snatching hands grab her chest as to control her body. Her art portrays the pain and suffering of an unheard people: the women of Myanmar.
While this bloody civil war continues, the rights and liberties of the citizens of Myanmar will remain virtually non-existent. Some people, such as Chaw Ei Thein, push these boundaries. By asserting her commentary on hardship and struggle, she is speaking out, in her own way, against the terror that the people of Myanmar have endured for over 60 years. As the dealings of the government become more corrupt, the intellectuals and artists of the country will, hopefully, continue to voice their opinions on this ongoing issue. Although the outcomes of speaking out against the government are harsh, it is important that the world can hear Myanmar’s victims shouting. The reality of Myanmar’s past, present and future is bleak. For it’s citizens, Myanmar feels like a living hell. Chaw Ei Thein is breaking free from the oppression by expressing herself. Hopefully, these efforts lead to regaining freedom for herself and her people.

CET's stories out of Burma #01

Title: CET's stories out of Burma #01
Medium: Acrylic
Size: 100 x 80 cm
Year: July 2010

Happy Birthday Aunty Su!!!

Title: Happy Birthday!
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Size: 8" x 12"
Date: 18 June, 2010
Artist: Chaw Ei Thein

Up to you......Up to me......!!!!

Title: Up to you .....Up to me...!!!!!!
Artist: Chaw Ei Thein
Medium: Photo
Size: 24" x 18"

Opening night at Puffin

all the stair way to fourth floor