Karen Tam


Karen Tam 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.
WWW Official Site

Education

Tam holds a BFA in Studio Arts and Music from Concordia University and an MFA in Sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a PhD in Cultural Studies from Goldsmiths (University of London).

Exhibitions

Tam's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries such as the Ormeau Baths Gallery, Irish Museum of Modern Art, and 11th Street Gallery/Columbia College, Foster-Tanner Gallery, YVZ Artists' Outlet, Khyber Centre for the Arts, and MAI - Montréal arts interculturels.

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, a finalist for the Prix en art actuel from the Musée national des beaux-arts de Québec in 2016, and long-listed for the Sobey Art Award in 2010 and 2016. She was awarded the 2021 Giverny Capital Prize by collector François Rochon, president of the private portfolio management firm Giverny Capital. She was also long-listed for the 2010 and 2016 Sobey Art Award.

List of major exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

Selected group exhibitions

Secret Chord : An Ode to Montreal Le je et le nous — The I and the We, MAI Connections and Reconnections, Montréal Museum of Fine Arts Ici Londres/London Calling , Musée de la civilisation Here/Elsewhere: The Sample of Overseas Chinese Art, He Xiangning Art Museum mmmmm…Gendai Kitchen , Gendai Gallery Far and Near: the Distance between Us, Art Museum/Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, University of Toronto Power Ball XVIII: Pleasure Principle Tracing Asian Canadian Art Histories and Aesthetic Alliances, Artexte Convoluted Beauty: In the Company of Emily Carr , The Mendel Art Gallery Couriers of Taste , Danson House Sinopticon: Contemporary Chinoiserie, Victoria & Albert Museum, Plymouth Arts Centre, Saltram House National Trust, Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery Location/Dislocation '', J.M. Barnicke Gallery/Jackman Humanities Institute, University of TorontoEast Goes East, Third Space/Tiers Espace BGL/Pascal Grandmaison/Adad Hannah/Karen Tam, Musée d’art contemporain de MontréalRien ne se perd, rien ne se crée, Musée d’art contemporain Rearranging Desires, FOFA Gallery, Concordia University Redress Express'', Centre A

Selected curatorial works

Whose Chinatown?, Griffins Art Project

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, 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. EAHR @ Artexte : Uncovering Asian Canadian and Black Canadian Artistic Production. Ethnocultural Art Histories Research Group..
  • 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...