Artist challenges Jesuit ideals

By Molly McGonigle

At the entrance to the de Saisset Museum lies a large canvas featuring Pinocchio-like figurines smoking, immersed in a Camel cigarette-obsessed world sitting next to a pristine and enormous Wal-Mart.

At first, the viewer is confused by this bizarre comparison, but after a closer examination, the message of the piece -- consumerism -- becomes clear.

"I am not a political artist, I am an artist responding to the time we're living in," artist Evri Kwong explained.

Kwong's latest exhibit, "Just Pretend Everything is OK," at de Sassiet, follows the Jesuit ideal of social justice in our world. His exhibit is just one of three at the museum that are centered around this theme of social justice.

The exhibit is full of confrontational subject matter meant to evoke deep responses from the viewer. The paintings in this exhibition deal with everything from homophobia to September 11th to consumerism.

"I get my ideas for my paintings from The New York Times, Harpers, the media, TV," Kwong said. "I even will appropriate compositions from the pictures from the newspapers or images from TV, but still put my own spin on it."

Paintings like "Do You Know the Way to Santa Fe?" and "Pinky Goes to Town" exemplify the contrasts that Kwong uses to elicit thought-provoking responses from the viewer. Kwong -- whose specialties are drawing and painting -- combines Sharpie and oil paint to represent conflict.

He said, "The painting and the Sharpie on one canvas came to me because I wanted to combine the things that I did best." He added, "Why not make a painting that had all the elements that I was interested in?"

Karen Kienzle, de Saisset assistant director for exhibitions, education and community outreach, said, "It's almost like he presents the violence in a mediated way that helps engage us. We prefer not to talk about these things. But, we need to talk about it so they don't continue to happen."

Kwong, a Chinese-American born in San Francisco, accredits his own past for inspiring his strong desire to depict modern society's injustices.

"His father is a Zen master at a center in the Sonoma Mountains," Kienzle said. The progressive and isolated nature of the Zen center hid racial injustices from Kwong. "When he would leave the Zen center and go into the town of Sonoma, which is rural, he experienced racism for the first time," said Kienzle. "So that contrast figures prominently in his work, and he really describes that as being pivotal in his life experience."

After living in Sonoma, Kwong knew he wanted to end up back in the diverse city of San Francisco. He attended the San Francisco Art Institute, where he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts. Since then, he has held numerous solo exhibitions throughout the United States, as well as in Budapest, Hungary and Seoul, South Korea.

While working on different exhibitions, Kwong also works as an art professor at California State University, Sacramento.

Kienzle hopes that students appreciate the show's powerful content.

"The exhibit is an opportunity to think and be moved emotionally," Kienzle said. "Like, when you see the Matthew Shepherd piece, hopefully you will want to take action. It makes you want to be a better person, be more compassionate or volunteer at an organization for tolerance. Basically, just be a catalyst for thought."

All three of the exhibits at de Saisset this quarter focus on violence, identity and injustice, and all are created by artists of color.

The exhibits are Hank Willis Thomas and Kambui Olujimi's "Winter in America," Kip Fulbeck's "The Hapa Project" and Evri Kwong's "Just Pretend Everything is OK."

The three shows will be featured at de Saisset until December 13.

Contact Molly McGonigle at (408) 551-1918 or mmcgonigle@scu.edu.