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AMERINGER | MCENERY | YOHE
is pleased to announce its first solo exhibition of work by Tam
Van Tran. Tam Van Tran: Leaves of Ore will open on 14 February
and will remain on view through 16 March 2013. In addition to this
exhibition, Tam Van Tran’s work will be featured in a solo booth
at The Art Show, organized by the Art Dealers Association of
America (ADAA) at the Park Avenue Armory, Park Avenue at 67th
Street, New York, from 6 - 10 March. Gala Preview on 5 March.
Tam Van Tran has been strongly influenced by landscapes: the
landscapes of his Vietnamese childhood, where he lived near
the ocean and Da Nang military airbase, and the landscapes of
his current home of Los Angeles and the California coast. His
works start with fragments such as porcelain shards that evoke
memories of ceramic jars his mother used for making fish sauce,
or leaves of copper sheets that lift with air currents like palm
fronds in the Santa Ana winds. The fragments include found
objects, cardboard and palm leaves that are collaged onto canvas
surfaces and natural materials, clay, paint and paper, which are
laid on ceramic tiles and embedded beneath recycled glass. The
materials embody Tran’s recalled experiences of bombs floating
onto shore, villagers fishing with grenades, and intermittent
evacuations. The large ceramic wall work in Leaves of Ore
began with diagrams of Da Nang and Tan Son Nhat International
Airport (Saigon). Referencing Earth’s tectonic plates, Tran places
porcelain chips and recycled glass on top of the diagrams before
they are fired. The gathering of both clay and glass forms a
mineral aggregation. The diagrams mostly disappear through the
process of accumulating elements and kiln firing; yet remain fixed
as ideas within the artwork, akin to the process of an individual’s memory formation from the amassment of thoughts and experiences
over time. As an individual’s memories are susceptible to influence and change by others, the copper leaf wall works also invite interaction
from the viewer, the leaves responding to and monitoring the onlooker’s approach and shifting movements.
Tran is acutely aware of himself as a Vietnamese-American absorbing both Eastern and Western cultural influences. His work incorporates
and transforms references from Nouveau Réalisme, Arte Povera, and California ceramic tradition, and may be as easily compared to John
Chamberlain’s crushed metal sculptures as it may Asian gold-leafed folding screens. In the tradition of artists such as Kurt Schwitters and
Robert Rauschenberg, Tran actively considers, explores, and expands painting concepts.
Tam Van Tran was born in Kon Tum, Vietnam, in 1966. He studied painting and received a BFA in 1990 from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New
York, and later attended the Graduate Film and Television Program at the University of California, Los Angeles. His work was featured
in the 2004 Whitney Biennial. Tran has had numerous national and international exhibitions, including Tam Van Tran: Psychonaut, at
the Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston, and SubUrban: Tam Van Tran, at the Knoxville Museum of Art. His work may be found in
the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Hirshhorn
Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Broad Collection, Santa Monica;
The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and The Cleveland Museum of Art.
Tran lives and works in Los Angeles.
Press contact: Thomas Quigley at TQ@amy-nyc.com
www.amy-nyc.com
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