Karen Tam Explained

Karen Tam (born 1977) is a Canadian artist and curator who focuses on the constructions and imaginations of cultures and communities through installations in which she recreates Chinese restaurants, karaoke lounges, opium dens, curio shops and other sites of cultural encounters. She is based in Montreal, Quebec.

Education

Tam holds a BFA in Studio Arts and Music from Concordia University and an MFA in Sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a PhD in Cultural Studies from Goldsmiths (University of London).^[1]

Exhibitions

Tam's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries such as the Ormeau Baths Gallery (Belfast), Irish Museum of Modern Art (Dublin), Betty Rymers Gallery and 11th Street Gallery/Columbia College (Chicago), Foster-Tanner Gallery (Tallahassee, Florida), YVZ Artists' Outlet (Toronto), Khyber Centre for the Arts (Halifax), and MAI - Montréal arts interculturels (Montreal).^[2]

Awards

Karen Tam's video Plum Sauce won the Audience Choice Award at the 2002 Asian American Film Festival in Chicago. She was a finalist for the Prix Louis-Comtois in 2017 from the Contemporary Art Galleries Association and the Ville de Montréal,^[3] a finalist for the Prix en art actuel from the Musée national des beaux-arts de Québec in 2016,^[4] and long-listed for the Sobey Art Award in 2010^[5] and 2016.^{[6] [7]} She was awarded the 2021 Giverny Capital Prize by collector François Rochon, president of the private portfolio management firm Giverny Capital.^[8] She was also long-listed for the 2010 and 2016 Sobey Art Award.

List of major exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

• Swallowing Mountains (February - August 2023), McCord Stewart Museum.^{[9] [10]}
• Karen Tam: With Wings Like Clouds Hung from the Sky 大鵬就振翼 (February - April 2022), Varley Art Gallery (Markham, ON) (Curated by Anik Glaude)
• Les illusions sont réelles (February 19 - April 24, 2022), Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec Manif d'art 10, La Bienale de Québec (Curated by Steven Matijcio)
• Autumn Tigers (Online) (October 2021 - Ongoing), Art Canada Institute in partnership with Campbell River Art Gallery (Curated by Jenelle M. Pasiechnik)
• the chrysanthemum has opened twelve times (January 2020), Koffler Centre of the Arts (Toronto, Canada)^[11]
• with wings like clouds hung from the sky (May 2019), Richmond Art Gallery (Richmond, BC, Canada)^{[12] [13] [14]}
• (Travelling Exhibition) Nous sommes tous les brigands/We Are All Robbers, EXPRESSION (2017-2019), Centre d’exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe (Saint-Hyacinthe, Canada);^{[15] [16]} Musées Régionale de Rimouski, (Rimouski, Canada);^[17] Musées des beaux-arts de Sherbrooke (Sherbrooke, Canada); Plein sud, centre en art actuel de Longueuil (Longueuil, Canada)
• Souvenirs from the Jasmine Café, SIGHTINGS (2017), Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery, Concordia University (Montréal, Canada)^[18]
• SHEEN-wah-ZREE (2016), Musée d’art contemporain des Laurentides (Saint-Jérôme, Canada)^[19]
• Des mimes et des mites (2016), Conseil des arts de Montréal (Montréal, Canada)^[20]
• Silk Road: Storm-Detectors, Blood-Sweating Horses, & Constellations (2016), Galerie Hugues Charbonneau (Montréal, Canada)^[21]
• Terra dos Chinês Curio Shop (2016), Articule (Montréal, Canada)^[22]
• Made in Britain (2015), Galerie Hugues Charbonneau (Montréal, Canada)^[23]
• Terra dos Chinês Curio Shop (2015), Artspace Peterborough (Peterborough, Canada)
• Sinography (2013), QueenSpecific (Toronto, Canada) (Curators: Stefan Hancherow and Jen Simaitis)^[24]
• Opium Den (2011), Robert Langen Gallery, Wilfrid Laurier University (Waterloo, Canada)^[25]
• Pagoda Pads, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (Victoria, Canada) (Curator: Lisa Baldissera)
• (Traveling exhibition) Gold Mountain Restaurant: No MSG At Friendship Dinner (Or Cats) (2006-08). Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba; Shangri-la Café: YYZ Artists’ Outlet (Toronto); Old Silver Moon: Forest City Gallery (London, ON); House of Wong: Artcite (Windsor); On Rock Garden: AKA Gallery (Saskatoon); Orientally Yours, Southern Alberta Art Gallery (Lethbridge, Canada)
• Gold Mountain Restaurant Montagne d’Or (2004), Montréal, arts interculturels (MAI) (Montréal, Canada)^[26]
• Real-Life Heroes Who Make A Difference (2004), Irish Museum of Modern Art (Dublin, Ireland)^[27]

Selected group exhibitions

• Secret Chord : An Ode to Montreal (2023)^[28]
• Le je et le nous — The I and the We, (2019) MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels) (Montréal, Canada) (Curator: Zoë Chan)^[29]
• Connections and Reconnections (2018-2019), Montréal Museum of Fine Arts (Montréal, Canada)^[30]
• Ici Londres/London Calling (2018-2019), Musée de la civilisation (Québec City, Canada)
• Here/Elsewhere: The Sample of Overseas Chinese Art (2018), He Xiangning Art Museum (Shenzhen, China) (Curator: Wang Huangsheng)^{[31] [32]}
• mmmmm…Gendai Kitchen (2017), Gendai Gallery (Toronto, Canada)^[33]
• Far and Near: the Distance(s) between Us, Art Museum/Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada) (Curator: Henry Lu)
• Power Ball XVIII: Pleasure Principle (2016), Power Plant Toronto, Canada)^{[34] [35]}
• Tracing Asian Canadian Art Histories and Aesthetic Alliances (2015), Artexte (Montréal, Canada)^[36]
• Convoluted Beauty: In the Company of Emily Carr (2014), The Mendel Art Gallery (Saskatoon, Canada) (Curator: Lisa Baldissera)^[37]
• Couriers of Taste (2013), Danson House (Bexley, UK) (Curators: Day+Gluckman)^[38]
• Sinopticon: Contemporary Chinoiserie (2012-2014), Victoria & Albert Museum (London, UK), Plymouth Arts Centre, Saltram House National Trust, Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery (Plymouth, UK) (Curator: Eliza Gluckman)^{[39] [40]}
• Location/Dislocation (2011), J.M. Barnicke Gallery/Jackman Humanities Institute, University of Toronto^[41]
• East Goes East (2011), Third Space/Tiers Espace (Saint John, Canada) (Curator: Chris Lloyd)^[42]
• BGL/Pascal Grandmaison/Adad Hannah/Karen Tam (2010), Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal^{[43] [44]}
• Rien ne se perd, rien ne se crée, Musée d’art contemporain (Montréal, Canada)^{[45] [46]}
• Rearranging Desires, FOFA Gallery, Concordia University (Montréal, Canada)^[47]
• Redress Express, Centre A (Vancouver, Canada) (Curator: Alice Ming Wai Jim)

Selected curatorial works

• Whose Chinatown? (2021), Griffins Art Project (Vancouver, BC)^{[48] [49]}

Publications

• Luke, Suzanne and Finn, Jonathan and Kuruvilla, Sunil. Karen Tam : Pagoda Pads : Opium Den.Waterloo, Ont.: Robert Langen Art Gallery, 2011.
• Belu, Françoise and Blouin, Marcel and Lee, Day. Gold Mountain Restaurant = Restaurant Montagne d'or : Karen Tam. Montréal, Qc: MAI (Montréal arts interculturels), 2006.
• Jim, Alice Ming Wai Nolte, Victoria Zhang, Tianmo Harringa, Charissa Von Larose, Delphine Joachim, Joana Harkness, Tamara Lakhrissi, Tarek Montpetit, Gabrielle Colombo, Cindy Wexler, Samamtha (2015). EAHR @ Artexte : Uncovering Asian Canadian and Black Canadian Artistic Production. Ethnocultural Art Histories Research Group (EAHR). .
• Baldissera, Lisa and Despret, Vinciane and Dyke, Erika. Convoluted Beauty : In the Company of Emily Carr. Saskatoon, Sask.: Mendel Art Gallery, 2014.
• Book: Jim, Alice Ming Wai. Rearranging desires : curating the 'Other' within. 2008. Gail & Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institut for Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University. 9780889474680. 312370247.
• Rien ne se perd, rien ne se crée, tout se transforme. Bélisle, Josée., Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal. Montréal: Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal. 2008. . .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Galerie Hugues Charbonneau Karen Tam. en-US. 2019-04-29.
2. Book: Jim, Alice Ming Wai.. Redress express.. 2007. Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. 9780973271188. 297154499.
3. Web site: Prix Louis-Comtois. Association des galeries d’art contemporain. fr-FR. 2019-04-29.
4. Web site: PRIX EN ART ACTUEL. Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ). fr-CA. 2019-04-29.
5. Web site: 2010 Sobey Art Award and BGL/Pascal Grandmaison/Adad Hannah/Karen Tam. MAC Montréal. en-US. 2019-04-29.
6. Web site: State of the Art: The 2016 Sobey Art Award Longlist. www.gallery.ca. en. 2019-04-29.
7. Web site: 25 Canadian Artists Longlisted for $50K Sobey Art Award. S. Leah. als. Canadian Art. en-US. 2019-04-29.
8. News: 2022-01-14. Karen Tam remporte le prix Giverny Capital. 2022-01-19. La Presse. fr. Clément . Éric .
9. News: Clément . Éric . 2023-02-18 . Karen Tam au musée McCord Stewart: Hommage à la communauté chinoise de Montréal . fr-CA . La Presse . 2023-03-03.
10. News: Taylor . Kate . 2023-03-04 . With new exhibit Montreal artist Karen Tam conjures the city's historic Chinatown . en-CA . The Globe and Mail . 2023-03-07.
11. Web site: Karen Tam: the chrysanthemum has opened twelve times Koffler Centre of the Arts. en-US. 2020-01-28.
12. Web site: With wings like clouds hung from the sky. 2019-05-05. Richmond Art Gallery. en-US. 2019-04-29.
13. Web site: Karen Tam: With wings like clouds hung from the sky. 2019-03-31. Galleries West. en-us. 2019-04-29.
14. Web site: Karen Tam: With Wings Like Clouds Hung from the Sky 大鵬就振翼. art. 2017-03-01. AGGV emagazine. en-CA. 2019-04-29.
15. Web site: Karen Tam. Saint-Hyacinthe. Expression : : Centre d'exposition de. 2019-04-29. Expression : : Centre d'exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe. fr. 2019-04-29.
16. Web site: Whose Community Is It?. Lu. Henry Heng. Canadian Art. en-US. 2019-04-29.
17. Web site: Karen Tam Nous sommes tous des brigands Musée régional de Rimouski. fr-FR. 2019-04-29.
18. Web site: SIGHTINGS 20 Souvenirs from the Jasmine Café. en-US. 2019-04-29.
19. Web site: Sur la route de l'artiste Karen Tam. Le Devoir. 17 December 2016 . fr. 2019-04-29.
20. Web site: Notre modèle de soutien – Rapport annuel 2016 – Conseil des arts de Montréal. en-US. 2019-04-29.
21. Web site: Galerie Hugues Charbonneau November 12 to December 22, 2016 Karen Tam — Silk Road: Storm-Detectors, Blood-Sweating Horses, and Constellations. 4 November 2016 . en-US. 2019-04-29.
22. Web site: Terra dos Chinês Curio Shop Artspace. artspace-arc.org. 2019-04-29.
23. Web site: Galerie Hugues Charbonneau January 17 to February 21, 2015 Karen Tam: Made in Britain. 21 December 2014 . en-US. 2019-04-29.
24. Web site: QueenSpecific Gallery. www.queenspecific.com. 2019-04-29.
25. Book: Tam, Karen. Finn, Jonathan.. Karen Tam : pagoda pads : opium den.. 2011. Robert Langen Art Gallery. 728495067.
26. Book: Tam, Karen.. Gold Mountain Restaurant = Restaurant Montagne d'or. 2006. MAI, Montréal, arts interculturels. Blouin, Marcel, 1960-, Lee, Day's, 1956-, Belu, Françoise., MAI (Art Gallery). 2980929204. Montréal. 67860353.
27. Web site: Real-Life Heroes Who Make A Difference: Lucky Gourd Karen Tam. IMMA. en-IE. 2019-04-29.
28. News: Clément . Éric . 2023-01-20 . Montréal célébré à New York . fr-CA . La Presse . 2023-02-10.
29. Web site: Le je et le nous / The I and the We MAI. MAI - Montréal, arts interculturels. en-US. 2019-04-29.
30. Web site: Connexions - Notre diversité artistique dialogue avec nos collections. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. en-US. 2019-04-29.
31. Web site: Overseas Chinese artists express mixed feelings. www.szdaily.com. 2019-04-29.
32. Web site: Here/Elsewhere - The Sample of Overseas Chinese Art exhibition ARTLINKART Chinese contemporary art database. www.artlinkart.com. 2019-04-29.
33. Web site: - Exhibitions - MMMMM...Gendai Kitchen: year-long seasonal art multiple subscription service & series of events. www.akimbo.ca. en-us. 2019-04-29.
34. Web site: Power Ball XVIII: Pleasure Principle. 2016-06-13. FAJO Magazine. en. 2019-04-29.
35. Web site: Power Ball XVIII: Pleasure Principle. 2016-05-12. NOW Magazine. en-us. 2019-04-29.
36. Book: Jim, Alice Ming Wai Nolte, Victoria Zhang, Tianmo Harringa, Charissa Von Larose, Delphine Joachim, Joana Harkness, Tamara Lakhrissi, Tarek Montpetit, Gabrielle Colombo, Cindy Wexler, Samamtha. EAHR @ Artexte : Uncovering Asian Canadian and Black Canadian Artistic Production. 2015. Ethnocultural Art Histories Research Group (EAHR). 948726622.
37. Book: Baldissera, Lisa. Carr, Emily, 1871-1945. Despret, Vinciane.. Convoluted beauty : in the company of Emily Carr ; [published to record the exhibition "Convoluted Beauty: In the Company of Emily Carr", presented from June 27 to September 14, 2014 at the Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada]]. 2014. Mendel Art Gallery. 978-1896359861. 913473358.
38. Web site: Couriers of Taste. Day+Gluckman. en-GB. 2019-04-30.
39. Web site: Sinopticon: contemporary chinoiserie in contemporary art. Ling. Wessie. 2012-07-07. nrl.northumbria.ac.uk. Eliza Gluckman, Lucy Day. 2019-04-30.
40. Web site: SINOPTICON: Contemporary Chinoiserie in Contemporary Art. SPSL. 2012-04-27. susanpuisanlok. en. 2019-04-30.
41. Web site: Location/Dislocation. Art Museum at the University of Toronto. en-CA. 2019-04-30.
42. Web site: East goes East. 2016-09-16. thirdspacegallery.ca. en-US. 2019-04-30.
43. Web site: BGL/Pascal Grandmaison/Adad Hannah/Karen Tam. MAC Montréal. en-US. 2019-04-30.
44. Web site: Exhibitions at the MAC - 2010 Sobey Art Award and BGL/Pascal Grandmaison/AdadHannah/Karen Tam - October 8, 2010 to January 2, 2011. www.newswire.ca. en. 2019-04-30.
45. Web site: The Québec Triennial 2008. MAC Montréal. en-US. 2019-04-30.
46. Book: Rien ne se perd, rien ne se crée, tout se transforme. 2008. Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal. Bélisle, Josée., Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal.. 9782551236718. Montréal. 225775665.
47. Book: Ming Wai Jim, Alice.. Rearranging desires : curating the 'Other' within. 2008. Gail & Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institut for Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University. 9780889474680. 312370247.
48. Web site: Whose Chinatown? creates an art history with a spirit of activism and advocacy . 2022-03-07 . Stir . en-US.
49. Web site: Whose Chinatown? explores real and imaginary Chinatown . 2022-03-07 . vancouversun . en-CA.