Biography
Homer Shew is a Brooklyn-based artist whose portraits together explore the social spheres of Asian Americans and how they publicly and privately navigate today’s cultural landscape. Moreover, his work communicates an inextricable, yet contradictory, link between the mainstream fantasies mapped onto Chinatowns and the perceived positionality of Asian Americans as the fastest growing minority group in the US. Painting subjects across generations and geography, Homer’s portraits not only insert historical texture and nuance to a contemporary reckoning with the invisibility of Asians in mainstream American narratives, but celebrate the individuals who mediate and interpret the seismic pressures that exist within Asian America.
1990
Born in Chicago, IL
Education:
2012
BA Studio Arts, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, Leon Levy Scholar
Selected exhibitions:
2024
Kiang Malingue Gallery, Basel, Switzerland, Art Basel Hong Kong 2024
Manchester Public Library, Manchester, VT, Responses: Asian American Voices Resisting the Tide of Racism (Curated by Herb Tam and Andrew Rebatta) [Traveling show]
Praise Shadows Gallery, Brookline, MA, See and Be Seen 2.0
2023
Kiang Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong, HK, Meanwhile (Solo)
Kiang Malingue Gallery, Basel, Switzerland, Art Basel 2023
Kiang Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong, HK, Art Basel Hong Kong 2023
Seizan Gallery, New York, NY, Fluid Places
2022
Kiang Malingue Gallery, Shanghai, China, West Bund Art and Design 2022
Schacky Art & Advisory, Dusseldorf, Germany, The Political Everyday
Kiang Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong, HK, Art Basel Hong Kong 2022
2021
Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong, HK, Backgrounds (Solo)
Museum of Chinese in America, New York, NY, Responses: Asian American Voices Resisting the Tide of Racism (Curated by Herb Tam and Andrew Rebatta)
2019
CP Project Space at SVA, New York, NY, Dear America (Curated by Minji Lee)
2018
NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, NY, Practice: in Progress (Curated by Elisa Gutiérrez Eriksen)
Amphora Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 5/11
2017
384 Broadway ChaShaMa, New York, NY, The Inscrutable Chinese [Solo]
2016
The Silent Barn, Brooklyn, NY, #OPENAGAIN
2015
Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL, The Bridge Show
2012
Fisher Studio Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, Crags of My Father [Solo]
Selected artist talks, panels, discussions, & presentations:
2021
University of California (Berkeley), Guest Artist Panelist, Berkeley, California
2020
SFA Projects, Confronting Yesterday’s Traditions in Today’s Cultural Diaspora, Guest Artist Panelist, New York, NY
2018
Teach In & Asian Gala, Bard College, Visiting Artist Lecturer, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
384 Broadway, Directions for the Future of Chinatown, Visiting Artist Lecturer, New York, NY
2013
Dittmar Gallery, Northwestern University, Institute for Encyclopedic Amalgamation, Visiting Artist Lecturer, Evanston, IL
Selected Press
2023
Chak, Ashlyn, Chinese artists in America explore feelings of displacement in solo exhibitions in Hong Kong, South China Morning Post, November 14th
2022
Brown, Jeffrey, Architect Maya Lin helps a museum tell the larger story of Asian Americans, PBS Newshour, May 31
Studio Visit Magazine, Issue 49, May 27
2021
Morabito, Jeffrey, Homer Shew: I am Legitimately Living a Double Life, I Know Strange People, July 20
Teresa Xie and Sam Fleming, Episode #51 Lavender Tea and Homer an Interview with Homer Shew, Two Virgins, July 20
2019
Guzman, Alissa, A Wide Spectrum of Ideas and Artist Studios in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, Hyperallergic, October 21st
2017
Laoshi, Stone, The Inscrutable Chinese, SInoVision, November 22nd
Hickey, Christopher. Homer Shew-The Inscrutable Chinese, CUNY School of Journalism December 1st
Pierone, Xana Silent Barn: Jordan Michael Iannucci, Rare Candy, May 10th
Residencies
Residencies:
2022
Vermont Studio Center, Johnson,VT
2021
Millay Arts, Austerlitz, NY
2016-2018
Silent Barn, Resident Member, New York, NY
2017
Camp Residency, Preston Ranch, WY
2015
Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL