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In-Between Places: Korean American Artists in the Bay Area

Wed Sep 13, 2017
Mills College Art Museum
In-Between Places (사이에 머물다) is the story of Korean American artists and their dreams, featuring new work by: Jung Ran Bae; Sohyung Choi; Kay Kang; Miran Lee; Young June Lew; Nicholas Oh; Younhee Paik; and Minji Sohn. The artists featured in In-Between Places reveal the reality and complexities of being Korean artists in America. Since the beginning of the Korean diaspora, Korean Americans have continued to occupy the in-between spaces of ambiguous identity. Existing bi-culturally, without the affirmation of belonging or permanence, Korean-Americans are only now beginning to strive for prominence with art that is definitive in stating that Korean-Americans are still Korean. In-Between Places is the first exhibition to clearly claim that Korean Americans are Koreans, and simultaneously, that Korean American art is Korean art. The reality of Korean American art is that is not considered to be Korean in Korea. Conversely, Korean American art is not considered to be American in the United States. This exhibition will formulate a new strategy to acknowledge Korean American experiences of history, culture, and art in the Bay Area, a location that has served as a gateway for Korean culture and a bridge between Korea and the West. The exhibition will showcase the artists’ diverse range of media, including: painting, sculpture, ceramics, video, performance, textiles, and installation art. Keeping true to their unique identities, the works created for the exhibition will lead to new definitions of the artists as Korean Americans working in Northern California, and will allow visitors to reflect on the intricacies of cultural identity. Organized by the Mills College Art Museum, In-Between Places is curated by independent curator Linda Inson Choy (a specialist in contemporary Korean art) and Consulting Curator Hyonjoeng Kim Han, Associate Curator of Korean Art at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. The exhibition will be accompanied by an academic catalogue that will include an essay on the history of Korean American artists in the Bay Area by Mills College Professor Mary-Ann Milford; an essay on the historical context of Korean contemporary art by Consulting Curator Hyonjeong Kim Han; and artist interviews with Linda Inson Choy.