RECEPTION: FRIDAY, JULY 27 7:30-10:30
THE LIVING GALLERY OUTPOST
246 E. 4TH STREET NY, NY
(4th and Ave A)
Nation of the Mind is a personal exploration of migration, displacement and the radical creation of new worlds. Tai Lee’s paintings are made exclusively on salvaged materials found in post-gentrified neighborhoods of New York City. Large pieces of fiberglass and plastic, often a murky translucent, are transformed into chimeric artifacts of the present. The pieces merge realistic anatomical body parts with neo-surrealist portraits of the artist, often drawing from Filipino historical figures and myths, such as the bakanawa, a dragon sea serpent, believed to cause lunar eclipses. These myths are brought into swirling dissonance with the global revolutionary ethos of 2018. The fist, pelvis, heart, brain, spine and intestines create a web of body parts, each representing the will and action needed for a sense of awakening. In a time when immigrants are increasingly persecuted in the US and beyond, Tai Lee, reminds us to explore beyond colonized borders and build new concepts of nationhood.
Tai Lee (b. 1994, Los Angeles, CA) is a Brooklyn based, self-taught artist with a background in visual art, dance and music. Through dealing with questions of decolonization, migration, mixed-race identity and reclamation of ancestral wisdom; they hope to not create “art for arts sake” but art for revolutionary, pro-people, change. Stemming from a deeply held belief that form is only an extension of content, their body of work is prolific and extends across different media. They currently perform as a dancer and percussionist in the world renowned off-Broadway show, Stomp. Recently their paintings were shown in a group exhibition at the Miranda Kuo Gallery in connection with Anakbayan. The show focused on anti-imperialist art and the current struggle of the Philippines under the oppressive and violent regime of Duerte, a regime supported by the current US President. Their first short film, Manifesto, premiered and screened at Video Revival in Brooklyn in 2017.
www.taileeartist.com
