BIOGRAPHY
Joseph Nam (b. 1991, Seoul) received a BFA from University of Hawaii at Manoa in printmaking. Working through a conceptual lens, he favors the look and feel of surfaces in all its splendid forms —canvas, paper, wood panel, video projections. Featuring paintings, prints, and drawings with various themes and methods, his work presents an orientation of the artist’s search, will, and contingency in the same space. To him they are ever-shifting like any psychological state, but ultimately aspire to describe a type of unity.
Each painting is individual, occasionally having a predetermined design, whereas otherwise improvised from the get-go. For Joseph, the act of painting is more than coloring, they’re indexes of action, reproach, and recording a moment in time. In creating a picture with tenets of representation and abstraction, each choice is a philosophical struggle between what the mind knows and what it sees.
CV
BFA 2014 University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Department of Art and Art History
Honolulu, HI
Solo Exhibitions
2023 Yes, Eyes, Yesterday, The Manifest, Honolulu, Hawaii
2019 Some Body Some Thing, Wailuku Coffee Co., Maui, Hawaii
Exhibitions
2024
2022 Joseph Nam, Miko Israel, Gallery Iseo, 청도, South Korea
For the Love of Art, Esters Fair Prospect, Maui, Hawaii
2019
2018 Uniques Gallery Gift Shop, Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Maui, Hawaii
Wahi Pana Auwahi, Hui No’eau, Maui, Hawaii
2018 Elemental Design: Contemporary Craft in Glass, Metal & Wood Hui No’eau, Maui, Hawaii
2018 Hui No‘eau Annual Juried Exhibition 2018, Hui No’eau, Maui, HI
2016-17 Smart Dust, SLA 307, 307 W 30th St, New York, NY
2016 Summer Group Show, The Living Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2016 Deselect the Preset, Mezzanine Gallery Honolulu Museum of Art School, HNL, HI
2015 Night of Art and Vibes, The Living Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2015 uhuh. White Box Gallery, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
2015 Artists of Hawaii 2015, Honolulu Museum of Art (with .5ppi), HNL, HI
2015 Less = More, The Honolulu Museum of Art Spalding House (with .5ppi), HNL, HI
2015 Honolulu Printmakers 87th, Linekona Gallery, HNL, HI
2015 Hui No‘eau Annual Juried Exhibition 2015, Hui No’eau Visual Arts Center, Maui, HI
2014-15 Chatter, Pig & The Lady, HNL, HI (3 artists)
2014 Pause, UH Manoa Main Art Gallery, Honolulu, HI
2014 Bite, Burn, Scratch, Mezzanine Gallery, Honolulu Museum of Art School, HNL, HI
2014 Honolulu Printmakers 86th, Linekona Gallery, HNL, HI
2014 .5ppi, Ektopia, Honolulu (as part of .5ppi collective)
2013 Honolulu Printmakers 85th, Linekona Gallery, HNL, HI
2012 Exquisite Corpse, Mercury Bar, HNL, HI
2008 Cryptozoological Clabbo-Combo, Hui No’eau Visual Arts Center, Maui, HI (with visiting artists Mike Houston and Martin Mazorra)
2007 Visiting Artist Swoon, Hui No’eau Visual Arts Center, Makawao, Maui, HI
Representation
2023 Miko’s Gallery, Kahului, Maui, Hawaii
2018 Gottling, Wailea, Maui, HI
2019 Miko’s Gallery, Kahului, Maui, HI
Collaborations
2014-15 .5ppi The Block Kaka’ako, Honolulu (as part of .5ppi collective; commissioned by
Alexander & Baldwin)
Collections
2015 Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and Arts – Art in Public Places, HNL, HI
Publications
2017 Post-Mortem, POST(blank)/Mad Gleam Press
2016 Post-Paper, POST(blank)/Mad Gleam Press
2015 Foundry The Journal for Our Kakaako, Issue No. 6
Awards
2018 Hui No’eau Annual Juried Exhibition Juror’s Choice Award
2015 Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts Recognition Award
2015 Honolulu Printmakers Award for Excellence in Relief in Honor of John Chin Young
2014 Matt Smith Award, U.H. Manoa Printmaking Department
STATEMENT
Working through a conceptual lens, Joseph Nam favors the look and feel of surfaces in all its splendid forms —canvas, paper, wood panel, video projections. Featuring paintings, prints, and drawings with various themes and methods, his work presents an orientation of the artist’s search, will, and contingency in the same space. To him they are ever-shifting like any psychological state, but ultimately aspire to describe a type of unity.
Each painting is individual, occasionally having a predetermined design, whereas otherwise improvised from the get-go. For Joseph, the act of painting is more than coloring, they’re indexes of action, reproach, and recording a moment in time. In creating a picture with tenets of representation and abstraction, each choice is a philosophical struggle between what the mind knows and what it sees.
