RECENTLY CLOSED EXHIBITION:
John W. Winkler, Busy Street in Chinatown (1915), etching, 6 x 7.5 inches, Courtesy of the Rivolo Collection
John W. Winkler: The Chinatown Etchings
March 1 – May 19, 2024
Charles B. Wang Center Skylight Gallery
Opening Reception: Wednesday, March 20, 2024 from 5-7pm
John W. Winkler: The Chinatown Etchings explores forgotten scenes of San Francisco’s Chinatown from 1916 to 1923. Through John W. Winkler’s exceptional etchings, the exhibition unveils a crucial chapter in early Chinese immigration history in the United States.
Featuring 81 evocative etchings, the exhibition serves as a visual time capsule, capturing the essence of daily life in the heart of an early twentieth-century Chinatown. Winkler’s work, distinguished by its unparalleled quality, offers a unique lens to rediscover the narratives of this vibrant community during a pivotal immigration period. Winkler’s etchings transcend artistry, becoming historical documents that reveal the experiences, struggles, and resilience of those who called Chinatown home. The intricacy and depth of his lines convey not only artistic skill but also a profound connection to his subjects.
Curated by A. Rex Rivolo, director of Roving Sands Fine Arts, with all works on loan from the A. Rex Rivolo Collection and the Martin Levine Collection.
RELATED PROGRAMS:
Guided Gallery Tour of John W. Winkler: The Chinatown Etchings
May 8, 2024 from 12:00-12:30pm
To learn more, click here.
LONG TERM INSTALLATIONS
Organic Serenity: Reflections of Life in Sui Park’s Sculptures
Charles B. Wang Center East Hall
Sui Park’s artistic vision revolves around the exploration of the seemingly static yet actually dynamic characteristics that shape our experiences. With the remarkable ability to transform industrial materials into enthralling organic visualizations, Park weaves and connects traces of subtle changes to give rise to breathtaking biomorphic shapes that mirror the transitions and transformations found in nature. The exhibition becomes a conduit for reflection to engage with the delicate balance between our experiences and the natural world.
You will encounter a collection of artworks that captures the essence of our evolving lives. Each piece serves as a vessel, encapsulating the subtle changes in our emotions, sentiments, memories, and expectations. Park’s organic forms invite contemplation and draw us closer to moments that we may overlook but are truly inspiring.
Again by Seongmin Ahn
Charles B. Wang Center Main Lobby
Again is a typographical mural by Brooklyn-based artist Seongmin Ahn, expressing her manifesto of overcoming the global COVID-19 pandemic. The mural is a cross-cultural exchange and community bonds, and it incorporates both Eastern and Western styles, motifs, ornaments, and symbols. The ornamented images celebrates “the beginning of a prosperous future again” in various languages, including Korean, English, Spanish, Chinese, and Hindi.
The mural has been installed in various communities in New York City, including the neighborhood of Corona, Queens, an area that was hit hard by COVID-19.
The Studio: Through a Surrealistic Lens
Charles B. Wang Center Theatre Gallery
White, flat, dreamlike spaces, serving as thresholds between the inner, subjective self and the external, physical world, were a subject that fascinated the South Korea-based project group GREEM (a name that literally translates to “picture” in Korean). GREEM’s goal is to elicit feelings of strangeness, difference, curiosity, and fun in its audiences. Following a long and rich Surrealist tradition, GREEM draws inspiration from dreamlike narratives, absurd juxtapositions, and comic books for new graphic languages.
A huge, flattened, and cartoon-like artist’s studio in white and black is open, inviting viewers to live out their surrealistic fantasies. The realistic detailing of the artist’s studio also adds touches of humor, utility, and everyday-ness. As soon as the viewer enters the studio (which is carefully modeled and gives the illusion of a three-dimensional form), surrealistic dreams are triggered; the white, flat scene and the viewer’s point of view are disrupted.
The current exhibition is designed to be reproduced and seen on social media as much as it is meant to be enjoyed in its actual location. This imaginative exhibition crosses perspective, culture, and media.
Curated by Jinyoung Jin, Director of Cultural Programs at the Charles B. Wang Center, this exhibition is designed and presented by Project Group GREEM, based in Seoul, South Korea.
Simplicity Over Complexity
Charles B. Wang Center Outdoor Garden
Brooklyn-based Korean American artist Jongil Ma revives the Charles B. Wang Center’s outdoor garden with architecturally woven sculptures, using varying lengths and types of thin wooden strips, both in their raw state and dyed in color. Three large, site-specific installations balance the positive with the negative, tranquility with tension, and stillness with movement. The installations interact with the Wang Center’s architecture and spatial dynamics, transforming the garden through a multiplicity of viewing possibilities.
Zen Rock Garden
Charles B. Wang Center Outdoor Garden
Located on the first floor, in between the meeting rooms 101 and 102 at the Charles B. Wang Center, this Japanese rock garden (枯山水 karesansui) was created by Gerard Senese and his wife Hiroko Uraga-Senese as a tribute to the appreciation of Japanese culture. Japanese gardens are rich with symbolism, and they are usually created with certain meanings and wishes in mind. The Wang Center’s new Zen garden features symbols of Buddhist paradises with a tortoise islet (kame-jima) and a crane islet (tsuru-jima). Made with rocks, the tortoise symbolizes prosperity and the crane symbolizes health and good luck.
To view all the exhibitions, click here.
