Happen to catch an unusual “commercial” on television in Louisville over Derby week? Do not adjust your set. The 30-second spot, was an extension of Channel 2, the in-room art station at 21c which strives to make video art from the 21c Collection accessible to a wider audience. Airing on WAVE3, Louisville’s local NBC affiliate, the spot showcased the work of artist Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung.
“21c was founded with a mission of broadening the audience for and deepening the appreciation of contemporary art,” said Alice Gray Stites, 21c Museum Director and Chief Curator. “The WAVE3 spot was an exciting opportunity to take video art beyond the walls of our multi-venue museum and bring it onto the screens of homes and businesses across the region. Given the current political climate, we felt Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung’s work was especially powerful, sparking a conversation around contemporary art.”
Watch the full length work here:
Artist Statement
In G.O.D. We Trust remixes the political and economical hardships Barrack Obama has to overcome within various religious contexts. In the series the 44th US president keeps reincarnating into seven various prophets, spiritual leaders and deities in order to heal the world, including Jesus Christ, Buddha, Elegua, Lady of Guadalupe, Krishna, Mohammad and Abraham. The series uses the pillar belief, remix the important stories and substitute the key elements of the religious texts with current political and economical climate. Rather than idolizing Obama, In G.O.D. We Trust examines the hope and changes the popular 44th US president promises to deliver and the obstacle along the way.
The title of the series appropriate the US national motto, but with a twist. In G.O.D. We Trust the word “GOD” is an abbreviation of “Global Obama Devotion”. Contrary to the artist previous works that criticize the manipulation of religions in politics, In G.O.D. We Trust starts from the religious’ teaching and reinterpret the moral values with current affair. The result is a spiritual journey that even Atheist cannot deny it.
About The Artist
Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung was born in Hong Kong and is now living and working in New York. He earned his B.A. in Arts degree from San Francisco State University. His work has been exhibited at the New Museum, New York; Yerba Buena Center Of The Arts, San Francisco; Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley; Sundance Film Festival, Utah; Postmasters Gallery, New York; Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, United Kingdom; Urbis, Manchester, United Kingdom; Hebbel Am Ufer theatre, Berlin, Germany and ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark.
Hung is represented by Postmasters Gallery in New York, U.S.A. and Galerie Guy Bärtschi in Geneva, Switzerland.
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