Sloan Fine Art presents in the front room gallery, an exhibition by Kai-lan (Karen) Chau, Inner Dialogue, and in the project room, an exhibition by Julia Marchand, Stuffed Monkeys & Freeze Dried Fauna.

As creator of the wildly popular animated children’s show “Ni Hao, Kai-Lan,” Karen Chau has been delighting viewers (and their parents) with her enchanting artwork and childhood memories for three years. What many people don’t know is that Karen has been creating personal artwork, under her Chinese name Kai-lan Chau, for much longer. These works, executed with Chau’s signature super-flat, colorful style, are edgier and reveal a slightly twisted sense of humor. Yet even as a panda imagines bacon while chatting with a pig and bats float overhead tethered in a kind of “Bat Prison,” the overall energy and message of Chau’s work remains infectiously upbeat.

For her exhibition at Sloan Fine Art “Inner Dialogue,” Chau will produce twenty limited edition prints on paper, three extremely limited edition canvas prints and two limited edition fiberglass sculptures. All proceeds from the sales of one of the print editions will be split between two deserving charities – Families with Children from China (fwcc.org) and City Critters Rescue (citycritters.org).

Karen/Kai-lan Chau earned her BA from the University of California, Irvine and currently splits her time between Los Angeles and Shanghai. Her “Ni Hao, Kai-Lan” series was nominated for an Emmy award in Spring 2010. Inner Dialogue is the first exhibition of Chau’s personal artwork.

Showing in the project room during “Inner Dialogue” is “Stuffed Monkeys & Freeze Dried Fauna,” new oil paintings and mixed media works on paper by Julia Marchand. During her first return visit to the American Museum of Natural History in New York as an adult, Marchand found that with the perspective of adulthood and the influence of high definition and cable television, the AMNH dioramas seemed much less magical and exotic. Many felt more like historical relics, even sad stuffed animals, left behind by technology and access.

For this exhibition, Marchand has re-created a selection of her personal favorites, along with other educational wildlife imagery, infusing them with bold colors, lush patterns, exaggerated postures and imaginary personalities. In this way Marchand breathes new life, and pays homage to, these magnificent long gone creatures from her childhood who are frozen forever in time.

Julia Marchand earned her BFA in Art History at American University in Washington DC and went on to study fine art at San Francisco Art Institute. Her work has been shown in group shows at venues worldwide including Museo de la Ciudad de Mexico, Stolen Space in London, Michaela Gallery in San Francisco and Sloan Fine Art in New York. This is Marchand’s first solo exhibition in New York. She lives and works in Alameda, California.