Nina Kuo

Nina Kuo (Chinese: 郭麗娜) is a Chinese American painter, photographer, sculptor, author, video artist and activist who lives and works in New York City.[1] Her work examines the role of women, feminism and identity in Asian-American art.[2][3] Kuo has worked in partnership with the artist Lorin Roser.[4]

Nina Kuo
郭麗娜
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Visual Artist
Painter
Multimedia Artist
Years active1975-present
Notable workTang Ladies
PartnerLorin Roser
WebsiteMythicalMuse.com

Kuo grew up in Buffalo, New York, the daughter of abstract painter James K.Y. Kuo. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from SUNY Buffalo.[5]

After moving to New York City, Kuo became part of the CETA-funded Cultural Council Foundation Artists Project. She worked in activist art communities such as Basement Workshop and as the first resident artist at the Asian American Arts Centre building registries through interviews and curation. Kuo was part of the Godzilla Asian American Arts Network.[2] She went to China and met her grandmother who she photographed and referenced in later works. She exhibited at the Clocktower MOMA PS1 in a show against racial prejudice, and her mural Politeness in Poverty of 1988 was installed in the Broadway Lafayette subway station in New York City.[6][7][8]

She was included by Marcia Tucker in the Bad Girls (art exhibition) at The New Museum in 1994.[9] Her photo work was included by Lucy Lippard in The Lure of the Local: Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society following a residency at Museum of Chinese in America.[10] In 1999 Kuo exhibited her Chi Pao (Chinese Banner Dresses) at the Center for Photography at Woodstock addressed gender stereotypes prevalent in Chinatown.[11]

Work
Scholars shopping bag and dog

In 2002 Lehman College Art Gallery presented If the Shoe Fits....[12] Holland Cotter noted that when the artist first met her grandmother in 1980 she proudly displayed the three-inch-long shoes she wore on her bound feet.[13][14] In 2009, Kuo created a series of video, animation and installation art works called Mythical Montage, which examined "illusion, feminine irony and transformations of Asian influences"[15][16] and her Tang Ladies [17] were described as "statuesque, delicate and quiet on the canvas as they investigate anachronistic details" referencing the Chinese woman's desire to fit in, as well as the often negative connotation given to them by society, specifically in New York City.[18] In 2013, Kuo commemorated Danny Chen, who committed suicide after harassment and hazing for being Asian-American.[19] In 2014 she was featured in a solo show at Andre Zarre.[20] Cultural influences from her travels in China, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong were documented in 2016 on WNYU radio.[21] That same year, she submitted her Face Montage to the What is Feminist Art? collection at the Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery, it consisted of various images of Chinatown bands and a portrait of Danny Chen.[22] She has described her Art Deviation exhibition in 2020 as “work that has more surprise and mystery, that is more thought provoking, pleasing and enticing so that it's not just technique... You are trying to draw them into a conversation, to bring in something unusual, to make the viewer sense there is a tantalizing experience.”[23] In 2022–2023, her hand printed photo works Contrapted Series Chinatown and Contrapted Series Quilt, Brooklyn (both 1983), which overlay photographs of New York neighbourhoods with colourful fragments, demonstrating how cultural memory is made from scattered debris, were shown at the Museum of Modern Art's Just Above Midtown (JAM) Gallery.

Politeness and Poverty' public mural, image from book by Lucy Lippard, Mixed Blessings New Art in a Multicultural America

Kuo received scholarships and studied at International Center of Photography in New York City. Her work is in the collections of Brooklyn Museum of Art[24] and New Museum in New York City.[9] She has lectured at the New School, Newark Museum, Beijing University, Central Academy of Art, Beijing.

In 2020, she created a series of sculptures in relation to the coronavirus, honoring the lives of those lost with her "Tomb Clay Figures," which she said: "This global pandemic pinpoints how death is mentally difficult. My goal is to create art that can reinvent these emotions, while honoring people we have all admired."[1]

Exhibitions

Solo
  • 2007: "Chanel Chinoiserie," Cheryl McGinnis Gallery, New York, NY[25]
  • 2009: "Mythical Museum," with Lorin Roser, Gallery 456, New York, NY[26]
  • 2014: "New Works: Artquakes," Andre Zarre Gallery, New York, NY[20]
  • 2020: "Art Deviation," Flushing Town Hall, Queens, New York[27]

Group

Collections

Kuo's work is in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum,[37][24] Library of Congress,[38] Biblioteque Nationale,[39] and New Museum.[40]

Grants and residencies

Publications
  • Kuo, Nina; Roser, Lorin (sound) (1984). Architectonic Inscapes. Los Angeles, CA: Women's Graphic Center. OCLC 232641597.
  • Florschuetz, Thomas; Younger, Dan; Diamond, Ted; Evers, Winfred; Kuo, Nina (1988). Thomas Florschuetz, Dan Younger, Ted Diamond, Winfred Evers, Nina Kuo. Syracuse, NY: Light Work. OCLC 71801380. Catalog of an exhibition held at the Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery, Syracuse, NY

References
  1. Sayej, Nadja. "Nina Kuo Pays Homage To Lives Lost With Sculpture". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2021-07-07. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
  2. "Caught Between Worlds: Artist Nina Kuo | Asiance Magazine". Archived from the original on 2019-11-16. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
  3. "Kuo, Nina: Profile". Asian American Arts Centre. 2015.
  4. Broadway, Gallery 456 Chinese American Arts Council456; YorkNY, 3fl10013 New. "exhibitions & events". ArtSlant. Retrieved 2019-11-30.
  5. "Brooklyn Museum's Feminist Art Base: Nina Kuo, New York, USA" (Database). Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum. 2014.
  6. "Nina Kuo | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
  7. Lippard, Lucy R. (2000). Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America. New York, NY: New Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-565-84573-2. OCLC 43958184.
  8. Kuo, Nina (2013-12-29), English: p. 140 Mixed Blessing, retrieved 2019-11-17
  9. "Images". New Museum Digital Archive. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
  10. Lippard, Lucy R. (1997). The Lure of the Local: Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society (PDF). New York: New Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-565-84247-2. OCLC 34958680.
  11. "Nina Kuo: Chi Pao (Chinese Banner Dresses)". Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW). September 1999.
  12. Karetzky, Patricia Eichenbaum (2002). "Femininity in Contemporary Asian Art If the Shoe Fits... and Vernal Visions". Lehman College Art Gallery.
  13. Cotter, Holland (2002-04-26). "ART IN REVIEW; 'Femininity in Contemporary Asian Art'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
  14. Karetzky, Patricia (July 2012). Femininity in Asian Women Artists' Work from China, Korea and USA: If the Shoe Fits. KT press. ISBN 9780953654123.
  15. "Visual Artist Nina Kuo". Chinese American Arts Council (CAAC).
  16. "AsianConnections - Nina Kuo and Lorin Roser: Mythical Montage - Paintings Parallel 3D Animated Video". AsianConnections. 2009.
  17. "The Drawing Center - Viewing Program - Nina Kuo". www.drawingcenter.org. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  18. Chang, Alexandra; New York University. Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program and Institute (2009). "The Network: Godzilla". Envisioning Diaspora: Asian American Visual Arts Collectives: From Godzilla, Godzookie to the Barnstormers. Beijing: Timezone 8 Editions. ISBN 978-9-881-75223-9. OCLC 465331057.
  19. "Commemorate Private Danny Chen's Life". AsianInNY. 1 May 2013.
  20. Stone, Jane (21 April 2014). "SinoVision Journal: Nina Kuo". SinoVision.
  21. "Episode 14. 3Q Radio: Nina Kuo". WNYU Radio. 20 January 2016.
  22. "Nina Kuo response to "What is Feminist Art?", 2016, from the What is Feminist Art? questionnaire responses, 2019". www.aaa.si.edu. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  23. "Nina Kuo's Art Deviation". Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  24. "Brooklyn Museum: Search Results". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
  25. "Goings On January 17, 2007: Nina Kuo, FF Alumn, at Cheryl McGinnis Gallery, reception/talk Jan 19, 6-9 pm". Franklin Furnace. 17 January 2007.
  26. "Chinese American Arts Council; Gallery 456". www.caacarts.org. Retrieved 2019-11-29.
  27. "ART DEVIATION". Asian American Arts Alliance. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  28. MythicalMuse.com. "MythicalMuse.com". NINA KUO Mythical Muse.com. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  29. Jones, Kellie (2011). EyeMinded: Living and Writing Contemporary Art. Durham: Duke University Press. p. 31. ISBN 9780822348733.
  30. Braff, Phyllis (1991-01-27). "ART; A Pictorial Look at Street Life and Where People Interact". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  31. "Exhibitions". New Museum Digital Archive. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  32. Cotter, Holland (23 March 2001). "Art Review; When East Goes West, The Twain Meet Here". The New York Times.
  33. Nelson, Lani (9 September 2014). "Occupied Canvas: Nina Kuo". SinoVision.
  34. "What is Feminist Art? questionnaire responses, 2019". www.aaa.si.edu. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  35. "The Big Review: Just Above Midtown at the Museum of Modern Art". www.theartnewspaper.com. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  36. "A Utopian Space for Black Artists, Reimagined at MoMA". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  37. "Nina Kuo: Profile". ArtSlant.
  38. "Prints by Chinese American artists produced by the Basement Workshop, New York. Includes: Arlan Huang - untitled; William Jung - Slave II; Nina Kuo - Neon Deviation; Colin Lee - untitled; John Woo - untitled". Library of Congress. 1 January 1982.
  39. https://asamnews.com/2023/02/17/win-unforgettable-experiences-with-houston-rockets-aapi-artist/
  40. "Nina Kuo (New York, NY)". Center for Photography at Woodstock: CPW.
  41. "New York Foundation for the Arts" (PDF). New York Foundation for the Arts.

Further reading
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