Art2018

Curator

My interests are influenced by dynamic approaches to both artists and public, how co-habited spaces shape culture. I am interested in the distances between "persons, places and things". As an independent curator, I developed "3rd Practice Projects" which is concept-driven by a hybrid relationship between myself as artist, curator and producer. The 3rd Practice is not meant to span between artist/gallery/public but more towards producing situations and dynamics that re-examine their relationship. Such exhibitions are always group exhibitions.

Astro World / Exit Plan 3rd Practice Project 2020
Astro World is an art - education focused exhibition between KUN Art Museum , Beijing, China, four Baccalaureate Canadian International Beijing graduate students, and seven internationally exhibited artists. The focus was on working with artists from all levels of their careers and create a professional exhibition that intrigued all of the artists.

"I Think Therefore I ?" 12, 06,2019, Yan Huang Gallery, Beijing, CN

Just Toyin' Around 20,07, 2017, Flatlanders Gallery, Winnipeg, CAN

television interview, 2007

Jus' Toyin' Around is an exhibition is based on Lewis Carol's "Through the Looking Glass" with the intention of participating artists being asked to look through eyes of youth - both the lighter and darker sides. The exhibition took place in June, 2017, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It consisted of 11 international artists that hailed from 5 different countries. Selected artists include: Bill Burns (CAN) Richard Dyck (CAN) Zhao Chao (CN) Kevin Friedrich )(CAN)Trevor Guthrie (CL) Hao Nan (CN) Bonnie Marin (CAN) Chak Man Lei ( HK, CAN) Xiao Qiao(CN) Bruce Sapach (CAN) Petra Varl (CR) Rodrigo Vanegas (CL) Fredrich Forte (AU)

image courtesy of Jean Klimack

(Da bao) (Takeout) 2012- 2014, touring exhibition: Varley Art Gallery of Markham, Mississauga Art Gallery, Plug In ICA, and Surrey Art Gallery, Canada

Minjeung Oh, Long Haul, Pencil on Paper, 2002

There is no Place Like Home 2005, London, England

There is no place like home 2005, Home Gallery, London, UK, was an international, post-graduate exhibition that entertained the idea that everyone that had just finished their MA was living as a "DP" (displaced person) in London. I became interested in asking the question "to what extent did that sense of dislocation influence their current aesthetics". Of course the title was lifted from the famous black-and-white film (to color) film Wizard of Oz - all of the graduates were asking themselves similar questions" am I courageous, smart or have the "heart" to move forward in their careers as artists"; in one way or another, they were all looking for Oz.

Plug In ICA, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 2003 / 04

From<To and From>To first exhibited in Winnipeg (CDN) then traveled to Minneapolis (USA) and was based on a study of distances between geographic points in the mid-west. The exhibition consisted of 13 artists from both Canada and the United States.

Selected artists: Barbara Gillhooly (US), Paul Zacharias (CDN), Kevin Friedrich (CDN), Jennifer Stillwell (CDN), Jacky Sawatzky (CDN-NL), Piotr Szyhalski (US-PL), Celeste Nelms (US), Gerald Smith (US), Chris Larson /Judith Levy (US), Colin Gatling (US), Xurxo Garcia Penalta (US-COL).

"Bridge" Xiao Jing Yan, 2007, Varley Art Gallery of Markham

"I have curated exhibitions for public museums, galleries and in independent spaces in Canada, United States, United Kingdom and China. My practice as a curator shares common threads with my art practice in that they examine social and anthro-dynamics that rely on intuitive combinations of theory, research and a reflexive risk-taking reflexivity to the place that I am living".

In|Outsource exhibition proposal was meant as a response to Marshall McLuhan's concept and critique of the Global Village. Living globally has given me a keen awareness of global, cultural and economic miscommunications: global outsourcing and China are inextricably linked and have become a sensitive node in contemporary, global economics. I was contracted by the Art Museum Nanjing to curate the idea, as well as expand the framework, of biennial formats. "International Projects" became a platform-design whose timing could remain flexible rather than based on timelines. It is now part of AMNUA programming.

In|Outsource International Projects 2015, Art Museum Nanjing, China

Selected artists: Free Art Collective (UK), Utopia Group (CN), Double Fly (CN), Cheng Huasha (CN), Ed Pien (CDN), Gao Brothers (CN), Isabell Wenzel (GR), Jin Feng (CN), Judy Ross (GR), Jonathan Mognihan (US), Kang Xueru (CDN), Ken Lum (CDN), Liu Ding (CN), Lin Jingjing (CN), Matthew Carver (CDN), Ming Wong (SP), Patty Chang /David Kelly (US), Sarah Anne Johnson (CDN), Shen Yi (Elsie) (CN), Thea Jones /Mathew Walker (CDN), Thomas Bauman (AU), Wimo Ambala Bayang (INDO), X1 DP (CN), Yan Xiaojing (CDN-CN), Zhang Kechun (CN), Zhang Zhaohui (CN), Karin van Dam (NL), Adad Hannah (CDN).

AMNUA team and visiting artists Zhang Zhaohui, Karin van Dam, Ed Pien, Adad Hannah

(DaBao)(TakeOut) , 2008-10 , explorations into cultural transferencerance

Read: Plug in ICA, Curator's (Da Bao)(Take out) Talk

(Da bao) (Takeout) was a touring exhibition that toured across Canada. The exhibition featured 13 international artists and was built on a model of cultural transitions between Canada and China. (Da bao) (Takeout) was produced by Varley Art Gallery of Markham and co-curated with Shannon Anderson.

Selected artist's: Ed Pien (CDN), John Armstrong /Paul Collins (CDN), Nan Hao (CN), Sarah Angelucci /Han Xu (CDN), Xiaojing Yan (CN-CDN), Brendan Fernandez (CDN), Knowles Eddy Knowles (CDN), Ming Hong (HK-CDN), Gang Chen (CN), Cathy Busby (CDN), Shen Yi Elsie (CN), Laurens Tan (AU-CN), Zhang Zhouhui (CN), Minjeong Oh (RPKR), Liawan (CDN).

IT'S All ART OR NO ART 2009, Beijing, China, 2009

Selected artists: Tamara Palmer (USA), Martin Derbyshier (UK), Devin Allen (USA), Jean Klimack (CDN), Doug Lewis (CDN), Wang Xin Gang (CN), Richard Todd (UK), KC Connelly (USA)

A 3rd Practice Project that followed an idea that there are two types of international art teachers; those that are artists that ended-up teaching art, and those that were educated as art teachers. The exhibition examined art education pedagogies and held discussions of the show with students from across Beijing.

nine international artists and essentially focused on the group as a sample-size of International Baccalaureate art teachers. This group lived in Beijing, China and either came to the city either as art teachers or as artists that took jobs teaching in order to maintain their art practice. I became interested in their approaches to art education and how (or if) they maintained their art practices. I included myself in the exhibition, as I was also new to teaching with no previous experience. As a new IB teacher, it was a great opportunity for me to learn also. Students of these teachers were asked to participate in the exhibition by attending lectures by the artists (not within the student-teacher dynamic). In Asia , the teacher-student relationship is still still founded in deep respect. Having students to meet their teachers as artists and ask them questions about their work, fractured the teacher/student dynamic in a very interesting way.

Minneapolis College of Art and Design and Plug In ICA

Occur/Blur 2005, Winnipeg Art Gallery
Occur/Blur was built from selected artworks from the Winnipeg Art Gallery collection. It hosted 23 Canadian contemporary artists and This exhibition focused on the concept on the blurring of moments in time and was an investigation into "stillness" and "place" - a glimpse into t the concepts of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guttari. (photos courtesy of Ernie Mayer).

Canadian Mosaic 2005, Winnipeg Art Gallery
Canadian Mosaic was a survey exhibition of select WAG collection works that represented Canadian Art over the past 100 years. (photos courtesy of Ernie Mayer).