Opening night at Puffin

all the stair way to fourth floor

seller

Chaw Ei Thein's up coming exhibition in Soho, New York

PUBLIC CONSUMPTION FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 27th through June 13th, 2010 OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday May 27th General Public: 6-10PM Curated by Tanya Arakawa Rosenstein, Jillian Leigh Federman, and Kevin Bourgeois FEATURING: Adam Wallacavage, Alex Rickard, Alliah Sophia Mourad, Andreas Laszlo Konrath, Bob Geile, Brandee Brown, Brian Ermanski, Buddy Nestor, Curtis Kulig,Chaw Ei Thein (ACC grantee, 2009-10), David Komurek, DAZE, Edda Hansen, Edouard Nardon, Elisa Jimenez, Gordon Stevenson, Harry McNally, Heidi Hartwig, Jacob Cohen, Jake Lavin, Jeffrey Robbins, Jeremiah Mandel, John Kolbek, Jordan Seiler, Justin Solitrin, Kevin Bourgeois, Maripol, Mint and Serf, Niki Sabet, Pasha Radetzki, Pork and Spam, Red Bucket Films, Robert Waltzer, Sebastian Black, Shawn Regruto, Suzette Lee, Tristan Eaton, Van Neistat, William Robbins, and Yuri Shimojo THE PUFFIN ROOM, located in SoHo 435 Broome St. NY,NY 10013 212-343-2881 www.puffinroom.org Wednesday to Sunday from 12PM-6PM Hanaleigh Productions is pleased to present “Public Consumption”, a group exhibition curatedbyTanyaArakawaRosenstein, Jillian Leigh Federman, and Kevin Bourgeois. This exhibition will be examining and exploring the rise of voyeurism in popular culture, the violation of the individual and by extension, the artist, and the potential cause and effect of its prevalence on our generation. Opening May 27th, 40 New York City based artists will explore the notion of voyeurism in our society using various mediums ranging from video to photography, painting and sculpture. We have become a world of voyeurs, a voyeur generation. We like to watch others intimate moments revealed, and compare those moments to our own. Although spectatorship is far from new phenomena, today a confluence of factors - legal, social, political, and technological – has pushed voyeurism to the forefront of our image-based society. What will the lasting effects of societies increasing need to reveal and compare be? Much of our social reality today is generated through mass-media and public content, such as television shows, video games, inter-web communication and motion pictures, rather than by direct first hand experience with people, places and practices. Today’s fascination with peering and gazing into places, from which we typically are forbidden, has created a society of self-voyeurs. We engage in activities where we volunteer ourselves to becoming the subject and object of spectatorship. The Puffin Room invites you to see our take on the cause and effect of the voyeuristic nature of our generation that will undoubtedly have a lasting effect on generations to come. Stare at us staring right back at you.

Chaw Ei Thein's Performance in NARS, 15 May

performance by chaw ei thein, 2010

The 3rd Annual NARS Foundation Open Studio Event May 15, Sat and May 16, Sun 2010 | Time : 11am - 6pm Sixty Artists Open Their Studios in Sunset Park, Brooklyn Event Press Release Opening Party and Event : May 15, 6pm - 9pm, Sat Performance : Burman artist Chaw Ei Thein and Taiwanese artists Chi Wu. Minxie (electro pop music performance) Non Return to Zero (Owen Healy percussion and Sal Piccicelli on the guitar) DJ : Michael Paul Britto Ahomii & J.Chou Rhythmos Edwin Peralta Exhibition Space : “Round the Mulberry Bush” curated by Alyssa Fridgen. The exhibition includes painting, sculpture, installation,and video artworks by Michael Paul Britto, Scott Geyer, Cosme Herrera, Zerek Kempf, Kyung Han Kim, Roberta Lawson, Conor McGrady, Hyo Nam, Sean Noyce, Steev Scott, Jessica Scott-Dutcher, Didier William, Joseph Zuccarini. Press Release NARS Fund Raising Exhibition (benefit show) : curated by Nunu Hung “Stack Up” will be a fundraising exhibition for NARS Foundation featuring affordable art by NARS and visiting artists, curated by NuNu Hung. Application Form Workshop : Ellen Coleman Izzo Room #404 (Printmaking workshop) Crossing Promotion : APT Curatorial Exhibition : Studio Project Rooms at 34 34th Street, Floor 4, Sunset Park, NY 11232 www.aptglobal.org Partners : Adrian Roman Aleksandar Popovic Anatoly Mikhailov Anne Rosenthal Antony Dodds Aristidis Danylo Pelonis Ashley S. Brown Brian Lynch Chinatsu Seya Clarity Haynes Conor McGrady Cosme Herrera Deborah Katie Hall Doug Angleton Elizabeth J. Bisbing Ellen Coleman Izzo Emil Bakalli Gennadi Barbush Griselda M. Healy Hyo Nam Jaqueline Cedar Jean Boggs Jessica Scott-Dutcher Jinsoo Kim Jin Kyung Chong Jiwoo Hahn John McGee Joseph Zuccarini Karin Drew Katya Usvitsky Kevin Noble Kyung Han Kim Madeleine Stern Maia Cruz Palileo Mark Kevin Gonzales Masaki Takizawa Mason Saltarrelli Matt Held Michael Ensminger Michael Paul Britto Nicholas Hamilton Nyeema Morgan Osamu kobayashi Peter Emerick Richard Castellana Roberta Lawson Rose Nestler Roxanne Bohana Scott Geyer Sean Noyce Sky Kim Steev Scott Susan Conte TaiWoong Kang Thabiso Phokompe Zerek Kempf Direction : Train : D,N,R,M stop @ 36ST. Drive : Take BQE south exit 23 for 39ST. right turn @ first light. Right turn at 35ST. Contact : info@narsfoundation.org tel. 718-768-2765, 718-715-3044 www.narsfoundation.org The 2010 NARS Open Studio Event is made possible by NARS Foundation Sponsored By

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MEs

Artist: chaw ei thein
Title: MEs
Medium: Performance Art
Date: 2003

Review: Transformed Conversation with Chaw ei Thein and Brad Darcy

Monday, February 22, 2010

Brooklyn’s Soapbox Gallery was hopping February 19 for the opening reception for works presented by artists Chaw Ei Thein and Brad Darcy. The DJ spun some smooth tunes, curator Nunu Hung held court, and a packed house took in the striking works of the two artists coming together under the banner of “Transformed Conversation.”

Burmese artist Chaw Ei Thein’s striking installation, “Bed,” anchored the smart gallery space, doubly occupying prime retail space in front of Soapbox’s front windows. The title is simple, but the make-up and context of “Bed” require some navigation in the heart and mind of the individual. “Bed” is, well… a bed, made of rows upon rows of upside down, glossy, bright red bell peppers, surrounded by mosquito net, topped with a black pillow and enveloped in a small room of black walls, curtains, floor, and ceiling. A single bulb hangs over the bed, tossing light off the curvy, sumptuous vegetables.

In a conversation with the artist, Chaw explained the multiple levels of meaning behind the piece. Being from south east Asia, she associates red and peppers with spice and heat, and so a bed can represent the same (steamy sexual encounters for example). This viewer, though, associates red bell peppers with sugar and sweetness, so I get an entirely different vibe. In beds, too, dreams and nightmares happen, and love making and forced sex also occur. Restful and restless nights are spent in beds. In short, there’s much to ponder with the simple presentation of a bed.

The red of the produce is bold, and against the blackness of its surroundings the color pops—it is appealing to the eye no matter what you associate with the vegetable. The mosquito net is protective, when closed it keeps the occupants safe from those nasty buzzing insects. Yet Chaw kept the net open… is that to entice? Or to reveal that protection can’t always be guaranteed with the presence of so-called protective material?

What’s more, there is no preservative applied to the peppers. They remain bold and attractive now, but as the month progresses, the peppers will crinkle, shrink, rot, ending in a less-than-appealing, smelly compost heap. The impermanence of rest? Of steamy love? Of food and sustenance? Of sensuality or fear? Of…?

Numerous emotions and questions percolate from Chaw’s work. “Bed” is a meditative piece that was difficult to leave.

New York-based sketch artist Brad Darcy took a different tack with a series of blown-up sketch paintings accompanying a digital video. The silent video looped blurs and swirls and political imagery (Obama comes up, and I seem to recall Gorbachev making an appearance). The digital blips and mixes shift suddenly as if the television had just been struck by lightning.

But Darcy’s artistry really shines on the walls. Evolution is the underlying idea winding its way through Darcy’s sketch work. His canvases are a striking mix of bold lines tracing abstract figures of faces and human forms against a backdrop of an indescribably appealing orange-red balanced by grey-checks. I had the privilege and pleasure of standing with Darcy while he flipped through his sketchbook, displaying his spontaneous moments of creativity, working through subconscious themes until POW! The images that land, that resonate most with his underlying theme of development (evolution in his work, thinking, humanity) end up (blown up) on the canvases punctuating Soapbox’s walls.

Darcy admitted he doesn’t imagine himself as a painter. He’s at home with his sketchbook. I admit that I was immediately taken by Darcy’s color schemes and bold abstracts on canvas. I would happily hang any (all) of his works in my own home and get hours of pleasure from their subtle energy. As a sketcher, however, most of his material can only be revealed to a select few. I personally hope he’ll continue to take his most inspired drawings and blow them up for the rest of us to enjoy.

Kudos goes to curator Nunu Hung for finding two disparate artists working in opposite mediums, but who bring freshness and relevance to the New York art scene. I look forward to more of her shows.

Transformed Conversation runs at Soapbox until March 18^th. www.soapboxgallery.org.

Shaun Randol

http://www.mantlethought.org

Shaun Randol is the Founder and Editor of The Mantle, as well as an Associate Fellow at the World Policy Institute in New York City.

Chaw Ei Thein's up coming show in April

Fardom Gallery

presents


Bedtime Stories, Monotone Dreams

Curated by Helen Homan Wu



Exhibition Dates: APRIL 9 to MAY 2, 2010

Reception: Friday, APRIL 9, 7 – 9 PM

Press Preview: Friday, APRIL 9, 6 – 7PM



Artists

ALIONA YURTSEVICH,
CARISSA PELLETERI,
CHAW EI THIEN,
KATJA LOHER,
KELLY STURHAHN,
SOL KJØK

Long Island City, NY – The Space (Fardom Gallery) is pleased to present a female group show exploring the human consciousness that exists in-between our sleep and wake states of mind. Bedtime Stories, Monotone Dreams curated by Helen Homan Wu, opens on April 9th and runs through May 2nd, 2010. Bedtime Stories will present works in various media by six contemporary female artists, both national and international, ranging from Kelly Sturhahn’s mirrors and reflections to Aliona Yurtsevich’s intricate sound compositions.

We all have at one time or another, been paralyzed during our sleep. Modern science calls it Sleep Paralysis and eliminates any possibility of it being linked to a different realm. In truth, the reality of each experience is relative and unique to the sleeper. This in-between state of consciousness is a phenomenal experience that calls for attention. For an artist, it is an inspirational moment of truth that for an average folk often it gets ignored.

Katja Loher, born in Basel, Switzerland, now based in Brooklyn, NY, will draw the viewer into her medley of universes from videos projections in sculptural objects. Carissa Pelleteri’s nostalgic stills taken from super 8 footage, feel almost as if you have been pulled into someone’s lost memory. Working with the media of traditional lines, Sol Kjøk explores the human form in every possible angle, embedded with it are deep questions about existentialism. Kelly Sturhahn tells her story in a set/stage-like manner with deliciously dark installations that has romantic notions at first glance, but on close inspection reflects another dimension. Chaw Ei Thien’s site-specific piece – The Bed – is not to be missed. Her choice of materials directly reflects the moment in flux, something so beautiful that can decay into ugliness within a blink of an eye. Inspired by technology, data bits, and nature, Aliona Yurtsevich will present an abstract composition that evokes sounds of the soul, dreams, lost memories, desires, fear, hope, movement, and emotional stillness.

Fardom Gallery, part of The Space collective, is conceived by Long Island City artist and current Space executive director Kristy Schopper. She is dedicated to maintaining and expanding the artistic community in the Long Island City, Queens area. The Space takes advantage of previously underutilized property in Long Island City, New York, to provide work space for artists, and a venue for community involvement in the arts, and works with developers and planners to ensure that there are affordable places for artists to live and work in Long Island City as our neighborhood develops and grows

FARDOM GALLERY

25-17 41st Avenue

Long Island City, NY 11101

www.Licspace.org

licspace.blogspot.com


Press Contact:

Helen Homan Wu

wu.homan@gmail.com