"Sha! Sha!" or "Kill! Kill!" The war cry during the Boxer Rebellion in China. Acrylic on paper, 12x18", copyright Kyi May Kaung.Kyi May Kaung: Yo Franz and Yo Jackson – at Suvunnabhumi Gallery, Chiangmai, Thailand. July 14 to July 20th, 2007. Opening reception, July 14.
Artist’s Statement:
At the opening of my first show Flux at the Foundry Gallery on Dupont Circle in Washington, DC in March of 2001, art critic Louis Jacobson of the City Paper, compared my art to that of abstract expressionists Franz Kline and Jackson Pollock. Unlike the route taken by most artists, I started with abstract art. Only recently, since 2005, have I started to paint with an empirical referent – anonymous portraits and figures.
I continue to paint in different styles and make collages and other constructions. This show represents work made since 2001. Former Foundry Gallery manager (now head at Montpelier Arts Center), Ruth Harwood, has compared my work to that of artist Xu Bing, who writes a “Chinese” script, which is really English. Silk artist Beatrix Slotkoff said my art –“always has a scent of the East.” I feel it is not for me as the artist to define or interpret my work. I just make it.
Artist’s Bio:
Born in Burma during the Japanese Occupation of World War II, Kyi May Kaung has painted since childhood. As a teenager, she was instructed in some art techniques, at home by famous Burmese artists U Ngwe Gaing and U San Win. She developed the habit of looking at art from her father, the well-known educator, U Kaung. However, with formal training in economics and an Ivy League doctorate in political economy from the University of Pennsylvania, it was only in 2001 that she grew “temporarily tired of words” and started painting intensively.
Her one woman shows since then are Blotches from Burma, October 2005, and Mostly Burmese Mugs, March 2007, at Space 7-10, an alternate art space in Silver Spring, MD. She has had several group shows, including one with other refugee artists at Gateway Heliport Gallery, also in Silver Spring, in the Fall of 2006.
This show features her abstracts as well as her collages, small oils and acrylics on canvas. The artist wishes to thank all her friends who have helped her on her arts journey. Dr. Kaung also writes poetry, fiction and non-fiction and has won several awards.
