Please join us for an exhibition walkthrough and discussion with artist Ming-Jer Kuo & Rowan Renee on June 22, at 6:30pm in the NARS Project Space.
Memento Mori: The Approachable Shining Stars, a long-term project by Ming-Jer Kuo, focuses on the cemeteries of New York City. The series is an exploration of negative space within an urban area. Viewing and then abstracting tombstones in some of NYC’s mass graveyards, as seen from the viewpoint of the heavens, results in images that are intended to mimic astronomical photographs as they reflect the territory of death. The work is also meant to feature an often unnoticed aspect of the metropolitan life while, at the same time, emphasizing gigantic area of urban space occupied by the living.
Ming-Jer Kuo (born in Taipei, Taiwan) is a New York-based artist. He had worked as an environmental engineer for eleven years and came to New York for art. Kuo graduated from MFA Photography, Video and Related Media at School of Visual Arts. He is a recipient of NYFA New York Foundation for the Arts Artist Fellowship in NYC, a member of The Elizabeth Foundation for The Arts Studio Program in NYC, a recipient of Paula Rhodes Award for Exceptional Achievement in NYC, and was awarded as Honorable Mention of Taoyuan Creation Award in Taiwan. Kuo’s work has been exhibited in solo and group shows of EFA 20|20 Gallery in NYC, Gallery Sejul in Seoul, Chashama Space in NYC, QCC Art Gallery in NYC, NARS Foundation in NYC, Gallery 456 in NYC, Gallery Aferro in Newark, NJ, New York Hall of Science in NYC, Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art in NYC and The 2 Gateway Center Gallery in Newark, NJ.
www.mingjerkuo.com
Rowan Renee (b. 1985, West Palm Beach, Florida) is a genderqueer artist currently working in Brooklyn, NY. Their work addresses intergenerational trauma, gender-based violence and the impact of the criminal legal system through image, text and installation. They have been exhibited in solo exhibitions at Smack Mellon (2021), Five Myles (2021), Aperture Foundation (2017), and Pioneer Works (2015), with reviews in publications including VICE, Huffington Post, Hyperallergic, and The New York Times. They have received awards from the Aaron Siskind Foundation, the Harpo Foundation and the Jerome Hill Foundation, and have been an Artist-in-Residence at the Center for Book Arts, NARS Foundation, Red Bull Arts and the Textile Arts Center. In 2022, they will be the second Artist-in-Residence at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. Currently, their project Between the Lines, supported by We, Women Photo, runs art workshops by correspondence with LGBTQ+ people currently incarcerated in Florida. Their installation, No Spirit For Me (2019), was included in the critically acclaimed exhibition Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, curated by Dr. Nicole R. Fleetwood at MoMA PS1.