Karen Tam (born 1977) is a Canadian artist and curator who focuses on the constructions and imaginations of cultures and communities through installations in which she recreates Chinese restaurants, karaoke lounges, opium dens, curio shops and other sites of cultural encounters. She is based in Montreal, Quebec.
Tam's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries such as the Ormeau Baths Gallery (Belfast), Irish Museum of Modern Art (Dublin), Betty Rymers Gallery and 11th Street Gallery/Columbia College (Chicago), Foster-Tanner Gallery (Tallahassee, Florida), YVZ Artists' Outlet (Toronto), Khyber Centre for the Arts (Halifax), and MAI - Montréal arts interculturels (Montreal).[2]
Awards
Karen Tam's video Plum Sauce won the Audience Choice Award at the 2002 Asian American Film Festival in Chicago. She was a finalist for the Prix Louis-Comtois in 2017 from the Contemporary Art Galleries Association and the Ville de Montréal,[3] a finalist for the Prix en art actuel from the Musée national des beaux-arts de Québec in 2016,[4] and long-listed for the Sobey Art Award in 2010[5] and 2016.[6][7] She was awarded the 2021 Giverny Capital Prize by collector François Rochon, president of the private portfolio management firm Giverny Capital.[8] She was also long-listed for the 2010 and 2016 Sobey Art Award.
Karen Tam: With Wings Like Clouds Hung from the Sky 大鵬就振翼 (February - April 2022), Varley Art Gallery (Markham, ON) (Curated by Anik Glaude)
Les illusions sont réelles (February 19 - April 24, 2022), Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec Manif d'art 10, La Bienale de Québec (Curated by Steven Matijcio)
Autumn Tigers (Online) (October 2021 - Ongoing), Art Canada Institute in partnership with Campbell River Art Gallery (Curated by Jenelle M. Pasiechnik)
with wings like clouds hung from the sky (May 2019), Richmond Art Gallery (Richmond, BC, Canada)[12][13][14]
(Travelling Exhibition)Nous sommes tous les brigands/We Are All Robbers, EXPRESSION (2017-2019), Centre d’exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe (Saint-Hyacinthe, Canada);[15][16] Musées Régionale de Rimouski, (Rimouski, Canada);[17] Musées des beaux-arts de Sherbrooke (Sherbrooke, Canada); Plein sud, centre en art actuel de Longueuil (Longueuil, Canada)
Souvenirs from the Jasmine Café, SIGHTINGS (2017), Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery, Concordia University (Montréal, Canada)[18]
SHEEN-wah-ZREE (2016), Musée d’art contemporain des Laurentides (Saint-Jérôme, Canada)[19]
Des mimes et des mites (2016), Conseil des arts de Montréal (Montréal, Canada)[20]
(Traveling exhibition)Gold Mountain Restaurant: No MSG At Friendship Dinner (Or Cats) (2006-08).Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba; Shangri-la Café: YYZ Artists’ Outlet (Toronto); Old Silver Moon: Forest City Gallery (London, ON); House of Wong: Artcite (Windsor); On Rock Garden: AKA Gallery (Saskatoon); Orientally Yours, Southern Alberta Art Gallery (Lethbridge, Canada)
Whose Chinatown? (2021), Griffins Art Project (Vancouver, BC)[48][49]
Publications
Luke, Suzanne and Finn, Jonathan and Kuruvilla, Sunil. Karen Tam : Pagoda Pads : Opium Den.Waterloo, Ont.: Robert Langen Art Gallery, 2011.
Belu, Françoise and Blouin, Marcel and Lee, Day. Gold Mountain Restaurant = Restaurant Montagne d'or : Karen Tam. Montréal, Qc: MAI (Montréal arts interculturels), 2006.
Jim, Alice Ming Wai Nolte, Victoria Zhang, Tianmo Harringa, Charissa Von Larose, Delphine Joachim, Joana Harkness, Tamara Lakhrissi, Tarek Montpetit, Gabrielle Colombo, Cindy Wexler, Samamtha (2015). EAHR @ Artexte : Uncovering Asian Canadian and Black Canadian Artistic Production. Ethnocultural Art Histories Research Group (EAHR). OCLC948726622.
Baldissera, Lisa and Despret, Vinciane and Dyke, Erika. Convoluted Beauty : In the Company of Emily Carr. Saskatoon, Sask.: Mendel Art Gallery, 2014.
Rien ne se perd, rien ne se crée, tout se transforme. Bélisle, Josée., Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal. Montréal: Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal. 2008. ISBN9782551236718. OCLC225775665.
^Saint-Hyacinthe, Expression : : Centre d'exposition de (2019-04-29). "Karen Tam". Expression : : Centre d'exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe (in French). Retrieved 2019-04-29.
^Baldissera, Lisa (2014). Convoluted Beauty: In the Company of Emily Carr ; published to record the exhibition "Convoluted Beauty: In the Company of Emily Carr", presented from June 27 to September 14, 2014 at the Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Mendel Art Gallery. ISBN978-1896359861. OCLC913473358.