Monday April 16, 7:30pm
YES: Lili Chin / Gautam Kansara
Artists in person!
Still from “The Kansara Show Part 1” (2017) by Gautam Kansara, HD single-channel video, sound, 11 minutes 24 seconds – Image courtesy of the artist
Microscope is very pleased to present a screening night of videos by New York based artists Lili Chin and Gautam Kansara as part of the gallery’s series YES.
The two artists, who have previously appeared in group screening programs presented by the gallery, not only work with single-channel works but have expanded their practices over the years to include split-screen and multiple channels as well as multi-media installation, often questioning and challenging the traditional concept of screen, incorporating various surfaces and textures including paper, glass, mulch, and others.
Storytelling, memory, nature, and current affairs and post 9/11 politics in the context of personal history and culture are also areas of interest for both artists, who despite their similarities take different approaches in their works.
Kansara frequently employs layering of imagery, revealed through erasure and other techniques involving the use of green screen, and incorporating actual conversations of himself with family members about various personal and political subject matters. Chin, on the other hand, remains behind the camera as an observer, recruiting friends as actors in some of the works, while in others animating or engaging with ceramics and artworks in other mediums by the artist. Many of her works are shot on film – Super 8mm and 16mm – and the materiality of the medium plays a critical role.
General admission $8
Members or students w/ ID $6
_
Lili Chin is an artist based in New York City. Chin’s work has been exhibited internationally in galleries, museums and project spaces in diverse locations ranging from New York to Ecuador, Mexico City, Scotland, Shanghai, Beijing and more. In 2013, her work ‘Looking Glass’ was commissioned by the He Xiangning Art Museum in Shenzhen, China. She has attended numerous artist residencies, including The Studios at Mass MoCA and the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai. Her works have screened at institutions, film festivals, and other venues including Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY; Millennium Film Workshop, New York, NY; Microscope Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, and Aurora Picture Show, Austin, TX , among others. She attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2010 and holds an MFA from the University of California, San Diego.
Gautam Kansara (b. 1979) is a Brooklyn-based artist born in London, England. Through video and photography, Kansara produces works that draw upon personal history. His work offers an obscured view into personal situations in order to examine the layering of memory, aging, and cultural displacement. His work has been exhibited among others at Asia Society Museum, New York, NY; The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York; Harrington Street Arts Centre, Kolkata, India; Shrine Empire Gallery, New Delhi, India; Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, Spain; LMAK Projects, New York City. Kansara has performed at Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn, NY and others. His residencies and awards include Workspace Artists-in-Residence, LMCC, New York, NY (2017); Artist-in-Residence, Center for Book Arts, New York, NY (2008–2009); GO! Solo Exhibition Award, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT (2007); Studio Artist Fellowship, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY (2006–2007); Artist in the Marketplace (AIM), Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY (2006); and LMCC’s Swing Space, New York, NY (2006). His work can be found in collections including The Burger Collection, Hong Kong and the Shreya and Swapan Seth Collection, New Delhi. Kansara holds a B.F.A in Studio Art from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an MFA in Art in New Media from New York University. His work is currently on view as part of Lapses II at Sakshi Gallery in Bombay, India through May 12th.
Still from “Grandmother’s Room” (2014) by Lili Chin, HD single-channel video, sound, 8 minutes 12 seconds – Image courtesy of the artist
_
Microscope Gallery Event Series 2018 is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC).
