Terence Koh, Captain Buddha, 2008

IMAGINE, THERE: Three Contemporary Mythologies

assume vivid astro focus, Oliver Husain, Terence Koh

A Space Main Gallery

February 13 – March 13, 2009

Curated by: Kevin Hegge


Using fictional and mysterious biographies, the artists in this exhibition become part of their projects; malleable entities that reshape themselves with the work being presented. Having displaced themselves from their countries of origin, these three international queer artists use their cultural roots in their artistic explorations. By utilizing new media and web-based art practices, they are able to re-conceptualize the art persona so that viewers may reconsider how we rely on the artist as cultural representative.

Biographies

assume vivid astro focus (avaf) is an international art collective with members born between the 20th and 21st centuries in various parts of the world and nomadic. The artistic force known as avaf produces installations, celebrations, elevations, and rehabilitations of back-bending, gender-bending, explosive, and extravagant proportions. avaf has been exhibited by the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Tate Gallery, London; and most recently at the Sao Paolo Biennial, Brazil. avaf is represented by Peres Projects, Berlin/Los Angeles and John Connelly Presents, New York.

Oliver Husain is a Toronto based artist and filmmaker. In 2007, Husain’s films were screened at Mar del Plata Festival, Argentina, the Urban Festival in Tehran, and included in shows at Gallery TPW, Toronto; Greene Naftali Gallery, New York; Frankfurter Kunstverein; and Gallery Jan Mot, Brussels. In 2008, he was a featured artist at the 54th Annual Robert Flaherty Film Seminar in New York and presented his work at arsenal cinema in Berlin and Anthology Film Archives in New York City.

Terence Koh, born in Beijing, China, in 1977, is a Canadian artist. Koh was raised in Mississauga, Ontario, and lives in New York City. He received his bachelor degree from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver.

Kevin Hegge is a curator and artist based in Toronto. He has worked collaboratively on several short videos and web-based projects. His work challenges hetero-normativity and provokes reassessment of the institutions of history, politics, and sexuality. Hegge has shown in galleries and festival nationally and internationally in Toronto, Vancouver, Regina, Montreal, and New York City.