Laura Kina is debuting new paintings for her first solo show entitled Holding On at FLXST Contemporary. The show features a collection of paintings of sacred WWII memorial sites along with present-day military-occupied spaces in Okinawa, Japan. Together, the artwork examines the intersections of memory and legacies of trauma with the genre of landscape painting.
Prop roots of banyan trees found throughout Okinawa, Kina’s ancestral homeland, inspired the series of paintings. These roots hold onto the Earth, regenerating and persevering in the harshest of contexts. In short, the roots of banyan trees always manage to find new routes to reclaim the land around them. Moreover, the paintings also reference the mythology of Kijumuna wood spirits and other indigenous Okinawan beliefs of spirit guardians of the land and sea.
October 18 to November 23, 2019
—— Opening reception: October 18, 5pm-8pm.
—— FLXST Contemporary, 2251 S. Michigan Ave. Suite 220 (on S. Michigan between Cermak and 23rd Street). Street parking is available. By train, take the Green Line to Cermak/23rd street, and walk 2 blocks east to S. Michigan.
—— Find “FLXST” on the intercoms to be buzzed in (there are two intercoms)
—— For more information about the show, email info@flxst.co or call 773-413-8030.
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/3058919767514074/
Download the exhibition catalog and media packet here: https://www.flxst.co/laura-kina-holding-on
View the works and pricing online here: https://www.artsy.net/show/flxst-contemporary-laura-kina-holding-on
ABOUT LAURA KINA
Born in California and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Laura is a mixed-race Okinawan American artist and scholar based in Chicago. She earned my MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago studying under Kerry James Marshall and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is currently a Vincent de Paul Professor of Art, Media, & Design and Director of Critical Ethnic Studies at DePaul University. She is a 2019 Joan Mitchell Foundation Artist-in-Residence awardee, 2018 3Arts 3AP, and 2011 National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient. Laura’s work has exhibited nationally and internationally including India Habitat Centre and India International Centre, Nehuru Art Centre, Okinawa Prefectural Art Museum, Chicago Cultural Center, Spertus Museum, the Japanese American National Museum, the Rose Art Museum, and the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience.
