Ron Choi : Elegy
October 10 - October 31, 2008
Artist:
Location:
Gallery 456
Exhibition Statement

The paintings in this show began as two separate series dealing with cultural memory. All through my childhood I had listened to the laments of my parents about how the tumult of China in the first half of the twentieth century had affected their lives. A few years ago I came across a new book of early twentieth century photographs of China made by the Italian Jesuit missionary, Leone Nani. Through these photographs I was able for the first time to empathize with my parents' histories. It inspired me to use them as a basis for a series of black and white paintings. In the second series, I was interested in conveying my response to these "reconstructed" memories through the use of color. Lastly the set of drawings on Chinese menu was my response to the question of "What modern art means?" for Chinese American.

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