The flyer announcing a new exhibition in Queens, “Home-O-Stasis,” has no address. Instead, when you get to the Queens Public Library in Flushing, the instructions say, “Go up Kissena Boulevard until you see the Q17/Q27 stop.” Go past the garage gate and into the mini mall on the right. There are scooters and bikes parked outside. (How to get to the library depends on Google Maps.)
This gesture says a lot about the show, which runs through July 23rd. It pays tribute to the region, where nearly 70 percent of the population is Asian, most of whom come from China, South Korea and Taiwan. To discover this art, which is crammed with shop signs, advertising notices, and leaflets on the walls and windows of an unobtrusive site, experience Flushing the same way the residents experience it. There is a need. It is as a series of everyday visual cues that shape our senses. It’s a place, not an address.
“Even though I grew up in Flushing, my understanding of the language is not perfect,” he said. Sculptor Ann Wooworks are exhibited. “I may not know what the place is called, but I will tell you how to get there.”
Well worth the effort.
The show takes place in one of the disappearing buildings in the Asian urban enclave. It’s his one-story mini-mall with a variety of stores, including a beauty salon, butcher, money transfer service, and 99 cent store.
Hosted by a husband and wife team Herb Tam,curator At the Chinese American Museum and a painter, and Lu Chang, An artist who works in both video and ceramics. The couple, who live down the street, noticed the building during the pandemic, whose windows were covered with handwritten “rooms for rent” signs. The people on the sidewalk, many of them new immigrants, were crowding around the sign, looking for a place to land. The suffering of gentrification.
“I thought it would be nice to offer people looking for a place to live something else to think about,” Tam said. “We invite other artists who have a close relationship with Flushing—the artists who lived here, were born here, or had some kind of close relationship—and ask them what makes Flushing unique. We decided to explore together.”
Some artists like Wu grew up in Flushing. Some have been regular visitors since childhood with their parents, including a photographer. Janice Chan,Writer Wang Xueliand founder of the collective mamafufu, Yuki He and Qianfan Gu, who produce multidisciplinary events focused on Chinese culture. For everyone, buying familiar foods at the market, picking up Chinese and Korean books at the library, and dining at restaurants that serve specialties from different regions will help you feel closer to your hometown. I was able to feel and connect with people who have gone through a similar path in life. From Asia to America.
It was not easy to persuade the shop owner to allow us to insert the artwork into the store windows and walls. “When I first spoke with the vendor, there was some skepticism,” he says. “It wasn’t until I brought the job in and talked to them one by one that they started to find it interesting.”
Tam added, “Lu didn’t approach us in a purely transactional way, like how much it would cost to rent this space. I felt that they were very involved in it, because they were very honest in explaining to me what kind of work they wanted to exhibit.” However, many companies offered “significant discounts,” Lu said.
The pieces are inserted in subtle and surprising ways so as not to disrupt the traffic flow and social interactions that take place in the mini-mall. Tam’s small-scale, delicately painted scenes of everyday life are relatively easy to find in barbershops and vitamin stores. But to find other art, you have to look carefully and familiarize yourself with the landscape of billboards and posters hanging on walls and ceilings. She slowly begins to realize that things are slightly out of sync with her surroundings. (Some of the text-based works in the show will be presented in both English and Asian languages. Brochures will also be available at the venue.)
Even if you can’t read Chinese, you can read Ms. Wang’s “Have you eaten, Mom?” can find. A particular phrase that appears in her work—“Have you eaten yet, Mom?”—is a familiar way of expressing family affection in some Asian cultures, and “I love you the most.” I love you,” is her 1990s Taiwanese pop lyric. The song is a tribute to those who feel displaced, rootless and isolated.
As you enter the mall’s main entrance and look up, you’ll find paper cutouts by Xiyadie, an artist from Shaanxi, China. Recently exhibited at the Drawing Center. Encased in acrylic, Xyadie’s work depicts the unlikely monument of a clock tower atop Flushing’s U-Haul Center, a fitting landmark for a region defined by immigration. Zhang’s ceramic work, “Calling the Dutch,” pays tribute to an old-fashioned nostalgic ornament that adorned the mall’s facade: a plywood cutout of a Nokia mobile phone advertising the mobile phone business inside the store. be. (Zhang himself signed up for a local phone plan to keep in touch with his aging grandfather back home during the pandemic.)
Chung’s photo series “Hang In Town (Korea Town)‘ message hangs in the window of a cosmetics store. They depict the owner, Jinlan Kuan, who is Korean but Chinese by nationality. Because of this duality, Quan initially struggled to find her place in Flushing, but has become as integral to the area as her shop.
Wu’s work tackles the similar problem of slicing the year, month, and day out of a calendar, leaving a ghostly skeleton in place, and figuring out one’s own orientation. “It’s a literal representation of him being in two places at the same time, because there’s the lunar calendar and the American calendar,” the artist said.
Storage shelves outside the barbershop feature interactive artwork, allowing visitors to play Flushing Polyphonus, a dream board game designed by Mamahuhu as a variation of Queens-centric Monopoly. Players roll the dice and win or lose money as they advance, depending on the cards they draw. Some of the directives are acerbic and sly, pointing out the challenges faced by residents. “Tangram Mall is celebrating its grand opening with exciting promotions, but unfortunately your small business has suffered losses,” one card hinted at a setback. Other cards refer to police crackdowns on street vendors, MTA delays, and anti-gentrification protests, slowing your progress.
Ms. Zhang, an interpreter, asked some people who work in the building what they thought of the program. Tina, the owner of Tina House, which specializes in skin care, said she had only one complaint. “I think it’s good to have a job here, but it’s not enough. I want to work more!” she said with a smile. Jessie Mu, owner of the 99-cent store, said, “It felt so fresh and fresh, when I usually only have advertising posters on my walls.” That brought the building into the community. Andy Zou, who works at a barber shop, said the board game was his favorite part of the show, but he was always busy with work and didn’t have time to play it.
Tam and Chan chose the name “Home-O-stasis” in honor of the delicate process of finding balance when trying to build a new home. In every way the show points to the instability and disorientation experienced by many Flushing residents, it also demonstrates the sense of belonging the community provides.
“This is a love letter,” Tam said.
Home O Stasis is open seven days a week during mall hours from 10am to 8pm. Go on a Friday afternoon and you’ll see curators interacting with visitors. And if you’re lucky, Chan might gift you a small, limited-edition ZINE of his tapioca teas, snacks, dinners, and other local favorites that you can’t find on Google. I can’t. she said with a laugh. Don’t be surprised if you have to go through a supermarket and then through a parking lot to get there.
Home O Stasis: Life and Livelihoods in Flushing
From 10am to 8pm daily through July 23rd, take the 7 train at 41-40 Kissena Blvd. to Flushing Main Street and walk 2 minutes along Main Street to the Queens Public Library. From there, turn right onto Kissena Boulevard until you see the Q17/Q27 stop. Go through the garage gate and enter the mini mall on the right.
