FOON SHAM show closing: June 13, 2009

Foon Sham at Project 4: (Phone) Book Smart By Jessica Dawson
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, June 5, 2009
(Washington post online article link: here)

Artist Foon Sham works so subtly that we strain to detect even his most radical modifications. The Northern Virginia-based sculptor adheres to a narrow vocabulary of form, turning out objects that rework the urn, the totem, the helix and other, mostly natural forms.

Until now, Sham's go-to material has been wood -- chips and tiles of it, some prefabricated, others with their bark still attached -- that he stacks to form his structures. Sham still embraces his hardwoods, but a new material has entered the lexicon.

Though his 12 works on view at Project 4 replicate familiar forms -- towers and totems and stacked wall pieces -- fully half employ a radical new building block: the phone book.

Glenn Harper, editor of Sculpture Magazine, writes, "...it is clear that Sham's work always approaches the viewer with more than a discrete aesthetic experience. His work approaches you through multiple perceptions and cognitions, channeled through the artist's as well as the viewer's conceptual and palpable experience of the world...the smooth and rough, the laminated and carved, the singular and the stacked, the minimal and the multiple are all integral aspects of the work."


For additional information please contact:
Anne Surak, director

Project 4
1353 U Street NW, 3rd floor
Washington, DC 20009
202-232-4340
info[at]project4gallery.com
http://www.project4gallery.com/

Hours: Wednesday - Friday 2:00 - 6:00 pm, Saturday noon - 6:00 pm and by appointment.
(located at the intersection of 14th Street and U street NW)
Metro Access: Project 4 is easily accessible by metro. Project 4 is located one block west of the green line U St/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo metro station, 13th Street exit.

Galleries: Foon Sham at Project 4 - washingtonpost.com

Foon Sham
May 9 - Jun 13, 2009

Project 4, Foon Sham, Sculpture Exhibition

Project 4, Foon Sham, Sculpture Exhibition

Foon Sham, interior of wrapture, 2008, 71.5” x 27” x 26”, black walnut

(Photo Credits: Anne Marchand, Published Courtesy Project 4 and the Artist)

I posted an earlier article on Foon Sham's exhibition on view at Project 4. Today's Washington Post writer, Jessica Dawson has a great review on Foon Sham and his sculpture at Galleries: Foon Sham at Project 4 - washingtonpost.com.
You still have time to see this excellent sculpture exhibit!
www.project4gallery.com

Project 4
1353 U Street NW, 3rd floor
Washington, DC 20009
202-232-4340
info[at]project4gallery[dot]com
wednesday-saturday, 12:00-6:00 pm and by appointment

Highlight/ Project 4 / Foon Sham

Project 4 has a light airy space at 1353 U Street NW that's just right for exhibiting the sculpture of Foon Sham. Up a flight of stairs, thru an unmarked door, onto a sculpture deck and the gallery invites you into it's two tiered space. A colossal work by Foon Sham towers in the twenty foot atrium, giving visitors a unique view of the sculpture from the 2nd level. You can peer over the balcony and look down into the work to see it's construction. I like the way Mr. Sham puts pieces of wood together to create undulating forms from geometric shapes. Many of these larger works combine the look of a vessel with references to architecture in the warmth of natural wood. Foon Sham's addition of recycled phone book pages into his work, links ideas of identity, population, and the environment to these evocative pieces. I highly recommend a trip to see this exhibition. Seek out this unique gallery perched on top of the 14th and U St corridor and treat yourself to a fabulous art experience.

Foon Sham
May 9 - Jun 13, 2009

Foon Sham, Opening Night
Spiral Vessel, 32 ” x 45” x 65”, phillipine mahogany

Gallery Director, Anne Surak (R) and visitors

Wrapture, 71.5” x 27” x 26”, black walnut

Opening night at Project 4, Foon Sham, Sculpture Exhibition

Opening night at Project 4, Foon Sham, Sculpture Exhibition

Opening night at Project 4, Foon Sham, Sculpture Exhibition

Opening night at Project 4, Foon Sham, Sculpture Exhibition

Project 4 is a new voice in the growing Washington D.C. art scene. The gallery's programming promotes an international, forward-thinking exhibition schedule of contemporary art and design. Focusing on one-person shows and thematic exhibitions by mid-career and emerging artists, the gallery also invites guest curators to host exhibitions emphasizing trends in contemporary art and design. It is, in effect, a room for art and ideas spanning a range of cultural issues. -from Project 4 Website

THE SPACE

The gallery is 1000 square feet on two levels, including a twenty-foot double-height space. Designed by Washington based architecture firm Inscape Studio, the gallery is meant to be flexible and provide a platform for a variety of media including installation, video, sculpture and site specific works. Project 4 is located at the intersection of historic 14th and U Streets NW, a burgeoning area of restaurants, galleries, bars and stores half a mile east of Dupont Circle. It is less than one block from the U Street-Cardoza stop on the Metro's Green Line.

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Project 4 is in a building that houses the 2,000 square feet Hamiltonian Gallery owned by physics professor Paul So. The current exhibition at Hamiltonian, "FELLOWS CONVERGE: Redefining the Environment," is a group exhibition marking the culmination of the Hamiltonian Fellowship's first year. Exhibiting artists include: Helen Frederick, Christian Benefiel, Tom Block, Anne Chan, Ian MacLean Davis, Leah Frankel, Linda Hesh, Mike Dax Iacavone, Youngmi Organ, Bryan Rojsuontikul and Michael Enn Sirvet. The galleries are located in a neighborhood with several other contemporary arts galleries, including, Hemphill Fine Arts, G Fine Art and Gallery Plan B.

Project 4
1353 U Street NW, 3rd floor
Washington, DC 20009
202-232-4340
info[at]project4gallery[dot]com
wednesday-saturday, 12:00-6:00 pm and by appointment

FOON SHAM

Foon Sham, pages, natural or manmade, 2009, 9.25” x 21.5” x 3”, wood and phone books

May 9 - June 13, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 9, 6:00-9:00pm

Project 4 presents a solo exhibition by Washington DC based sculptor Foon Sham. From their overall composition to how each component fits together, Foon Sham’s intricate wood sculptures utilize principles of design and nature to create a complex, synthetic poetry. In his deepening study of structure the work has become more architectural in its reference to building as well as to the human body and the environment.

Sham's current body of work continues this exploration of space through material by appropriating recycled phone book pages into the sculptural forms. The project began in China as a comment on population and identity, but has evolved into a conversation about his preferred medium, wood, and its relationship to the environment.

Project 4
1353 U Street NW, 3rd floor
Washington, DC 20009
202 232 4340
http://www.project4gallery.com/