A cultural platform for exploring critical ideas of our time through art and dialogue.

Karen Tam will be joined by Toronto-based artist Shellie Zhang for a gallery conversation to discuss the exhibition, Tam's work, and their shared interests as artists.

Presented in association with Karen Tam's solo exhibition at the Koffler Gallery, the chrysanthemum has opened twelve times,

LISTEN TO THE TALK ON SOUNDCLOUD:

Karen Tam lives and works in Montréal and holds an MFA in Sculpture from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a PhD in Cultural Studies from Goldsmiths (University of London). Since 2000, she has exhibited her work and participated in residencies in North America, Europe and China, including the Deutsche Börse Residency at the Frankfurter Kunstverein (Germany), Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (Canada), and CUE Art Foundation (USA). She was a finalist for the Prix Louis-Comtois in 2017 from the Contemporary Art Galleries Association and Ville de Montréal, a finalist for the Prix en art actuel from the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in 2016, and long-listed for the Sobey Art Award in 2016 and 2010. Her works are in museum, corporate, and private collections in Canada, United States, and United Kingdom. Tam is a contributor to Alison Hulme’s (ed.) book, The Changing Landscape of China’s Consumerism (2014) and to John Jung’s book, Sweet and Sour: Life in Chinese Family Restaurants (2010). She is represented by Galerie Hugues Charbonneau.

Shellie Zhang (b. Beijing, China) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tkaronto/Toronto, Canada. She has exhibited at venues including WORKJAM (Beijing), Asian Art Initiative (Philadelphia) and Gallery 44 (Toronto). She is a recipient of grants from the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2017, she was an Artist-in-Residence at the Art Gallery of Ontario. She is a member of EMILIA-AMALIA, a feminist research and writing group. Her work is in the TD Bank Corporate Art Collection, the Drake Hotel Permanent Art Collection and numerous private collections. Recent projects include a publication with the Art Gallery of York University (AGYU) and a solo exhibition at the New Gallery (Calgary). By uniting both past and present iconography with the techniques of mass communication, language and sign, Zhang’s work deconstructs notions of tradition, gender, identity, the diaspora, and popular culture while calling attention to these subjects in the context and construction of a multicultural society. She is interested in exploring how integration, diversity and assimilation is implemented and negotiated, how this relates to lived experiences, and how culture is learned, relearned and sustained.

Karen Tam & Shellie Zhang in Conversation

Photos