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Ho Tam (artist)

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Ho Tam
Born1962 (age 61–62)
Hong Kong
EducationMcMaster University, Bard College
Known forartist's books, video, photography, graphic design
Websitehttps://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

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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

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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]

References

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  1. ^ "Ho Tam". Paul Petro Contemporary Art. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
  2. ^ Daniels, Calvin (September 9, 2022). "B.C. artist Ho Tam has installation at Godfrey Dean Gallery". Yorkton This Week. Retrieved March 18, 2023. 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.'
  3. ^ Wassenberg, Anya. "Ho Tam: The Only Asian Boy in New York?". Broken Pencil. Retrieved 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.
  4. ^ "Ho Tam: The Yellow Pages". Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival. 24 March 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  5. ^ "Ho Tam". Capture Photography Festival. 23 April 2022. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  6. ^ Lu, Henry Heng (Sep–Oct 2018). "Inside Ho Tam's Uncategorized Cabinet of Curiosities". Yishu Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art. 17 (5).
  7. ^ Redress express. Alice Ming Wai Jim, Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. Centre A., Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Vancouver. Vancouver: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. 2007. ISBN 978-0-9732711-8-8. OCLC 297154499.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  8. ^ "THE LIVING ROOM | Centre A". Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  9. ^ Tam, Ho; Jim, Alice Ming Wai (November 2007). "'Let Your Fingers Do the Walking': Rereading Ho Tam's The Yellow Pages". In Chang, Elaine (ed.). Reel Asian: Asian Canada on Screen. Toronto: Coach House Books. pp. 135–145. ISBN 9781552451922.
  10. ^ 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. doi:10.1080/14649373.2017.1387091. S2CID 148758042. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  11. ^ "The Yellow Pages". Paul Petro Contemporary Art. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  12. ^ Glessing, Jill (25 May 2020). "Critics' Picks: Ho Tam". Artforum. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  13. ^ "Program 4: Subject/Object". Harvard Film Archive. March 23, 2001. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  14. ^ Liberovskaya, Katherine (April 1, 2001). "Reviews – Magnetic North: Canadian Experimental Video". Canadian Journal of Communication. 26 (4): 117–119. doi:10.22230/cjc.2001v26n4a1264.
  15. ^ "Spectrosynthesis - Asian LGBTQ Issues and Art Now". Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  16. ^ "MYTH MAKERS — SPECTROSYNTHESIS III". Tai Kwun. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  17. ^ "Fan the Flames: Queer Positions in Photography". Art Gallery of Ontario. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  18. ^ "Focus on the Collection: Ho Tam". National Gallery of Canada. December 14, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  19. ^ "RESTLESS: Recent Acquisitions". Vancouver Art Gallery. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  20. ^ "Thomas J. Watson Library". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  21. ^ "MoMA Library". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  22. ^ Details for: Ho Tam. Whitney Museum of American Art. 2001. ISBN 9781894653022. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  23. ^ "The Books of James: Director's Cut". Letterboxd. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  24. ^ Hall, P. (September 11, 2007). "Books of James". Video Librarian. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  25. ^ DiLandro, Dan (December 4, 2007). "Books of James". Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
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