A new exhibit at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in New York (TECO-NY), titled “888: Portraits in Taiwan.” The exhibit is by Brenda Zlamany, a Brooklyn-based painter, and features works from the first chapter in her new series, the Itinerant Portraitist. The exhibit will run June 1-30, 2012 at the TECO-NY building (1 E 42nd St).
Zlamany is interested in traveling to regions of the globe marked by conflict or by a need for cultural preservation and exploring the constructive effects of portraiture in these settings. Her and her ten-year-old Chinese-speaking daughter traveled in Taiwan in 2011, primarily visiting indigenous villages, where she made 888 watercolors of the people she met. Zlamany persuade strangers to have their portraits done and then to sign the portrait and have their photograph taken with it. In this way, “888: Portraits in Taiwan” seeks to address the multifaceted nature of portraiture in the digital age.
A multimedia installation based on Zlamany’s adventures consists of sketchbooks containing portraits in watercolor and pencil, a map charting the locations where the portraits were made, a documentary video of the trip, projections of photographs of the portrait subjects, and oil paintings of Taiwanese aboriginal teenage boys.