2024
24 - 27 October 2024
Art Toronto 2024: Site Specific Installation
Booth of Cooper Cole Gallery
Sami Tsang uses clay and drawing to materialize internal questions and traumas. Weaving together domestic and psychological narratives related to the conservatism of her youth, Tsang references Chinese proverbs and uses humour, distortion, and whimsy. These stories are not presented didactically, but through a fantastical visual language that combines memories, internal dialogues, folklore and imagined futures.
Bloodless Wounds From Poisonous Roots (2024) is a site-specific installation that reflects Tsang's life experiences, and examines her struggles with the past and the present. Through her masterful understanding of ceramic media, and the intimate approach to the illustrative line work found across her body of artwork, Tsang captures a nuanced understanding of how to merge seemingly disparate emotions and thoughts.
For enquiry, please contact Cooper Cole Gallery at info@coopercolegallery.com
Press release | The Art Newspaper
By Hadani Ditmars
Visitors are greeted at the top of the escalators by an installation by the Toronto-based Chinese artist Sami Tsang (presented by the local gallery Cooper Cole)—a phantasmagorical piece that resembles a giant monster baby emerging from traditional pottery—and an accompanying large-scale painting depicting the same.
To view the full article visit The Art Newspapers
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/10/25/art-toronto-fair-canadian-art-sales-acquisitions
11 August - 11 September 2024, at AYE Gallery, Beijing, China
Personal Scripture — The Unexpected Collisions in Clay : Huang Gang & Sami Tsang
From AYE website:
AYE Gallery is pleased to present “Personal Scripture”, a joint exhibition of artists Huang Gang and Sami Tsang from August 11th to September 11th, 2024. The title’ Personal Scripture’ is a reflection of the deeply personal and cultural themes explored by the artists in their works. This will be the first time that both artists exhibit at AYE Gallery.
The exhibition’s theme, “Personal Scripture,” delves into the adage, “Every family has its own hardships.” Sami, who comes from a cross-cultural, inter-generational household, stacked paint and ceramic tiles to create shaman figurines that encapsulate the challenges faced in her journey to womanhood. Growing up in a cultural family in Beijing, Huang Gang has connected his knowledge of collecting Chinese antiques with his artistic creation, forming a unique visual language of symbols that is a testament to his cultural heritage and creative prowess. The re-conceptualization of the material itself has led the two artists to explore the visual realm beyond paint and ceramics. They examine the relationship between matter and time, humans and nature, as well as the interplay between chance and necessity in creation. “Personal Scripture” stands as a poignant reflection on the memories of two Chinese artists in disparate cultural milieus and epochs.
For enquiry, please contact AYE Gallery at lihuike@ayegallery.com
12 September - 29 December 2024
Bickers & Tsang : Emma Bickers and Sami Tsang
From Harbourfront Centre website:
Emma Bickers and Sami Tsang represent a continuum of storytelling on clay objects. They use illustrations, motifs and figures to express personal narratives and insight into their thoughts and ideas. Bickers and Tsang record the drama of daily life (both exterior and interior), exploring memory, emotion and imagination. Their works are instruments of storytelling and bearers of meaning.
For Bickers, her ceramic vessels are an expression of insatiable yearning with each piece carrying a different link to the many expressions felt when in a state of infatuation. With an emphasis on the female gaze, these pots celebrate the sweetness of queer desire while also admiring the similarities of a new crush blooming to the many flowers that pop up in spring.
Tsang resists her traditional Chinese role by gathering stories of struggles in domestic encounters and private narratives. When her heart allows, she converts these stories using cartoonish-like gestures and straightforward imagery to help make the memories bearable, revealing the raw emotional experiences we all share.
Curated by Melanie Egan.
Curatorial Statement: “Emma Bickers and Sami Tsang represent a continuum of storytelling on clay objects. They use illustrations, motifs and figures to express personal narratives and insight into their thoughts and ideas. Bickers and Tsang record the drama of daily life (both exterior and interior), exploring memory, emotion and imagination. Their works are instruments of storytelling and bearers of meaning.” – Melanie Egan, Director of Craft & Design, Harbourfront Centre
For enquiry, please contact Cooper Cole Gallery at info@coopercolegallery.com
Press release | Now Playing Toronto
https://www.nowplayingtoronto.com/event/bickers-tsang/
15 March - 25 May 2024, at Claire Oliver Gallery, Harlem, New York
Teetering on the Brink: Femininity, Inheritance, and Disaster
From Claire Oliver Gallery website:
Claire Oliver Gallery is pleased to present Teetering on the Brink: Femininity, Inheritance, and Disaster, a special group exhibition marking the New York City debut of work by artists Sami Tsang, Ebony Russell, and Suyao Tian. The exhibition spans media including figurative sculpture, watercolor on paper, sculptural vessels, and installation and explores the themes of memory, childhood, patriarchal societal values, and female identity through the lens of multiple cultures and vernaculars.
Photo courtesy of Claire Oliver Gallery,
Elephant Leg Yee | Stoneware, glaze, colour slip, poly China silk, metal rod, grout, Red nylon cord | Comprised of 2 Piece | 72 x 24 x 24 in (182.9 x 61 x 61 cm) Piece 1 | 32 x 25 x 18 in (81.3 x 63.5 x 45.7 cm) Piece 2
Press release | METAL | GothamToGo
https://metalmagazine.eu/en/post/sami-tsang-on-chinese-proverbs-pandas-and-taking-up-space
https://gothamtogo.com/sami-tsang-ebony-russell-suyao-tian-in-the-group-exhibition-teetering-on-the-brink-femininity-inheritance-and-disaster-at-claire-oliver-gallery/
Press release | METAL | GothamToGo
https://metalmagazine.eu/en/post/sami-tsang-on-chinese-proverbs-pandas-and-taking-up-space
https://gothamtogo.com/sami-tsang-ebony-russell-suyao-tian-in-the-group-exhibition-teetering-on-the-brink-femininity-inheritance-and-disaster-at-claire-oliver-gallery/
2 March - 9 June 2024 at Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna, BC
Significant Forms
From Kelowna Art Gallery website:
Significant Forms pushes the boundaries of the traditional gallery, offering an immersive journey into the minds of seven influential contemporary Canadian artists whose work allows visitors to experience an unexpected, reimagined art space. Referencing the art and aesthetics theory introduced by twentieth-century critic and philosopher Clive Bell, the term “significant form” contends that the aesthetic merit of art is not contingent on its realistic depiction of the world but rather on the emotional quality of its form. The artists in Significant Forms highlight this nuanced and multi-faceted nature of artistic expression. Through the selected works of Wally Dion, Wanda Lock, Zachari Logan, Amanda McCavour, Samuel Roy-Bois, Andreas Rutkauskas, and Sami Tsang, the gallery transforms into a space of endless possibilities.
This selection of artists’ work defies the normal confines of the gallery space, with each installation pushing the limits of traditional shape and form. Through painting, drawing, embroidery, printmaking, photography, ceramics, and sculpture, each installation in this exhibition contributes to the gallery’s metamorphosis. Significant Forms invites visitors to engage with art beyond the conventional, encouraging contemplation, reflection, and a deep appreciation for the diverse range of aesthetic experience.
Exhibition catalogue
https://kelownaartgallery.com/significant-forms/