My work has shown across the United States, most notably in The New Authentics: Artists of the Post-Jewish Generation curated by Staci Boris in 2008 for the Spertus Museum (Chicago, IL) and the Rose Art Museum (Waltham, MA). In 2001, I received my MFA in studio art from the University of Illinois at Chicago where I studied under noted painters
Phyllis Bramson and Kerry James Marshall. I
earned my BFA in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
in 1994. Recent solo shows include: Laura Kina: Aloha Dreams (Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts in Miami, FL 2007), Laura Kina: Loving (Grand Projects in New
Haven, CT 2006) and Laura Kina: Hapa Soap Operas (Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts 2003).
Recent group exhibitions include shows at: the Art & Culture Center
of Hollywood in Hollywood, FL, Walsh Gallery, mn Gallery and the James
Hotel in conjunction with Monique Meloche and Bucket Rider Gallery in
Chicago, the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles, the Asian Arts Initiative
in Philadelphia, and The Cooper Union School of Art in New York. My
work has been reviewed in publications such as the New York
Times, Art Nexus and Art Asia Pacific. I was awarded a
Community Arts Assistance Program grant in 2007 and a Fellowship in Visual
Arts 1997 by the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the
Illinois Arts Council as well several research grants from DePaul University. My work is in private collections in the US and Europe and is represented by Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts in Miami, FL.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Drawing inspiration from popular culture, textile design, historic photographs and my personal and family photos, my work focuses on the fluidity of cultural difference, in the slipperiness of identity and how that intersects with race, ethnicity, religion, class, gender and georgraphic location. Immigration/migration, heritage tourism, Asian American history and Mixed Race representations are subjects that run through my work.
In my Hapa Soap
Opera series (2002-2005) I created movie poster-type fantasy worlds populated entirely
by hapas. The paintings drew inspiration from the Bollywood film posters
that I see in my neighborhood as well as European history and portrait
genres and American pulp art. The Hapa Soap Opera paintings were based
on photographs that I took of mixed race Asian Americans from across
the United States. Many of the works were large-scale oil paintings
while others were turned into actual movie posters that were installed
in flashing movie poster marquees.
According to the latest US Census estimates, multiracial youth are
one of the fastest-growing segments of our population. “In
the year 2000, there were around 2.1 million Asian Pacific Americans
of mixed heritage, or what today is increasingly being called ‘hapa,””
Wei Ming Dariotis writes in her 2002 Asian Week article "The
Emerging Hapa Community" “Originating in Hawai’i
to describe those of mixed white and Hawaiian descent, the term hapa
has caught on strongly during the last decade to describe those of part-Asian
or Pacific Islander ancestry…Hapas constitute the second-largest
APA subgroup, behind only the Chinese.” Note - for an updated debate on the problematic use of the word "hapa" amongst mixed race Asian Americans, read Wei Ming's 2007 essay "Hapa: The Word of Power" and my 2007 essay on "The Arts & The Mixed Heritage Experience" at the www.mixedheritagecenter.org.
Mishpoche (Walsh Gallery Chicago, IL 2005 and Diana Lowenstine Fine Arts Miami,
FL 2007) uses pattern and decoration to tell a story of my own diverse
family heritage and history of migration and racial and religious mixing. The
word Mishpoche is Yiddish for “extended
family.” This giant floor painting was inspired by the
format of a patchwork quilt. Viewers were invited to put on flip-flops
and walk, stand, or sit on the painting as if it were a family room
area rug.
The
Loving series (Grand Projects New Haven, CT 2006) uses the vehicle
of portraiture to examine mixed race issues. Inspired
by the landmark 1967 Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia that overturned
this nation's last anti-miscegenation law, these life-size charcoal portraits
of myself along with other mixed race friends surround the viewer in
a meditative half circle that simultaneously embraces and confronts
the viewer.
Hapa Soap Opera #1 (2002), Mishpoche (2005), Loving Series: Shoshanna
Weinberger (2006)
My Aloha Dreams series (Diana Lowenstein
Fine Arts, Miami, FL 2007) explores dreams of paradise. Aloha
Dreams uses Hawai’i
as a tropical muse to explore pattern, color, figuration and abstraction. Beyond
the gloss and allure of palm trees and plate lunch, the works in this
exhibition delve into a more complicated history using images from popular
culture, textile design, and my own family history as sugar
cane plantation workers on the Big Island of Hawai’i to focus on
immigration/migration, heritage tourism and Orientalist fantasies.
Selections from the Aloha Dreams series (all works paint on wood panel 30x30 in. 2007)
Top row: Pearl Harbor, Matson, Tabu
Bottom row: Over the Rainbow, Loco-Moco, Porthole
RESUME
Resume in Acrobat PDF format
Laura Kina
Chicago, IL
773-671-6601
lkina@yahoo.com
| Education | |
| M.F.A. | 2001 University of Illinois at Chicago |
| B.F.A. | 1994 The School of the Art Institute of Chicago |
| Solo Exhibitions | |
| 2007 | Aloha Dreams , Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts, Miami, FL |
| 2006 | Loving, New Haven, CT |
| 2003 | Hapa Soap Opera, Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts, Miami, FL |
| 2002 | Laura Kina, Union League Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL |
| 1999 | Laura Kina: Recent Paintings, Casa de Arte y Cultura “Calles y Suenos”, Chicago, IL |
| Selected Group Exhibitions | |
| 2007/2008 | The New Authentics: Artists of the Post-Jewish
Generation, |
| 2006 | New ART as Universal LANGUAGE, Art & Culture Center
of Hollywood, Hollywood, FL Curator: Mariavelia Savino |
| Hiddenvalleyranch, Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts, Miami, FL Curator: José Carlos Diaz | |
| The Cooper Union School of Art Summer Residency Program 2006 Exhibition, The Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY | |
| Travel and Leisure , James hotel organized by Monique Meloche Gallery & Bucket Rider Gallery, Chicago, IL | |
| Wonder Ugly , Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL Curator: Greg Grucel | |
| 2005 | Street Stories:, Walsh Gallery, Chicago, IL Curator: Julie Walsh |
| Love Triangles: Asian Soap Opera Exhibition, Asian Art Initiative, Philadelphia, PA Curator: Sean Stoops |
|
| Semi-gloss: New work by Laura Kina and Larry Lee, MN Gallery, Chicago, IL | |
| Top Chioice: New Work by 5 Contemporary Artists, Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA | |
| 2004 | For Your Eyes Only: A Tribute to Gutsy
Art Chicago Style, Walsh Gallery, Chicago, IL Curator: Kuna Na |
| Men and Boys, Walker's Point Center for the Arts, Milwaukee, WI Curator: Leslie Bellavance | |
| Coming Soon, Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL Curator: Larry Lee | |
| 2003 | Young Generation II, Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts, Miami, FL Curator: Diana Lowenstein |
| Landmark Project, Art-Link Ueno-Yanaka 2003, Tokyo, Japan | |
| Social Patterns, Northeastern Illinois
University Fine Arts Center, Chicago, IL Curator: John Brunetti |
|
| Mythical Nation, ArtSPACE, New Haven, CT Curator: Johanna Bresnick | |
| 2002 | Young Generation, Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts, Miami, FL Curator: Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts |
| The Summer Show, Gallery 312, Chicago, IL | |
| Too Cute, Asian Arts Initiative Gallery, Philadelphia, PA Curator: Sean Stoops | |
| 2001 | WelcomeTo My Doll House, Absolute
Vision6, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL Curator: Heather Birkhead |
| Stuck Inside These Four Walls, Suitable Gallery, Chicago, IL Curator: William Staples | |
| UIC Thesis Exhibition, Gallery 400, Chicago, IL | |
| Selected Bibliography | |
| 2008 | Nextbook.org, "Cultural Evolution: What exactly is "post-Jewish" art?" Stephen Vider 2 July, 2008: Art |
| The Nichi Bei Times, "Hapa Visual Artist Explores Culture and Identity." April Elkjer 19 June, 2008: Arts & Entertainment | |
| 2007 | The New Authentics: Artists of the Post-Jewish Generation exhibtion catalouge by Staci Boris, artist essay by Sarah Giller Nelson. Chicago: Spertus Press, 2007. 40-42 and 92-95. |
| El Nuevo Herald, "Los paraisos hibrido de Laura Kina." Adriana T. Herra 29 July, 2007: Artes & Letras front page D1 | |
| Asiance Magazine, "Painting Paradise: Artist Laura Kina's Aloha Dreams." Alexandra Chang August 2007: Lifestyle: Culture | |
| 2006 | The New Haven Advocate, “Grand Things in a Small Space.” Stephen V. Kobasa 9 November, 2006: 35. |
| Teaching Resources on Racism, White Privileges, and Anti-White Supremacy. "Theme III: Multiculturalism." Laura Kina, Ed. Shu-Ju Ada Cheng. Baltimore, MD: National Women’s Studies Association, 2006. 43-62. | |
| 2005 | Art Nexus, “Chicago Contemporary & Classic.” Marisol Martell. No. 57 Volume 3 Year 2005: 118-119. |
| The Chicago Reporter, "Painting by Color", Max Brett, April 2005 issue | |
| Living Artists. Ivy Sundell. Evanston: Crowwoods, 2004. p. 94-95. | |
| 2004 | Mavin magazine, "The Multiracial Muse: Four Artists' Exploration of the Mixed Race Experience", Sena Yang, Issue #7, p. 64-65. |
| 2003 | Art Asia Pacific, "Mythical Nation", Laura Kateri Leung, Issue #38, p. 22 and p. 64 photo credits for a portrait of Eric Byler. |
| The New York Times (Connecticut version), “The Asia Within Us: Bicultural eyes and | |
| What They See”, Benjamin Genocchio, July 27, 2003. | |
| The New Haven Register, “Mythical Nation, Where Cultures Overlap”, Judy Birke, July 13, 2003. | |
| Miami New Times, "Hip-Hapa.” Juan Carlos Rodriguz.5 June, 2003. | |
| 2002 | Ocean Drive, “Art Basel Miami Beach; South Beach: the Art World’s New Epicenter”, |
| Tom Austin, Vol. 10/No. 11 December 2002 | |
| Where Miami, “Art & Antiques: Discover Miami’s Exciting Art Scene”, December 2002 | |
| Ben Around Town on WYCC Channel 20 Chicago, “Popular Critic”, October 18, 2002. | |
| Art Nexus, “Art Chicago 2002”, Charmaine Picard, No. 45/Vol. 3/2002 | |
| New American Paintings, Volume 41, The Open Studio Press, Boston, MA | |
| 2001 | New Art Examiner, “Welcome to My Dollhouse”, John Brunetti, Vol. 29/No.2 |
PRESS
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