Main Gallery:
Yosuke Ueno
‘Negative Never Again’

Project Room:
Dan-ah Kim
‘Waking In The Dark’

Both exhibits on view: July 9th – July 30th

Opening Reception:
Fri, July 9th 7-10PM with both artists in attendance

Scroll down for full Press Release

Thinkspace is pleased to present ‘Negative Never Again’, an exhibition of new works from Japan based artist Yosuke Ueno, in what will be his debut solo exhibition with our gallery following numerous group show appearances. This will be Ueno’s first solo show in the United States in almost five years. Also showing concurrently in our project room will be Waking In the Dark, an exhibition of new works from New York based artist Dan-ah Kim, in what will be her second solo exhibition with our gallery following a residency at the Can Serrat International Art Centre in El Bruc, Spain where the majority of this exhibition was created.

Yosuke Ueno creates illusory landscapes rife with icons both puzzling and perfect. He’s something of a cartographer, scientist and child all rolled into one. He’s an exclamation point splattered in paint, the person underneath the tablecloth at a boring party, weaving himself a story. His universe is a refreshing dose of positive elements and colossal hope he’d like to share with the entire world.

Ueno’s world is a menagerie of symbolism. Skulls, swans, elephants and scissors, they all pop out in peculiar places much like an image would in a hidden picture game. The difference is that these images stand for something precise. They too speak a language of innocence. With this show Ueno aims to further expand his world and visual vocabulary with some of his largest paintings to date and the addition of new sculptural works.

Artist Dan-ah Kim, on view in our project room, was recently rewarded a support stipend and completed an artist residency at Can Serrat International Art Centre in El Bruc, Spain. There she developed her new body of work, before traveling alone for several weeks and finding the overwhelming experiences necessary to finish the show. After years of battling with the elusiveness of sleep, this body of work came from many nights of waking in the dark. Dreams interrupted and peace ruined, in these hours there are always curiosities to stew, private demons to admit, and fears to command. As with Kim’s past work, the characters here chase liberty, explore relationships with each other, and with the natural worlds. In this series however, they also seek uncertainty, from a need to face nightly unrest and survive.

The majority of Kim’s work is mixed media, beginning with drawing and painting then layered with various papers and hand sewn elements. Through these overlapping textures the artist hopes to enrich the experience of viewing the story.

*Portions of text courtesy of Jen Pappas

In our main gallery space:
Yosuke Ueno
"Negative Never Again"

ABOUT THE ARTIST (Yosuke Ueno):

Yosuke Ueno was born in Japan in 1977. He has been building his world since a young child and had his first solo show in Yamaguchi, Japan in 1994 at the young age of 16.

Ueno’s themes are very cosmic and his palette often includes red, green, yellow, and blue. These colors represent the four bases of DNA: adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine, or in simpler terms, A, T, G and C., molecular elements that all animate beings share. Vibrancy of palettes aside, his works bears a message; that all animate beings have equal worth.

Ueno's work has shown with some of the most established galleries within our movement. The artist has also taken part in major exhibitions in his home country of Japan at the Shimoni-Seki Museum (Yamaguchi, Japan) and Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan) and also has work in the traveling exhibition ‘The Animamix Biennial 2009-2010’ that has thus far visited the Today Art Museum (Beijing, China), MOCA Shanghai, MOCA Taipei, and MOCA Kaohsiung.

Take a ‘Sneak Peek’ at the works for ‘Negative Never Again’ coming together:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thinkspace/sets/72157624114215102/

Check out a great 'image key' to the recurring symbols and characters in Ueno’s work here:
http://www.spaceegg77.com/spaceegg77site/index2/key/key.html

Artist website:
www.spaceegg77.com

In our project room:
Dan-ah Kim
"Waking In The Dark"

ABOUT THE ARTIST (Dan-ah Kim):

Dan-ah Kim was born in Seoul and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.  After receiving a BFA from Pratt Institute, she currently makes art and works in film and television.  She was recently awarded a support stipend and completed an artist residency at Can Serrat International Art Centre in El Bruc, Spain.  There she worked on Waking In The Dark, before traveling alone for several weeks and finding the overwhelming experiences necessary to finish the show.  Her artwork has been used in several feature films and shown in galleries in New York, California, Chicago, and London.

Take a ‘Sneak Peek’ at the works for ‘Waking In The Dark’ coming together:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thinkspace/sets/72157624196850117/

Artist website:
www.dkim-art.com