For its spring 2023 show, Rockland Center for the Arts (RoCA) has brought together three exhibits that showcase the work of five Asian artists – Untold Stories by Mary Ting, Yeon Ji Yoo, and Tara Sabharwal; Improvisationalism by Tjokorda Gde Arsa Artha; and Encore Encounter by Poramit Thantapalit.
Collectively, their pieces convey life stories of ecological issues, immigration, and humanity. “We live in a diverse county,” said RoCA Exhibitions and Events Director Barbara Galazzo, “and are always trying to present new artists with perspectives unique to Rockland.”
In 2020, a week before the pandemic shutdown, Chinese-American artist Mary Ting was included in an exhibit at RoCA titled Perspectives. Galazzo said they “love Mary’s work” and invited her back to curate a show. “We hope this collection brings an appreciation and understanding of both the personal and traditional stories these artists convey in a contemporary context.”
Untold Stories, housed in Emerson Gallery, includes the work of Ting, Yeon Ji Yoo, and Tara Sabharwal. Incorporating a wide array of mediums — paintings, books, and photographs, to name a few — the collection evokes a sense of loss, but also celebration and rejuvenation.
The thought-provoking showcase transcends time, touching on subjects like the global migration crisis (Sabharwal), and and the loss of nature (Ting). Yoo’s pieces are infused with a more subjective sense of time travel, inspired by “her childhood memories, family struggles, and reconstructed narratives.”
Artist Tjokorda Gde Arsa Artha is a royal native of Bali and the current Director of the Pomona Cultural Center. He fell in love with the Hudson Valley when he put
roots down here over 30 years ago. Much of the work on display in his exhibit, Improvisationalism, is inspired locally. “It is so supremely beautiful, historically and naturally rich, and ethnically and culturally diverse,” he said, “not to mention all of the American masterpieces that were created here by the artists of the Hudson River School movement.”
The third exhibit, Encore Encounter: Works of Poramit Thantapalit, features reconstructed repeat materials, normally thought of as trash. Thailand-born Thantapalit alters materials such as discarded shopping bags, cereal boxes, and plastic bottles into beautiful coral clouds and what he has coined “Bluetanica Gardens.” The collection exemplifies just how much waste we generate, and will hopefully inspire viewers to protect our planet.
The spring RoCA show is free and open to the public through June 10.
Joanne Louis-Paul is a marketing and sales professional, writer, and community builder with a heart for her native Rockland County and the Hudson Valley region at large. She loves welcoming small business owners into her ever-growing Hudson Valley United Freelancers and Entrepreneurs group on Facebook.
