Kearny Street Workshop supports Asian American artists

Kearny Street Workshop (KSW), the nation's oldest Asian Pacific American multidisciplinary arts organization, presents SHIFTED FOCUS: A 10th Anniversary APAture Retrospective from October 25, 2008 through January 23, 2009. The visual art exhibition features a selection of ten artists who have previously shown their work in KSW's annual APAture and have significantly contributed to the dialogue of contemporary art and practice in the Bay Area and beyond. Each of these artists represents a unique perspective and artistic intent , yet they have all produced work that interprets our common surroundings. While in the past many have looked inward at issues of identity, now they are looking outward at the world and investigating it through various vantage points – ”by zooming in, dissecting, inverting, or filtering through a critical or historical lens. True to the root of APAture (aperture), the works in SHIFTED FOCUS control the gaze and cast new light on our everyday environment. The APAture retrospective series also includes a panel discussion, an evening of literary readings, and a multidisciplinary performance event. (Above photo is Christine Wong Yap's work)

Christine Wong Yap

(APAture1999) explores themes of optimism and pessimism, through a multidisciplinary studio practice. Currently an Affiliate Artist at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, she has exhibited widely in the Bay Area, most recently in Galleon Trade: Bay Area Now 5 Edition at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, in a two-woman show at Frey Norris Gallery and a solo project at Swarm Gallery.

Kevin Chen

(APAture 2000) is a printmaker and sculptor who, since 1998 has doubled as Program Director at Intersection for the Arts, the oldest alternative non-profit arts organization in San Francisco. Chen has exhibited at Southern Exposure, SomArts, Oakland Asia Pacific Cultural Center, and California Museum of Art.

Rajkamal Kahlon

(APAture 2001) has worked in painting, collage, performance/video, and animation. Kahlon's work has been shown at the Oakland Museum of California, Rotunda Gallery in Brooklyn, Artists Space in NYC, arttransponder in Berlin, Queens Museum of Art and the Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City.

Michael Arcega

(APAture 2002) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work investigates issues of concealment, materiality, language and globalism. He has exhibited both nationally and internationally and has had residencies at the de Young Art Center in San Francisco, Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, and the 18th St. Art Center in Santa Monica. Michael is represented by Marx & Zavattero in San Francisco and Nicelle Beauchene in New York.

Binh Danh

(APAture 2003) invented his own art process, which he calls “chlorophyll prints.” He prints found photographs of his native Vietnam onto leaves and other surfaces using the natural process of photosynthesis. His work is part of the permanent collections of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the M.H. de Young Museum, and the Oakland Museum.

Kana Tanaka

(APAture 2004) is an installation artist who works uses glass to explore light and optical phenomena. Her large-scale glass sculptures are permanently on view as public art in Davis and in the Solano County Government Center. Tanaka is currently working on a suspended sculpture project, awarded by the Scottsdale Center for Performing Arts.

Rebecca Szeto

(APAture 2005) plays with subtle shifts in perception, often moving between truth and fiction utilizing diverse materials and process that are often drawn from daily life This year, Szeto exhibited in groups shows at Bucheon Gallery and at Southern Exposure in San Francisco.

Jenifer Wofford

(APAture 2006) is a multidisciplinary artist and curator who often addresses notions of difference, liminality, and authenticity. Wofford has recently exhibited her work at Southern Exposure, Manilatown Center, San Francisco Arts Commission, and curated Galleon Trade: Bay Area Now 5 Edition at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Mark Baugh-Sasaki

(APAture 2007) juxtaposes organic and industrial material to demonstrate the relationship between humans and the land. Mark has shown his work at HANG ART Gallery, Diablo Valley College, and has an upcoming solo exhibition at the Patricia's Green public sculpture site in spring 2009.

Weston Takeshi Teruya

(APAture 2008) intermixes materials and rendered images of fences (chain-link or white picket), striped roadblocks, and square green lawns to restructure spaces of containment and privilege. Teruya has exhibited his work at Patricia Sweetow Gallery and Intersection for the Arts.

For more information visit www.kearnystreet.org