2025
24 - 27 April 2025
EXPO CHICAGO 2025: Site Specific Installation
Booth of Claire Oliver Gallery #342
From Claire Oliver’s website:
At EXPO Chicago 2025, Tsang will transform Claire Oliver Gallery’s booth into an immersive installation of large-scale sculpture and monumental drawings. The installation will be grounded by six large-scale ceramic sculptures showcasing Tsang’s signature fusion of whimsy, emotional intensity, and personal symbolism. As a backdrop to these new works, Tsang will install a large-scale wall mural, which will be drawn onsite. The spontaneous work mirrors her artistic philosophy—her works function as an ongoing diary, negotiating the complexities of bicultural identity. Her fantastical figures, infused with Chinese symbols and personal iconography, create a new visual language within the ceramic form. A recurring motif—the panda, a revered figure in both Chinese and Western cultures—explores themes of duality, adaptation, and camouflage. The mural will weave these symbolic elements into a visual narrative of cultural inheritance, autonomy, and the ‘code-switching’ required to navigate different identities. At EXPO Chicago, Tsang’s installation becomes a living site of meaning-making. Her personal mythology invites viewers to reflect on their own identities, struggles, and inherited cultural narratives, positioning her work as an act of resistance, reclamation, and dialogue.
At EXPO Chicago 2025, Tsang will transform Claire Oliver Gallery’s booth into an immersive installation of large-scale sculpture and monumental drawings. The installation will be grounded by six large-scale ceramic sculptures showcasing Tsang’s signature fusion of whimsy, emotional intensity, and personal symbolism. As a backdrop to these new works, Tsang will install a large-scale wall mural, which will be drawn onsite. The spontaneous work mirrors her artistic philosophy—her works function as an ongoing diary, negotiating the complexities of bicultural identity. Her fantastical figures, infused with Chinese symbols and personal iconography, create a new visual language within the ceramic form. A recurring motif—the panda, a revered figure in both Chinese and Western cultures—explores themes of duality, adaptation, and camouflage. The mural will weave these symbolic elements into a visual narrative of cultural inheritance, autonomy, and the ‘code-switching’ required to navigate different identities. At EXPO Chicago, Tsang’s installation becomes a living site of meaning-making. Her personal mythology invites viewers to reflect on their own identities, struggles, and inherited cultural narratives, positioning her work as an act of resistance, reclamation, and dialogue.
Dark Waters, Luminescent Dreams | stoneware, glaze, glass, lace, micro-beads embellishment, acrylic, lights bulb, socket, chain, thread, resin, faux fur | 78 x 32 x 31 inches
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Nourishing On Pain | stoneware, glaze, glass, acrylic, resin, faux fur, micro-beads embellishment | 60 x 21 x 31 inches
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I'm the Reflection of You | stoneware, glaze, glass, acrylic, resin, faux fur, nylon cord, chain, jade, micro-beads embellishment | 42 x 27 x 19 inches
When Heroes Were Real | stoneware, glass, acrylic, resin, micro-beads embellishment, wire | 61 x 24 x 33 inches
Exhibition View
24 May - 26 July 2025, at Claire Oliver Gallery, Harlem, NY
Our Family Portrait
From Claire Oliver’s website:
Claire Oliver Gallery announces Our Family Portrait, the first U.S. solo exhibition by Chinese-Canadian artist Sami Tsang. Tsang’s ceramic figures exist in a liminal space between tradition and rebellion, bearing the weight of cultural history while simultaneously breaking free from its constraints. “My work and my studio practices are very empowering. I use my work as a way to have difficult conversations with myself,” Tsang says. “My studio practice often explores feeling silenced or confined; by making the work and putting these feelings and memories into forms, I can assert a voice that wasn’t always accessible to me.”
Our Family Portrait
From Claire Oliver’s website:
Claire Oliver Gallery announces Our Family Portrait, the first U.S. solo exhibition by Chinese-Canadian artist Sami Tsang. Tsang’s ceramic figures exist in a liminal space between tradition and rebellion, bearing the weight of cultural history while simultaneously breaking free from its constraints. “My work and my studio practices are very empowering. I use my work as a way to have difficult conversations with myself,” Tsang says. “My studio practice often explores feeling silenced or confined; by making the work and putting these feelings and memories into forms, I can assert a voice that wasn’t always accessible to me.”
Grief's Landscape | stoneware, glaze, glass, lace, micro-beads embellishment, acrylic, resin | 47 x 38 x 25 inches
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When Heroes Were Real | stoneware, glass, acrylic, resin, micro-beads embellishment, wire | 61 x 24 x 33 inches
Burn it | ceramic, glaze, engobe, glass, thread | 37 x 18 x 14 inches
Nourishing On Pain | stoneware, glaze, glass, acrylic, resin, faux fur, micro-beads embellishment | 60 x 21 x 31 inches
Press release | Whitehot Magazine | Sculpture Magazine | Surface Magazine | Craft Council | Art Meer