Gallery 456 is pleased to present Chenlin Cai’s second New York solo exhibition Body•Mark featuring his recent works made between 2017 and 2021.

The artist combines medical images with artistic expression language to create a unique painting style. In his works, oil paint is diluted by mixing multiple media to become transparent and have ink-like fluidity. The brushwork of oriental ink and wash collides with the formal language of Western oil painting, and the surface texture of the work presents a cell structure similar to that seen under a microscope. This organic texture and visual language are a prominent personal label in his works.

The sudden pandemic has changed the way of life of people all over the world, and the trauma caused by the virus has left indelible scars or marks both physically and psychologically. How to treat the objective reality that diseases will coexist with humans for a long time is changing society's attitude towards diseases and patients. The awe and curiosity of life inspired mankind to explore the true meaning of life. Who am I, where am I from, and where will I go?

The artist painted the microstructure of cells and viruses on the surface of macroscopic objects such as human bodies and landscapes. The human cell tissue under the microscope shows a strange structure and texture. Observing the cell structure under this microscopic perspective brings a surreal experience. After the life structure from the micro perspective is enlarged, it presents a fragile beauty and a strange sense of fear. The spreading cellular structure gathers and reorganizes in the human body, just like the reprogramming of life again and again.

The human body reprogramed by cells, the landscape made by human bones under X-rays, and the transparent multi-layer paintings extended in the space. Chenlin Cai attempts to expand the visual expression and sense of form in his works, in order to provide a new way of viewing to art.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I create paintings with visual narratives about relationships between humans and our environment, historical moments and contemporary events. I borrowed some thought-provoking historical moments from the album of time, extracted the images out from the original context, and placed them in the current time and space, thereby creating a visual contradiction and conflict. I visually express the effects of catastrophic events on the human body in a beautiful and poetic way.

My works fuse oil painting medium with traditional Chinese ink-painting expression. My unorthodox use of oil paint on nontraditional surfaces allows me to create artificial cellular structures that divide the images into a mosaic texture. I created a unique texture to mimic the biological cellular structure from an under-the-microscopic perspective. In these paintings, the organic microscopic structures and the macroscopic natural landscape combine in mystifying presentation of the dislocation and overlap of transparent materials.

The transparency of the material brings more visual expressiveness to the overlapping images, therefore, a new form of observation is created. This form expresses the biology of the image as a social metaphor. I try to bring a different visual experience for viewers to ponder the questions about the consequences of human behavior in a wider time-space continuum.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Chenlin Cai is a multidisciplinary visual artist living in Philadelphia. Cai received his MFA from two world-renowned universities in fine arts, the Tsinghua University in China and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.

Cai's works innovatively combine traditional Chinese ink painting with contemporary art expressions to create a unique visual image that fuses art and science. The uniqueness of his artistic style has caught the eye of collectors world-wide, including many Chinese and American collectors, and the Copelouzos Family Art Museum in Athens, Greece.

Cai has held solo exhibitions in Philadelphia and New York, including solo exhibition in Freeman's Auction Gallery, Philadelphia in 2018. Cai has participated in many art exhibitions such as New York Artexpo in 2021 and the 12th Florence Biennale in Italy 2019. Cai has won honors, including the “Excellent Artist Award” in “Eye Art•2017 International Youth Art Exhibition” in United Nations Headquarters, New York; and the “Coverly Smith Prize” in the Woodmere Art Museum’s 79th Juried Exhibition, Philadelphia.

Cai served as a judge for the National Youth Drawing Contest hosted by the World Journal for two consecutive years. Cai is also a productive mural artist. He has installed dozens of murals in the United States and China such as at Xuchang City Museum, Korean Cultural Center in Beijing, First Street Green Culture Park in New York, and 10th Street Plaza in Philadelphia Chinatown.

Cai is currently working with his artist team on creating a grand mural project for celebrating the 150th anniversary of Philadelphia Chinatown.


Opening Reception: Friday, November 12, 2021, 6 - 8PM

Please RSVP to attend the opening: https://forms.gle/9dqUhJs9egViT6py5

Sunday, October 10, 3-5pm
Conversation begins at 3:30pm

456 Broadway, 3rd floor
(elevator available)


Please join us for a conversation between artist Xiaojing Yan and curator Lilly Wei about Yan's current exhibition "Pines, Needles, Mushrooms, Ink, Paint: A Botanical Rhapsody."

A catalogue with an essay by Lilly Wei accompanies the exhibition.

Xiaojing Yan is a Chinese-Canadian artist. Combining her Chinese roots and education at Nanjing Arts Institute (B.F.A., 2000) with higher education at George Brown College in Toronto (2004) and an M.F.A. in sculpture at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (2007) her work reflects her journey through these various cultures, arriving at her own personal vocabulary. Her unique point of view brings together the past and the present, encompasses culture and nature, art and science.

Most recently, she has had solo shows at Hermès Maison, Shanghai, China, Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, BC, Canada and Suzhou Museum, Suzhou, China, Varley Art Gallery, Markham, ON, Canada. Yan has also completed public art projects in Canada and China including her 2018 installation Cloudscape at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Lilly Wei (b. Chengdu, China) is a New York-based independent curator, writer, journalist and critic whose area of interest is global contemporary art, in particular emerging art and artists, writing frequently on international exhibitions and biennials. Her work has appeared in dozens of publications world-wide and she is a longtime contributor to Art in America, a contributing editor at ARTnews, and a former contributing editor at Art Asia Pacific in the United States. The author of numerous catalogues and monographs, she has curated exhibitions in the United States, Europe and Asia. Wei lectures frequently on critical and curatorial practices and sits on the board of several not-for-profit art organizations. She has an MA in art history from Columbia University, New York.

PLEASE RSVP HERE: https://forms.gle/wUVJPeFr7ySiJCaJA

Gallery 456 is pleased to present Xiaojing Yan's first New York solo exhibition Pines, Needles, Mushrooms, Ink, Paint: A Botanical Rhapsody. Ghostly landscapes wavering on silk, sculpture, and abstract paintings make up Xiaojing Yan’s first solo exhibition in New York. It features a site-specific installation, two unusual portrait busts of a young girl, and a few abstract ink paintings on paper, all from 2016-2020. Some of the materials she uses are surprising even if we are accustomed to contemporary artists’ idiosyncratic, unfettered choices.

The installation, Mountain of Pines (2017), was inspired by the imagined, impossibly serene landscapes of traditional shan shui (mountain sea) paintings, which emerged in the 5thcentury and are synonymous for many with Chinese painting.

Yan also innovatively, idiosyncratically balances the botanical and the artistic in her work, perhaps most strikingly in a series of remarkable sculptures made from lingzhi mushrooms, Lingzhi Girl, made between 2016-2020, all life-sized, recalling the many Chinese folktales and legends about the its magical properties—healing, long life, and even immortality—that were told to her as a child. and remain fascinating to her.

The series Naturally Natural is another instance of Yan's exploration of collaboration between artist, materials, and chance, a variant on the theme of Lingzhi Girl, using acrylic, Chinese ink, and yupo paper.

About the Artist

Yan (born in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu, China in 1978 and based in Toronto, Canada) straddles two cultures, influenced by both although she is most deeply invested in representations of her native heritage. Her preference is evident in her subject matter, often based on traditional Chinese landscape paintings, aesthetic canons and its ancient folktales, legends, healing treatises, spiritual teachings, and philosophies. Landscape and the concept of place are central to her practice, infused with the émigré’s complicated sense of cultural and psychological bifurcation.

Yan left China in her early 20s after graduating with a BFA from Nanjing University of the Arts in 2000. She then earned an MFA in sculpture at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Pennsylvania in 2007, afterwards settling in Toronto where she has lived ever since.

Yan’s project is exemplary for these disorienting, unprecedented times and reminds us that we must live in accord with nature--or suffer the catastrophic consequences.

Opening Reception: Friday, October 8, 2021
2PM – 6PM

RSVP to this event is required. Please RSVP at the below link:
https://forms.gle/qd12p1pwfMEp2S6x5

Venue: Gallery 456
456 Broadway, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10013
Date & Time: Monday, September 27, 2021
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM

Join actor and educator Michael C. Liu at Gallery 456 for a discussion while viewing DÉJÀ VU ESCAPES, an exhibition by artist Nina Kuo.

Co-presented by Global Cultural Competency and the Chinese American Arts Council, CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING THROUGH THE ARTS (CUTA) will be an interactive experience for participants to explore the power of arts and cultural identities while viewing DÉJÀ VU ESCAPES, an exhibition of recent body of works by artist Nina Kuo.

This program is made possible by the New York City Artist Corps. Additional support for CUTA is provided by the Chinese American Arts Council.

Can arts be more than just leisure, hobbit, or entertainment? What are the intrinsic benefits of arts that all of us can enjoy even if/when we aren't "artists"? At a time when the world sees increasing division across race, ethnicity, class, gender, and ideology, the CUTA workshop provides a space where we can find a common ground through arts and cultural activities.

What to Expect

Come for an adventure where you will be guided through the various steps of exploring your and others' cultural heritage and discussing the subjects of arts and culture. With simple exercises and engaging conversations, every participant at CUTA will gain a refreshing perspective of how they can be a (more active) patron of the arts while building a deeper understanding across various cultures.

Be open to sharing and listening. You will be given some useful tips on the "how-to", and no one can decide "how to" use them except you.

No previous background, training, or experience in the arts is required. In fact, CUTA welcomes and embraces different levels of and perspectives on how to enjoy arts and cultural activities. At CUTA, everyone's lived experience is equally respected, and we will explore as much as possible within just two hours!

About Michael C. Liu

Michael C. Liu (M.A., M.F.A., Ed.D. candidate) is an NYC-based actor, educator, and art maker with international experience across disciplines and genres in for-profit and non-profit sectors. He received an M.A. in Arts Politics from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, an M.F.A. in Acting from Taipei National University of the Arts, and a B.A. in Diplomacy from National Chengchi University (Taiwan). He is a Leadership Fellow (2017-2019) of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals. Liu is currently pursuing an Ed.D. at St. John’s University, where he focuses on how the joint force of culturally relevant pedagogy and performing arts’ intrinsic benefits can enhance the learning experience of students in higher education. More about Michael can be found at www.michaelcliu.org.

Friday, September 10, 7-9 pm

Gallery 456
456 Broadway, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10013
(elevator available)

Please join us for a conversation between artist Poyen Wang and curator Yihsuan Chiu about Wang's current body of works. The conversation will start with an artist talk to introduce Wang's practice for the New York audience, followed by an open conversation and Q&A with Chiu. This event corresponds with Wang's participation in the upcoming group show, Bronx Calling: The AIM Biennial, opening October 20, 2021 at the Bronx Museum of the Arts.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

In my recent work, I deal with themes of otherness, sexuality and the development of subjectivity informed by psychological theories such as abjection. The motivation of my practice stems from experiences coping with struggle and confusion associated with identity both as an individual and collectively as part of a community. Drawing on literature, art cinema and pop culture as my inspiration, I use world-building and reenactment with the elasticity of 3D computer graphics to create suspended narratives, blurring the boundaries between reality, memories and fantasy. The confessional nature in my work comes from the psychoanalytic tradition, delving into shame and desire as a way to examine and emancipate repressed emotions. I see my creation as a portal into a landscape of mind exploring vulnerability and tenderness in response to existential questions and the remnants of patriarchy.


ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Poyen Wang is a visual artist based in New York. His recent solo exhibitions include The Black Sun, Taipei Digital Art Center, Taiwan, 2020 and An Obscure Silhouette, Flux Factory, New York, 2018. He has done residency programs at Bamboo Curtain Studio in Taipei in 2019; 18th Street Arts Center in Los Angeles and Flux Factory in New York in 2018. He completed the AIM program at the Bronx Museum of the Arts in 2018.

Yihsuan Chiu is a curator and researcher based in New York. She holds a B.A. in history from National Taiwan University and an M.A. from Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (CCS Bard). Her current work centers the historical and material dimensions of political movements; documentary and art cinema; and East Asian film histories.

This event is generously sponsored by the City Artist Corps Grants and CAAC.

Gallery 456 is pleased to present Yikui (Coy) Gu’s first New York solo exhibit Saying The Quiet Parts Out Loud. The fifteen works in this exhibit are all from his series Classic Yellow, made between 2018 to 2021. The mixed media works on paper in Classic Yellow are autobiographical, using the artist and his wife as subject matter. In probing the specificity, both lived and imagined, of their immigrant Chinese-German marriage, universal truths and absurdities are revealed. The spaces between order and chaos, sincerity and irony, or design and chance are explored using visual elements from the internet, pop culture, and art history. The combination of painting, drawing, and collage, alongside materials ranging from chopsticks to bodily fluids, juxtapose against each other, echoing their relationship and serving as a metaphor for it. Through this combination of political, cultural, and domestic imagery, Gu hopes to affirm and subvert the contemporary human condition through a Yellow lens.

Many of the works in this exhibit take a varied approach in terms of materials and aesthetics. In the same piece viewers may find passages classically rendered in charcoal, splashy gestural abstraction, found internet images, and ready-made materials such as the plastic bag for Wonder Bread. Combining such disparate approaches in the same artwork both highlights and subverts his academic training. It reflects the interconnected, pluralistic world today.

Another approach often found in Gu’s works is the usage of photographs of electronic devices as a painting surface. A number of works use found internet stock photos of devices such as a smartphone to then be painted on. This creates a conceptual and visual tension as the stock photo is infinitely reproducible, while the painting on its surface is a one-of-one image. The contrast between the crisply photographic, against a painterly image, is Gu’s attempt as an artist at processing today’s consumption of materials, information, and culture.

About the Artist

Yikui (Coy) Gu was born in Nantong, China and immigrated to the United States at the age of seven, growing up in Albany, NY. He holds an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and a BFA from Long Island University.

He has exhibited his work nationally in New York, Miami, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Boston, and St. Louis; and internationally in London, Berlin, and Siena, Italy. He has been an artist in residence at the School of Visual Arts and the Asian American Arts Alliance. He has been reviewed in the Washington Post, KunstForum International, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Yale Daily News. His work has appeared on the cover of the Lower East Side Review, and in Fresh Paint and Art Maze. His work is held in the permanent collections of Wheaton College, the Siena Art Institute, Camden County College, and numerous private collections.

He resides in Philadelphia and teaches as Associate Professor of Art at the College of Southern Maryland. In his time off he enjoys traveling, Belgian beers, and keeping up to date as a sneakerhead. The bulk of his time, however, is spent in the studio where he is currently plotting his takeover of the international art world, while remaining mostly harmless.

Opening Reception: Friday, April 23, 2021, 6 - 8pm

2020 has been an intense year of change, and the pandemic has brought unprecedented disruption to our lives. More than many other metropolitan areas, Chinatowns across the U.S. and Canada have been disproportionately impacted by the surge in xenophobic rhetoric about the “Chinese virus", the rise in anti-Asian sentiment, gentrification and residential insecurity, and the decline in business that has forced many Chinatown businesses to struggle and shutter. In the face of these challenges, Chinatown groups have come together to support and uplift these communities. This discussion, connecting Chinatowns across North America, highlights the relief efforts and creative approaches to navigate ever-changing pandemic policies.

RESILIENCE! is hosted in conjunction with the exhibition WHAT REALLY DEFINES US? ...IT’S COMPLICATED, currently on view at the Chinese American Arts Council in New York. The show, featuring works by women artists Patricia Cazorla, Nancy Saleme, and Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong, explores the complexities of racial identity and labor in the domestic realm within the Asian-American and Latin-American diaspora. These immigrant groups have greatly shaped the U.S. and are often the silent, “unseen” characters in the systems and institutions that support, feed and clean American homes.

Conference Date:11/06/2019 3pm
Venue: 456 Broadway 3F, New York, NY 10013
Co-sponsored by Chinese American Art Council

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Tuesday, October 15, 6-8pm
Conversation begins at 6:30pm

456 Broadway, 3rd floor
(elevator available)

Please join us for a conversation between artist Eleen Lin and curator Janusz Jaworski about Lin's current exhibition Found in Translation.

The conversation takes place within Found in Translation, a solo exhibition of Lin's paintings and drawings inspired by Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick", and mistranslations in the Mandarin version. With stunning and often playful imagery, Lin's works allow viewers to discover many narratives within them - even if the viewers are not familiar with//the novel.

Lin's current body of work explores themes of cultural hybrids and diasporas, memory, sexuality, and the inadequacies of translations between cultures and eras.

Part of Chinatown Arts Week, this event is sponsored by Gallery 456 and Think!Chinatown.

More information about the exhibit: caacarts.org/dp/node/15?id=323
More information about Chinatown Arts Week: https://www.thinkchinatown.org/arts-week

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Program: Selected repertoires from Yue and Cantonese Opera classics
Performing Date：10/12/2019 1:00-4:00 pm
Venue: 41-17 Main St, Flushing, NY 11355 (Flushing Library)
Co-sponsored by Chinese American Arts Council

Chinese American Arts Council (CAAC) signed another year of agreement with Symphony Space's Global Arts Program, in conducting series of Workshop, Cultural Field Trip and After School Program on Chinese Opera and Martial Arts.

In this agreement, during 2019-2020, CAAC will conduct periodic workshops and demonstrations on Chinese Opera and Martial Arts at Symphony Space. Artists from CAAC were trained in China and who were stars of the Beijing and Shaoxing Opera Troupes. Recipients of numerous awards for their work in China, these artists specialize in warrior roles and are skilled in many styles of theatrical martial arts. Their performances and workshops introduce students and teachers to works from the Beijing, Shaoxing, Kun and Cantonese Opera repertories.

Teaching artists perform and discuss the five elements of traditional Chinese opera—singing, talking, acting, fighting, and tumbling--with students, providing a deeper understanding of the discipline. An exploration of these elements elicits interactive discussion, learning the five elements in the Mandarin language, and practice with stage fighting skills, movement, and mime.

The workshops and demonstrations will be held throughout the contracted period. Please check with Symphony Space for schedule at
https://www.symphonyspace.org/education/global-arts/chinese-opera-and-martial-arts

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GRANT INFORMATION SESSION
MONDAY, JULY 22, 3:00PM
Chinese American Arts Council
456 Broadway, 3 rd Floor

LMCC awards grants each year to Manhattan-based artists, collectives, and small organizations engaging Manhattan communities through a wide range of artistic programming and events – on stages, in exhibitions, classrooms, recreation centers, and public spaces. 2020 Guidelines and Applications for Creative Engagement, Creative Learning, and UMEZ Arts Engagement are now live! The application deadline for all three programs is September 10, 2019 for projects taking place in 2020.

LMCC is excited to host an information session in Mandarin and English language for Creative Engagement and Creative Learning at the Chinese American Arts Council on July 22, 2019! Join us to learn more about the Manhattan Arts Grants.

The full schedule of sessions and links to RSVP can be accessed here: https://lmcc.net/rsvp. RSVP today!