Artist: Sami Tsang
Exhibition title: A Good Hard Look
Venue: COOPER COLE, Toronto, Canada
Date: May 27 – July 1, 2023
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and COOPER COLE, Toronto
COOPER COLE is pleased to present, A Good Hard Look, a solo exhibition by Sami Tsang. This highly anticipated solo exhibition marks the artists first presentation at the gallery and will feature a new body of ceramic sculptures, rice paper drawings, and an immersive installation.
Some days I am in the past.
Some days I am fighting the past
How do I merge the difference I feel within
Instead of competing which side I belong to, I feel confident to be as is.
Everyday battle, as usual as eating food.
It never fully goes away, it stays with me, I live with it.
It comes back stronger some days.
Some days I am able to fight it off before it fully develops.
A Good Hard Look, showcases a remarkable collection of sculptures and drawings that not only manifest Tsang’s artistic prowess but also reveal her deep-seated emotions and inner conflicts.
Tsang’s artworks are a reflection of her life experiences, and examine her struggles with the past and the present. Her sculptures are as heavy in emotion as they are in physical form. Through her masterful understanding of ceramic media, and the intimate approach to the illustrative line work found across her body of artwork, Tsang is able to capture a nuanced understanding of how to merge seemingly disparate emotions and thoughts. These artworks act as a tool of survival, and she encourages the viewer to take a good look at ourselves, to identify, pick up, eat, feel, live with, digest, and become a part of our pain.
Sami Tsang (b. 1997 Windsor, Ontario, Canada) uses clay, rice paper, and drawing to materialize internal questions and traumas. Weaving together domestic and psychological narratives related to the conservatism of her youth, Tsang references Chinese proverbs and uses humour, distortion, and whimsy. These stories are not presented didactically, but through a fantastical visual language that combines memories, internal dialogues, folklore and imagined futures.
Tsang earned her MFA at Alfred University, New York, and was the 2019 recipient of the Gardiner Museum Prize. She has since exhibited internationally at galleries and museums such as T293, Rome (forthcoming); The Power Plant (forthcoming), Cooper Cole, Toronto (2023, 2022); Art Gallery of Burlington, Burlington (2022); Tandem Gallery, Bakersville (2022); the Gardiner Museum, Toronto (2021) and Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville (2021). Tsang currently lives and works in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, A Tiger Mommy’s Path, 2023, Ceramic, engobe, glaze, acrylic, resin, 41″ X 22″ X 18″, 104.14cm X 55.88cm X 45.72cm
Sami Tsang, A Tiger Mommy’s Path, 2023, Ceramic, engobe, glaze, acrylic, resin, 41″ X 22″ X 18″, 104.14cm X 55.88cm X 45.72cm
Sami Tsang, Find My Truth or Live Life I, 2023, Xuan paper, ink, colour pencil, gel pen, acrylic, thread, chain, 13.125″ X 26.625″, 33.34cm X 67.63cm
Sami Tsang, Find My Truth or Live Life IV, 2023, Xuan paper, ink, colour pencil, gel pen, acrylic, thread, chain, 13.125″ X 26.625″, 33.34cm X 67.63cm
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, Find My Truth or Live Life III, 2023, Xuan paper, ink, colour pencil, gel pen, acrylic, thread, chain, 13.125″ X 26.625″, 33.34cm X 67.63cm
Sami Tsang, Find My Truth or Live Life VII, 2023, Xuan paper, ink, colour pencil, gel pen, acrylic, thread, chain, 13.125″ X 26.625″, 33.34cm X 67.63cm
Sami Tsang, Find My Truth or Live Life V, 2023, Xuan paper, ink, colour pencil, gel pen, acrylic, thread, chain, 13.125″ X 26.625″, 33.34cm X 67.63cm
Sami Tsang, A Good Hard Look, 2023, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Sami Tsang, Find My Truth or Live Life VI, 2023, Xuan paper, ink, colour pencil, gel pen, acrylic, thread, chain, 13.125″ X 26.625″, 33.34cm X 67.63cm
Sami Tsang, Find My Truth or Live Life VIII, 2023, Xuan paper, ink, colour pencil, gel pen, acrylic, thread, chain, 13.125″ X 26.625″, 33.34cm X 67.63cm
Sami Tsang, Find My Truth or Live Life II, 2023, Xuan paper, ink, colour pencil, gel pen, acrylic, thread, chain, 13.125″ X 26.625″, 33.34cm X 67.63cm