Rounding up the best gallery exhibitions across the United States each month, Galerie journeyed from New York to California to discover the top solo shows for September. From a dynamic exhibition of billboard-style collaged canvases commenting on American politics and consumerism by Paris-based artist Robin Kid at Templon in New York to Tom McKinley’s hyper-realistic paintings of sophisticated American spaces and places at Berggruen Gallery in San Francisco, these are the shows that are not to be missed this month.
Lee ShinJa at Tina Kim Gallery, New York
A pioneering Korean fiber artist and educator, Lee ShinJa has worked against the conventions of traditional craft for the entirety of her 70-year career. Breaking new ground in the evolution of Korean craft, the 94-year-old artist is recognized for her modern techniques and experimental use of embroidery, dyeing, weaving, and tapestry, which have led to an expansion of the medium. Exhibiting primarily in group shows and sporadic solo shows since the mid-1950s, the Seoul-based artist was recently honored with a survey of her fiber artworks at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Gwacheon, Korea.
Her first one-person exhibition in New York, “Weaving the Dawn,” spotlights several experimental pieces from her critically acclaimed museum retrospective. Featuring preliminary sketches of her early compositional ideas and archival materials that highlight her role as an enthusiastic educator and researcher, along with her avant-garde embroidered appliqué work from the 1960s and more recent “Spirit of Mountain” series, which pays homage to her hometown, the exhibition offers an in-depth look of a master of the medium—one that’s becoming increasingly popular with contemporary artists and collectors.
—Paul Laster
