Group Exhibition: “Horizons” at WOAW Gallery, Hong Kong, China
Horizons (Group Presentation), WOAW Gallery, Curated by Sow & Tailor, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, China
March 24 - April 15, 2023
Kayla Witt, Jackpot, 2023. Oil on panel, 12x12”
Press Release
The bonsai tree, which Sow & Tailor credits as the conceptual inspiration for the gallery, is a miracle of boundaries: to propagate a flourishing tree within the confines of a pot demands both familial delicacy and a precision to detail. Since Sow & Tailor’s institutional debut in Hong Kong with Hot Concrete: LA to HK at K11 Musea, Karen Galloway’s keen eye for burgeoning talent has grown into a global root system. HORIZONS is her latest experiment in propagation — a mosaic of artists across backgrounds and boundaries in celebration of global community, while emphasizing the gallerys core value of intimacy over fireworks.
Hosted in Hong Kong’s Wan Chai district and featuring small works hung salon-style, the pop-up location is the apotheosis of the Sow & Tailor ethos — art made accessible, not just figuratively, but physically as well. The domestic scale of the pieces press up against the viewer, beckoning them to participate rather than merely witness. The artist list reflects a similar non-hierarchical equitability of space, holding equal room to emerging, mid-career, and established artists alike — nurturing space for artists of all kinds to occupy together, as one.
From the lush paintings by Jonas Wood, Freudian slippage of Aryo Toh Djojo, mandala-esque carpet paintings of Kour Pour, and familial histories of Tidawhitney Lek — the exhibition fea- tures wildly disparate artists, steeped in a diversity of personal nuance; it’s a global perspective without the flattening of globalism. Symbology is deconstructed, reconstructed then tossed away altogether. Domestic spaces are warped, cultural and consumer symbols are alienated from context, and the familiar is made wholly unfamiliar. The salon style allows each artist’s practice to be in conjunction and conversation with one another, celebrating the nebulous multiplicity of the human experience in the 21st century.
Participating Artists:
Caroline Absher, Molly Bounds, Ryan Brown, Corydon Cowansage, Emily Ferguson, Miranda Byk, Veronica Fernandez, Travis Fish, Christian Franzen, FriendsWithYou, Alfonso Gonzales Jr, Adela Janska, Jin Young Jeong, JPW3, Alyssa Klauter, Tidawhitney Lek, Grant Levy-Lucero, Jo Mecer, Nihura Montiel, Soumya Netrabile, Meeson Jessica Pak, Mathew Palladino, Elbert Perez, Joshua Petker, Kate Pincus Whitney, Kour Pour, Javier Ramirez, Kristopher Raos, Dylan Rose Rheingold, Ryan Schneider, Alake Shilling, Emma Steinkraus, Natalie Strait, Devin Troy Strother, Aryo Toh Djojo, Anna Valdez, Mirjam Vreeswijk, Augustina Wang, Brea Weinreb, Avery Wheless, Kayla Witt, Jonas Wood, Erin Wright, Shingo Yamazaki, Hiejin Yoo, Mathew Zefeldt