BLANC TALK
BLANCTALK, an interview series that spotlights the diverse voices of NYC-based artists across disciplines.
BLANCTALK is a brand-new series of interviews highlighting New York City-based artists. From sculpture to photography, from biotech to NFTs:, from Brazilian-born to Brooklyn local, BLANCTALK encompasses the true definition of diversity. Obrist once said that exhibitions are ephemerally magical moments, but when they're gone, they're gone. This one-week exhibition is indeed transient, but the conversation at BLANCTALK is everlasting. Featuring artists Cao Shuyi, Blair Simmons, Rodrigo Moreira, Shen Wei, and Renée Cox, Artists Are Talking offers a glimpse of the splendid work discussed in the interviews.
Moderator and Curator
Hongzheng Han (they/them) is a curator and a former faculty member at Sotheby’s Institute of Art. Focusing on queer and racial identities, Han has been invited as a guest speaker at the Asia Society and Museum, the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Michigan, New York University, the Brooklyn Rail, Christie's Education, the Asian Creative Foundation, among others. Han’s recent curatorial works include Within Global Isolation: Asian Artists in America; Runaway World 2020: Ten Chinese Artists Group Show, Beyond Borders: Art in the Post COVID Era, Standing Out, the Outstandings, Deformation and Reformation: A Modern Taste of Asian Identities, Mirror Image: A Transformation of Chinese Identity, among others. Han's curatorial works have been reviewed by Artforum, Artsy, Voice of Photography, and the New Yorker Magazine, among others.
Artists
Shuyi Cao
Shuyi Cao is a New York-based artist whose practice explores alchemical approaches to object-making and knowledge production through archeological speculation and ecological fiction. Her mixed-medium sculptures and installations synthesize various organic and inorganic materials, natural and artificial processes. Combining handcrafted objects and digital artifacts, moving images, and sounds, the assemblage suggests heterogeneous temporalities, evoking transition and metamorphosis through both material and form. Her work has been internationally exhibited. She has presented at Pioneer Works, NEW INC, Power Station of Art, the University of Applied Arts Vienna, and the City University of Hong Kong, and has published at the International Symposium on Machine Learning and Art (ISCMA) and Technoetic Arts Journal. She is a visiting assistant professor at Pratt Institute and adjunct faculty at Parsons School of Design. She is also the co-founder of Decompose, an art collective and experimental institute for transdisciplinary research, art production, and education.
Renée Cox
Born in Jamaica and raised in Scarsdale, NY, Renée Cox is a trailblazer in the art world, known for her thought-provoking photographs and videos that challenge societal norms and tackle issues of racism and sexism. Her self-portrait, Hot en Tot, exemplifies her feminist critique of media representation and aims to empower women through her work. With an MFA from the School of Visual Arts and her works held in prestigious collections, Cox continues to create and live in New York. The one-week exhibition is a fleeting moment, but the conversation at BLANCTALK is timeless.
Blair Simmons
Blair Simmons is a queer + anxious artist, researcher, storyteller, and technician working in as many mediums as will have her. She is interested in logic, language, structures, pain, patterns, maps, math, arrows, analysis, arches, queerness, bodies, failure, uselessness, organics, and opposites. Her research often materializes into objects and performances which have been performed at the likes of Pioneer Works, La Mama's CultureHub, Wordhack at Babycastles, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She has taught at CultureHub's CoLab, Harlem School of the Arts, Children's Museum of the Arts and is currently teaching at NYU's Interactive Media Arts + ITP programs.
Shen Wei
Shen Wei is a Chinese-born American artist. Based in New York City, Shen Wei is renowned for his intimate portraits, poetic landscapes, and still-life photography. With a portfolio of work that has been exhibited internationally, Shen Wei has earned recognition from major art institutions and publications, including The New York Times, The Guardian, Aperture, and more. With a career that spans over two decades, Shen Wei's work is held in the permanent collections of major museums such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Carnegie Museum of Art, among others.
