Featuring: Steven Gwon, Esperanza Mayobre, Jo Mikals-Adachi, and Greg Santos

Curated by Herb Tam.

The selection of works in To Whom It May Concern: is inspired by Perfect Lovers, a piece by Felix Gonzalez-Torres and What Time Is It There? a film by Tsai Ming Liang. Perfect Lovers is composed of two round analog clocks hung on the wall so that they’re touching; the clocks tick in perfect unison. Liang’s 2003 film follows the paths of two lonely characters that briefly meet in Taipei, Taiwan before one of them travels to Paris. Both works are ultimately about longing, the subjective experience of duration, and the inevitability of death.

The works in the show, like the characters in What Time Is It There? drift about in separate orbits, their connections slight but palpable. The situation they produce ponders the routine of waking up and going to sleep that mirrors, each day, the arc of our lives from birth to death. Embedded in this repetition is the bonus metaphor of rebirth and the redeeming possibility of life after death.

Steven Gwon makes drawings that track the passing of time, day-by-day. Made on graph paper with color pencils, they systematically record each dayÕs unique character in color-coded detail. Seen in large groups the drawings combine to form a field of subtly modulating color. For this show, Mr. Gwon will exhibit a full year from this series. Esperanza Mayobre presents a re-interpretation of Gonzalez-Torres’s piece using a sped up clock. In a painting by Jo Mikals-Adachi, a young woman is shown sleeping on a colorfully striped bed sheet. The viewer’s gaze is that of the woman’s lover and the tone of the painting is affectionate and intimate. Greg Santos, an artist based in Los Angeles presents some ideas in the form of an email exchange with the curator who lives in Queens, New York.