Faculty Exhibition Series Part 4
March 8 – April 7, 2024
THE COMMONS GALLERY, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
The Commons Gallery, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, is pleased to present the Faculty Exhibition Series Part 4. This exhibition is a platform showcasing the creativity of artist educators. While Ka-Ning Fong enlivens the traditional Renaissance-based painting practices through contemporary scenes uncovering the grit and humanity of urban Honolulu, Hadley Nunes finds a connection between early Modernism and the distorted spaces of virtual reality. Cody Anderson reimagines representational drawing as a conceptual practice, and Kainoa Gruspe uses non-traditional materials such as chewing gum, goatfish, wool, and turmeric as painting materials to explore diverse subjects including philosophy and quantum physics. Shiori Abe finds inspiration for her glass installation from the traditional practice of hula. Atis Puampi reframes Copernicus’ theories through the use of modified cameras. All the artists acknowledge the influence of the past while looking to the future.
Artists
Shiori Abe, Cody Anderson, Ka-Ning Fong, Kainoa Gruspe, Hadley Nunes, and Atis Puampai.
Curated by Sheika Alghezawi
Artist Bios
Cody Anderson is a conceptual artist who can’t seem to give up drawing. He uses his art practice to engage with, learn about, and better understand the world around him. By instituting conceptual parameters into his day-to-day life, he focuses his attention on subjects he would otherwise be too busy or preoccupied to notice. His work is thus focused on mindfulness, observation, and documentation. Cody’s projects are often durational and tedious, involving precise to-scale reproductions or forgeries, repetitive actions, and absurd cataloging. Born and raised in Gillette, Wyoming, Cody completed his BFA at the University of Wyoming in 2016, and MFA in Drawing and Painting at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in 2020. He currently lives and works in Honolulu, Hawai‘i.
Ka-Ning Fong was born in Hong Kong in 1956, Ka-Ning Fong has been a resident of Hawaiʻi since 1967. Fong received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting in 1978 and his Master of Fine Arts in 1982 from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Since 1982 Ka-Ning Fong has been a lecturer in Drawing and Painting at the University of Hawaiʻi and various community colleges while continuing as a working artist. Throughout his prolific career, Fong has exhibited his work in numerous venues locally, nationally, and internationally. His solo exhibitions notably featured at Commons Gallery at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 2019, Koa Gallery, Kapiʻolani Community College in 2013, among others. Most recently, his work was included in Fear of the Unknown (2023-2024) at Hawaiʻi State Museum, highlighting the Art in Public Places (APP) Program of the Hawaiʻi State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA). Ka-Ning Fong’s awards include “Best of Show Grand Prize,” Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaiʻi Annual Juried Exhibition in 2009, “Watumull Foundation Purchase Award,” Honolulu Museum of Art in 1992, Grand Prize “Tan Yi, Chinese-American Artist in Hawaiʻi” Juror’s Award, Richard Marshall of Whitney Museum in 1989. Fong’s works are in the collections of the Honolulu Museum of Art, State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, First Hawaiʻi Bank Collection, Servco Pacific Collection, and the Mayor’s Office on Culture and the Arts.
Kainoa Gruspe practice comes from painting but has been branching out to include different modes of making, including woodworking, sewing, embroidery, and hat making. What he is looking for in his work is a sense of real life, and an exploration of how that has been understood. Topics such as quantum physics, religion, and existential philosophy are areas of interest in his work, but so are interesting looking bits of dirt, a good chisel, and chewing gum left on the street. Imagery is present but only really serves to provide context, the physical qualities and relationships of the materials and actions is where most of the work is happening. Gruspe is from Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and a Master of Fine Arts from the Slade School of Fine Art at the University College London.
Shiori A. Koehler is a Glass artist and ʻŪniki Kumu hula hailing from Tokyo, Japan where she a received her BFA from the Joshibi University of Arts and Design. While her creativity expanded through the glass art she created, her passion for hula aided her decision to move to Hawaiʻi in 2008. Shiori earned her MFA degree from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa in 2013, continuing to hone her skills as a hula practitioner. In 2022, after 25 years of intense study, she ʻūniki as Kumu Hula from Kumu Hula Pattye Kealohalani Wright in Kailua Oʻahu. While Shiori has been continuing to increase her knowledge about Hawaiian culture, she realizes being an artist and Kumu Hula are correlated with her life. She began to combine elements from both perspectives (Hawaiian culture and the arts) in her never-ending journey.
Hadley Nunes creative practice includes painting, performance, and curation. She exhibits internationally and is part of The William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation Collection in Katonah, New York. Nunes has participated in residencies for both performance and visual art in the United States, France, and Japan. Her studio is located in Mānoa Valley. Her studio habits combine methods of intelligence—both conceptual and embodied—with approaches to paint that embrace ambiguity and participate in contemporary and historic gradations between abstraction and figuration. Her paintings operate as symbolic portals that mirror potentials yet unknown across the human/nature dialectic. Through a symbiotic relationship in practice and presentation, she questions the notion that humanity and nature are separate and asks herself (and the viewer) how we might heal through future dialogues of interconnectivity.
Atis Puampai was raised in Pearl City, Hawai‘i and began his photographic practice at the age of 17. Fueled by an early interest in skate photography, Puampai found fascination in the camera’s unique ability to freeze moments in time, particularly capturing the essence of motion. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Fine arts at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. It was during this time that Puampai’s photographic practice progressed to alternative capture methods with self-made or modified cameras to explore varying perspectives of time.
Closing Reception
Date: April 7, 2024, Sunday, 2:00–4:00 PM
Location: Commons Gallery, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM)
THE COMMONS GALLERY is located on the ground floor of The Art Building. From Dole Street, take East-West Road, turn left to Correa Road, and then turn right for the Art Building.
Sponsors
This exhibition is made possible by University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s Department of Art + Art History and College of Arts, Languages & Letters; supported by the Halekulani Hotel– Hospitality Sponsor for the Arts at UH Mānoa; the State Foundation for Culture and the Arts; and anonymous donors. Special thanks to The Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.
Hours & Admission
Tuesday–Friday, & Sunday, 12–4 p.m.
Closed Saturdays, Mondays, spring break (March 17-22), and state holidays.
Free admission. Donations are appreciated.
Parking is free on Sundays. Parking fees may apply during weekdays.
For more information, please contact 808.956.6888 and gallery@hawaii.edu
