Space

It’s here! I’ve launched SLAYSIAN: The Online Show! As you know, I curated an exhibition featuring 39 incredible local artists, a celebration of Chicago’s (and the surrounding Midwest area’s) Asian American talent. I ended up postponing it due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This artwork deserves to be seen far and wide, so until we can all physically come together again, I’ve put together a virtual version for you to enjoy in the safety of your own home. May this serve as some welcome respite in these frightening times. May this also serve as an act of resistance and solidarity; it is needed now more than ever.

Here’s the main page. And here’s the artists page; click on each artist to view their art and bio/statement.

And: In honor of National Doctors Day, here’s another one of my aforementioned friends fighting on the front lines.

Greatest Generation

(Click for the full post.)

And one of my aforementioned friends on the front lines had this to say about the situation at her hospital, which is the situation in all hospitals across the US. We all need to do our part, and if you can, pitch in; every little bit counts. (And here’s the article she linked to; the last three paragraphs are a must-read.) The federal government is useless, so it’s up to us. All healthy hands on deck. This is wartime.

(To start, here and here are lists of donation sites for PPE.)

Lots more COVID-19 related news—including resources and ways to help, as well as light-hearted respite—on Twitter.

In the Time of

(For those not on social media, my announcement from Saturday.)

SLAYSIAN is postponed.

I’m so sorry, folks. It’s personally upsetting to me too, but I was in the gallery yesterday evening assigning wall space for all the artists, and while I was doing so we were listening to that day’s COVID-19 news. Our governor was practically begging folks to hunker down, and it would be irresponsible for me to go through with the show in the middle of all this. Plus, we wouldn’t be able to celebrate it with a big group of people anyway, and these artists’ work deserves that. So we’re postponing until the pandemic is over.

That said, postponement means I have hope that things will get better, and I have hope that in the near future we can put together an amazing show that everyone can come see in person.

I’ll still go forward with putting the art online in a virtual exhibition of sorts (after all, quarantine means I’ll have more time to do so).

We’re all in this together, and we’re all doing this to look out for one another. Please stay home as much as possible and as long as possible, #flattenthecurve, protect the elderly and immunocompromised, care for one another, stay healthy, stay safe, and have hope.

(P.S. As someone who’s been a [slight] germaphobe since age 10, it’s been interesting to see everyone else finally adopt all the habits I’ve always had. Even when this pandemic ends, let’s keep up with these habits! (As I keep saying, both for your sake and for your loved ones and communities.))

CelebrAsian

Thank you to everyone who applied to the open call for my next group exhibition, SLAYSIAN. Today, I am excited to announce the selected artists! Hailing from all over Chicago (and the surrounding Midwest area), these talented local Asian American artists include:

Aimy Tien, Alex Kostiw, Bumjin Kim, Caroline Liu, Charlene Moy, Chris Gallevo, Cindi Jean Zdrinc, Dan Castranova, Dao Nguyen, Eddie Yeung, Eric Mah, Gabriel Mo, James J Gu, Joyce Jodie Kim, Juliann Wang, Julius Bautista, Justin Suico, Kaitlyn Hwang, Kiki Jia Qi Zhen, Kristel Becares, Kristin Anahit Cass, Mendy Kong, Muriel Christensen, My Linh Mac, Nayeon Yang, Nini Kao, Priscilla Huang, Rialin José, Richard Gessert, Robert Apolinar, Saebom Yang, Sam Riesmeyer, Sierra Tuazon, Sophie Pokorny, Stafford Smith, Susie Xiong (InsomniaBird), Tshab Her, Vivian Le, and Yuqing Zhu.

Congratulations! This show is going to be amazing.

Everyone else, here’s the Facebook event page. (Notice something different? Apparently Facebook no longer allows you to create event names in all caps, even though that’s… my thing. See also: 2016’s LEXICON, and the URL for the Facebook event for 2012’s I CAN DO THAT somehow doesn’t work anymore but that was capitalized too, naturally. Anyway:) Invite yourself and your friends!