4 DIRECTIONS FROM ASIA:
Lee Wen, Arai Shin-Ichi, Chaw Ei Thein, Mongkol Plienbangchang
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.
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
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)
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:
This event is suported by the National Arts Council of Singapore<br?
Photos below of: Lee Wen [Singapore], Arai Shin-Ichi [Japan], Chaw Ei Thein [Burma]
ABOUT GRACE EXHIBITION SPACE
182 AVENUE C NEW YORK, NY 10009
Facebook Instagram Twitter
GRACE:
Grace, n. - simple elegance or refinement of movement
Grace Period - an extended period granted as a special favor
The Three Graces (Greek Mythology) - charm, grace, and beauty
Opened in 2006, Grace Exhibition Space is devoted exclusively to Performance Art. We offer an opportunity to experience visceral and challenging works by the current generation of international performance artists whether emerging, mid-career or established. Our events are presented on the floor, not on a stage, dissolving the boundary between artist and viewer. This is how performance art is meant to be experienced and our mission is the glorification of performance art.
Grace Exhibition Space presents over 30 curated live performance art exhibitions each year, showcasing new work by more than 400 performance artists from across the United States and the world since 2006.
Grace Exhibition Space for International Performance Art Space IRS tax-exempt 501(c)3 status in 2015.
Grace Exhibition Space follows the We Have a Voice Collectives Code of Conduct to Promote Safe(r) Workplaces in the Performing Arts For more information and resources, visit: www.wehavevoice.org