FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Margaret Crane
+1 (661) 222-2787, mcrane@muse.calarts.edu (do not publish)

Tuan Andrew Nguyen, United and determined to triumph, thirst for more, Dinh, 2006 Oil on canvas, 120 x 180 cm,
courtesy the artist

Eternal Flame
February 14 -April 8, 2007
Opening reception February 14, 6-9pm; Artists' discussion 6:30pm FREE

Eternal Flame brings together recent projects by six contemporary artists working in Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Los Angeles, and New York. The exhibition elaborates on recent intellectual and artistic attempts to cope with commerce, society, and art. As a series of activities and proposals, the works in Eternal Flame define a lively, socially engaged, optimistic generation -- one inspired to redefine artistic and personal freedoms in the new millennium. The exhibition features works by Rheim Alkadhi, Paul Chan, Pattara Chanruechachai and Pratchaya Phinthong, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, and Lan Tuazon

Rheim Alkadhi (b. 1973, Buffalo, New York) mines recent press and found images in search of inspiration, reassurance and contemplation. Inspired by those who carry on in the mayhem of bullets and explosions, her objects are a manipulation of organic and inorganic materials in search of a reconciliation between hope and futility, between here and there. Alkadhi graduated from the California Institute of the Arts and the University of California, Irvine. She has been included in exhibition at Deep River, Los Angeles; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions; and the Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, Michigan. She lives and works in Los Angeles. For Eternal Flame, Paul Chan (b. 1973, Hong Kong) presents three video works that address the contradictions and consequences of national identity as expressed through war and defense: Now promise now threat (2005), BAGHDAD IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER (2003), and RE_THE OPERATION (2002). As in h is animation-based installations, for which he is perhaps best known, such as My Birds…Trash…The Future (2004) and 1st Light (2006), Chan's documentary-style videos reveal a preoccupation with philosophy and intellectual discourse in relation to the fragility of the human subject. Chan received his BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago and his MFA from Bard College. He has exhibited at Portikus, Frankfurt; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and The Carnegie International, Pittsburgh. He lives and works in New York.

Dong-Na is a town on the Thai side of the Mekong River that has no paved road access and does not appear on the map. Combining their interest in the function of art as a tool and the "empty platform" of artist Mitr Jai-in's abstract painting, Pattara Chanruechachai (b. 1971, Bangkok) and Pratchaya Phinthong (b.1974, Bangkok) decided to use their participation in the 2006 Singapore Biennial as a means of financing a library for the town. To do so, they installed and sold Mitr Jai-in's paintings in a silent auction during the Biennial. A second version of Dong-na Project will be presented at REDCAT to supplement the library's construction. Pattara Chanruechachai graduated from The College of Fine Arts in Bangkok. His work has been included in the 2006 Singapore Biennial and shown at About Café, Bangkok. Pratchaya Phinthong graduated from the Silpakorn University, Bangkok and the Meisterschule at Staedelschule, Frankfurt. He has been included in exhibitio ns at the Chula Art Museum, Bangkok; the Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz; and has participated in the 2004 Taipei Biennial. Tuan Andrew Nguyen's (b. 1976, Saigon) recent work explores the conflicted visual terrain of urban Viet Nam, a dynamic landscape upon which the battle between socialist propaganda and capitalist marketing strategies is waged. For his contribution to this exhibition, Nguyen presents three newly commissioned collaborative paintings that transgress the boundaries of economic ideology to imagine the integration of conflicted systems of signage and marking in Viet Nam. Nguyen received his BFA from the University of California, Irvine, and MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. His work has been included in the 4th Bangkok Experimental Film Festival; Mine at Lombard Freid Fine Arts, New York; and will be part of the 5th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane. He lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City. At 5 am on August 27, 2006, Mari e Lorenz and Lan Tuazon (b. 1976, Philippines) and fr! iends ar rived at Port Morris to install magnets made by seventeen artists who responded to a call for Invisible Graffiti. All works were magnetic and installed temporarily on Richard Serra's Torqued Ellipse as an act of "resistance against the architecture of behavioral and spatial control." For her contribution to Eternal Flame, Tuazon will print and distribute a book documenting the event. Tuazon received her BFA from Cooper Union and MFA from Yale University. Her work has been exhibited at Artists Space, New York; Lowry Museum, Manchester; and Ise Foundation, New York. She lives and works in New York.

Gallery hours: noon–6 pm or curtain, closed Mondays
Admission to the gallery is always free

Call +1.213.237.2800 for more information

631 West 2nd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012 USA

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