Ho Tam (artist) explained

Ho Tam
Birth Place:Hong Kong
Field:artist's books, video, photography, graphic design
Training:McMaster University, Bard College
Website:https://www.ho-tam.com/

Ho Tam (b. 1962)[1] is a Canadian visual artist whose practice spans video, photography, graphic design, painting, and print media. His work has been exhibited in public and alternative galleries across Canada and internationally. As part of his art practice, Tam edits and publishes artist's books. He is the founder and operator of several small presses, including hotam press, 88Books, and XXXzines. Tam's work is concerned with mass media representations of race and sexuality. He is based in Vancouver, Canada.

Biography

Tam was born in Hong Kong. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from McMaster University and a Master of Fine Arts from Bard College. He was also a participant of the Whitney Museum Independent Studies Program.[2] At McMaster, Tam studied economics and social work. While doing a field placement at a community psychiatric facility, he was exposed to art through participating in an art therapy class.[3] Later, Tam became involved in commercial advertising, which sparked his interest in playing with the "tactics" of advertising.[4]

Tam's first artist book, The Yellow Pages (1993), addressed visual stereotypes of Asian and Chinese identities in North American media.[5] It was subsequently adapted into a video installation at Union Station (Toronto) in 1994–5.[6] [7] The video was to put "the Chinese back into the train station since the history of the railroad is so linked to the first Chinese labour importation into Canada and the US."[8] In 2007, the video was included as part of the "Redress Express" exhibition and symposium at Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art in Vancouver, organized by Montreal-based art historian Alice Ming Wai Jim and again in 2022 in the Living Room exhibition.[9] [10] [11] The artist book was updated in 2016 and displayed in Tam's solo exhibition at Paul Petro Contemporary Art in Toronto in 2020.[12] The exhibit showed other works made between 1993 and 2020 which similarly addresses media stereotypes of racialized subjects, including a commentary on Black Lives Matter in Tam's most recent project.[13] Some notable international exhibitions that Tam has taken part in include "Magnetic North: Canadian Experimental Video," a book and screening series produced by the Walker Art Center in 2001, "Spectrosynthesis – Asian LGBTQ Issues and Art Now" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei in 2017, as well as "Myth Makers – Spectrosynthesis III" at Hong Kong's Tai Kwun in 2022.[14] [15] [16] [17]

Tam's works reside in the permanent collections of museums across Canada, including Art Gallery of Ontario,[18] National Gallery of Canada,[19] and Vancouver Art Gallery.[20] Additionally, his artist books can be found in libraries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[21] the Museum of Modern Art,[22] as well as the Whitney Museum of American Art.[23]

Awards

In 2006, Tam directed and produced a documentary feature called The Book of James, about the AIDS activist and filmmaker James Wentzy.[24] The film won Best Documentary Feature at TLVFest and Special Programming Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement at Outfest in Los Angeles.[25] [26]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ho Tam . National Gallery of Canada . 27 March 2023.
  2. Web site: Ho Tam. Paul Petro Contemporary Art. March 18, 2023.
  3. News: Daniels. Calvin. B.C. artist Ho Tam has installation at Godfrey Dean Gallery. September 9, 2022. March 18, 2023. Yorkton This Week. Ho Tam’s interest in art is a long-held one. 'Since I was a kid, but I did not get to explore or think about art seriously until I was in university,' he said. 'I was doing a field placement in a community facility and had the opportunity of watching over an art therapy class.'.
  4. News: Wassenberg. Anya. Ho Tam: The Only Asian Boy in New York?. Broken Pencil. March 18, 2023. 'I studied social work, did community work for years,' [Tam] says, 'I had no thought of art. But then I worked in commercial art–I wanted to use their tactics,' he jokes..
  5. Web site: Ho Tam: The Yellow Pages. 24 March 2020. Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival. March 19, 2023.
  6. Web site: Ho Tam. 23 April 2022. Capture Photography Festival. March 19, 2023.
  7. Lu . Henry Heng . Sep–Oct 2018 . Inside Ho Tam's Uncategorized Cabinet of Curiosities . Yishu Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art . 17 . 5.
  8. Book: Redress express. . 2007 . Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art . Alice Ming Wai Jim, Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. Centre A., Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Vancouver . 978-0-9732711-8-8 . Vancouver . 297154499.
  9. Web site: THE LIVING ROOM Centre A . 2023-03-19 . en-CA.
  10. Book: Tam . Ho . Jim . Alice Ming Wai . Chang . Elaine . November 2007 . Reel Asian: Asian Canada on Screen . 'Let Your Fingers Do the Walking': Rereading Ho Tam's The Yellow Pages . Toronto . Coach House Books . 135–145 . 9781552451922.
  11. Leung. Helen Hok-Sze . December 22, 2017. Our city of colours: queer/Asian publics in transpacific Vancouver. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies . 18. 4. 482–497. 10.1080/14649373.2017.1387091. 148758042 . March 19, 2023.
  12. Web site: The Yellow Pages. Paul Petro Contemporary Art. March 19, 2023.
  13. Web site: Critics' Picks: Ho Tam. Glessing. Jill. 25 May 2020. Artforum. March 19, 2023.
  14. Web site: Program 4: Subject/Object. Harvard Film Archive. March 23, 2001. March 19, 2023.
  15. Liberovskaya. Katherine . April 1, 2001. Reviews – Magnetic North: Canadian Experimental Video. Canadian Journal of Communication. 26. 4. 117–119. 10.22230/cjc.2001v26n4a1264. free.
  16. Web site: Spectrosynthesis - Asian LGBTQ Issues and Art Now. Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei. March 19, 2023.
  17. Web site: MYTH MAKERS — SPECTROSYNTHESIS III. Tai Kwun. March 19, 2023.
  18. Web site: Fan the Flames: Queer Positions in Photography. Art Gallery of Ontario. March 19, 2023.
  19. Web site: Focus on the Collection: Ho Tam. December 14, 2020. National Gallery of Canada. March 19, 2023.
  20. Web site: RESTLESS: Recent Acquisitions. March 19, 2023. Vancouver Art Gallery.
  21. Web site: Thomas J. Watson Library. Metropolitan Museum of Art. April 28, 2023.
  22. Web site: MoMA Library. Museum of Modern Art. April 28, 2023.
  23. Book: Details for: Ho Tam. 2001. Whitney Museum of American Art. 9781894653022. April 28, 2023.
  24. Web site: The Books of James: Director's Cut. Letterboxd. March 19, 2023.
  25. Web site: Books of James. Hall. P.. Video Librarian. September 11, 2007. March 19, 2023.
  26. Web site: Books of James. DiLandro. Dan. December 4, 2007. March 19, 2023. Pennsylvania State University.