BGuthrie Photos: DC -- American University -- Katzen Arts Center -- 2017B Spring Exhibit: Foon Sham, Escape

DC -- American University -- Katzen Arts Center -- 2017B Spring Exhibit: Foon Sham, Escape:

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Description of Pictures: Foon Sham, Escape
April 1 - August 13, 2017
Foon Sham is a master of wood sculpture. To be within one of his vessel sculptures is to experience the palpable space of a woodland creature's habitat, or the concealed space of someone wanting to hide. For the Escape exhibition at the American University Museum, he has built two tunnels, one horizontal measuring 62 feet long, the other vertical towering 36 feet high. Escape is one of a series of participatory sculptures, begun in the 1990s, meant to be experienced with all the body's senses and to resonate socially. Dualism, as in the Taoist yin/yang dichotomy, is a consistent theme in Sham's work. Escape may be possible spiritually, if not physically. The outsider defines the insider. Darkness coexists with light. The yin and yang are complementary, two sides of the same coin.
The title Escape signals that a political interpretation is valid. The outdoor sculpture's craggy ridgeline echoes the mountain ranges of the American West and traces the line of the US-Mexican border. Without being politically prescriptive, the title and tunnel imagery evoke the hotly-contested issues of immigration and the plight of the refugee that figured so heavily in both American and European recent elections. The journey for the viewer of Escape may be short and sensory, or may be evocative of bigger issues like the death-defying travails undertaken by Central American and Syrian refugees. May each visitor find the way to experience this monumental work.

Same Event: Wait! There's more! Because I took too many pictures, photos from this event were divided among the following pages: [Display ALL photos on one page]:

2017_DC_KatzenX_2017B_Luna: DC -- American University -- Katzen Arts Center -- 2017B Spring Exhibit: Carlos Luna: Green Machine (70 photos from 2017)
2017_DC_KatzenX_2017B_Sikorska: DC -- American University -- Katzen Arts Center -- 2017B Spring Exhibit: Elzbieta Sikorska: Time Stands Still (32 photos from 2017)
2017_DC_KatzenX_2017B_Sham: DC -- American University -- Katzen Arts Center -- 2017B Spring Exhibit: Foon Sham, Escape (49 photos from 2017)
2017_DC_KatzenX_2017B_Maya: DC -- American University -- Katzen Arts Center -- 2017B Spring Exhibit: Maya Alphabet of Modern Times (43 photos from 2017)
2017_DC_KatzenX_2017B_Geometry: DC -- American University -- Katzen Arts Center -- 2017B Spring Exhibit: Sharon Wolpoff and Tammra Sigler: Geometry and Other Myths (40 photos from 2017)
2017_DC_KatzenX_2017B_Stations: DC -- American University -- Katzen Arts Center -- 2017B Spring Exhibit: Stations of the Cross (3 photos from 2017)
2017_DC_KatzenX_2017B_Summerford: DC -- American University -- Katzen Arts Center -- 2017B Spring Exhibit: Summerford Legacy (30 photos from 2017)
2017_DC_KatzenX_2017B_MFA_1Yr: DC -- American University -- Katzen Arts Center -- 2017B Spring Exhibit: Year One: MFA First Year Exhibition (9 photos from 2017)
2017_DC_KatzenXT_170331: DC -- American University -- Katzen Arts Center -- 2017B Spring Gallery Talk: Foon Sham, Laura Roulet, Sharon Wolpoff, Tammra Sigler, Elzbieta Sikorska, and Carlos Luna (123 photos from 2017)
2017_DC_KatzenXT_Larios_170406: DC -- American University -- Katzen Arts Center -- 2017B Spring Gallery Talk: Frida Larios (82 photos from 2017)
2017_DC_KatzenXT_170401: DC -- American University -- Katzen Arts Center -- 2017B Spring Gallery Talk: Tammra Sigler and Sharon Wolpoff (18 photos from 2017)
2017_DC_KatzenO_170331: DC -- American University -- Katzen Arts Center -- 2017B Spring Opening Reception (Member) (3 photos from 2017)
2017_DC_KatzenO_170401: DC -- American University -- Katzen Arts Center -- 2017B Spring Opening Reception (Public) (89 photos from 2017)

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. KATSHA_170331_040.JPG: Escape Foon Sham Curated by Laura Roulet
2. KATSHA_170331_043.JPG: Foon Sham is a master of wood sculpture. To be within one of his vessel sculptures is to experience the palpable space of a woodland creature's habitat, or the concealed space of someone wanting to hide. For the Escape exhibition at the American University Museum, he has built two tunnels, one horizontal measuring 62 feet long, the other vertical towering 36 feet high. Escape is one of a series of participatory sculptures, begun in the 1990s, meant to be experienced with all the body's senses and to resonate socially. Dualism, as in the Taoist yin/yang dichotomy, is a consistent theme in Sham's work. Escape may be possible spiritually, if not physically. The outsider defines the insider. Darkness coexists with light. The yin and yang are complementary, two sides of the same coin. The title Escape signals that a political interpretation is valid. The outdoor sculpture's craggy ridgeline echoes the mountain ranges of the American West and traces the line of the US-Mexican border. Without being politically prescriptive, the title and tunnel imagery evoke the hotly-contested issues of immigration and the plight of the refugee that figured so heavily in both American and European recent elections. The journey for the viewer of Escape may be short and sensory, or may be evocative of bigger issues like the death-defying travails undertaken by Central American and Syrian refugees. May each visitor find the way to experience this monumental work.
3. KATSHA_170406_13.JPG: Foon Sham Escape I, Tunnel, 2016
4. KATSHA_170406_14.JPG: Escape Foon Sham Curated by Laura Roulet
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Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: [Museums (Art)] [Katzen Arts Center (Everything)] [Katzen Arts Center (Non-Events)]
2017 photos: Equipment this year: I continued to use my Fuji XS-1 cameras but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000. Overnight trips this year: Civil War Trust conferences in Pensacola, FL, Chattanooga, TN (via sites in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee) and Fredericksburg, VA, a family reunion in The Dells, Wisconsin (via sites in Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin), New York City, and my 12th consecutive San Diego Comic Con trip (including sites in Arizona). For some reason, several of my photos have been published in physical books this year which is pretty cool. Ones that I know about: "Tarzan, Jungle King of Popular Culture" (David Lemmo), "The Great Crusade: A Guide to World War I American Expeditionary Forces Battlefields and Sites" (Stephen T. Powers and Kevin Dennehy), "The American Spirit" (David McCullough), "Civil War Battlefields: Walking the Trails of History" (David T. Gilbert), "The Year I Was Peter the Great: 1956 — Khrushchev, Stalin's Ghost, and a Young American in Russia" (Marvin Kalb), and "The Judge: 26 Machiavellian Lessons" (Ron Collins and David Skover). Number of photos taken this year: just below 560,000.
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