Sally J. Han

Overview
Sally J. Han

(b.1993) in Shenyang, China

Lives and works in New York City

 

There is a sly politics to Sally J. Han’s paintings. As 'A Painter of Modern Life', she seduces the eye and the mind with her pictorial narratives…careful to embed details that hint at her identity as a Korean and Chinese American.  Twentieth century American art has not always told stories that reflect Asian American realities. Han’s work beguiles us with quiet yet powerful scenes of her lived experience. A game of Mahjong while savoring a cigarette. A studious girl pouring over her homework. A piano lesson. Smartphones are the only clue that these scenes are unfolding in the present tense. Her techniques hark back to the century’s old alchemy of painterly expression, while creating scenes of everyday life that are simultaneously very contemporary and yet utterly timeless. - Alison M. Gingeras

 

Jingmei "Sally" Han, born in China and raised in South Korea, moved to New York where she received a BFA from the School of Visual Arts (2016) with a Silas H. Rhodes Scholarship. In 2019 she received an MFA with an emphasis on drawing at the New York Academy of Art. Her first solo exhibition in New York was at Fortnight Institute in January 2020. She has participated in selected group exhibitions at the Flag Art Foundation, Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, NY, and LA, Pictus Porrectus: Reconsidering the Full-Length Portrait, curated by Alison M. Gingeras and Dodie Kazanjian, Art & Newport Foundation, Newport, Rhode Island, and Dark Light: Realism in the Age of Post-Truths, curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Aïshti Foundation, Lebanon. Sally J. Han's work is in the collections of the Aïshti Foundation in Lebanon and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami.
Instagram
Works
Biography
Sally J. Han

EDUCATION

2019: Master of Fine Arts, New York Academy of Art, New York, NY 

2016: Bachelor of Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

 

SOLO Exhibitions

2023: Nine Lives, Gallery Belenius, Stockholm, Sweden

2022: Lost and Found, Fortnight Institute, New York, NY

2021: Solo Presentation at Independent Art Fair, New York, NY

2020: Foreplay at Fortnight Institute, New York, NY 

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIOns

2023: Pictures Girls Make: Portraitures, curated by Alison Gingeras, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, C A. 

2023: In New York, Thinking of You , FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY

2023: You Were Bigger than the Sky, You Were More than Just a Short Time, Gallery Belenius, Stockholm, Sweden

2023: Interior Chinatown, Eastern Connecticut State University Art Gallery, Willimantic, CT

2022: The Power to Dream, Hussenot Gallery, Paris, France
2022: Dark Light, Realism in the Age of Post truth, curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Aïshti Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon

2022: Wonder Women, Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2022:Taxonomies of Imagination, Curated by Andrew Sendor, Make Room, Los Angeles, CA 

2022: Pictus Porrectus: Reconsidering the Full Length Portrait, curated by Alison M. Gingeras and Dodie Kazanjian, Art & Newport Foundation, Newport, RI 

2022: Wonder Women, Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, New York, NY

2021: Nine Lives, Fortnight Institute, New York, NY

2021: and I will wear you in my heart of heart, the FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY

2021: The Lonely Ones, curated by Katelyn Eichwald, Fortnight Institute, New York, NY

2021: Hunters in the Snow, curated by Fortnight Institute, 303 Gallery, New York, NY

2019: Spaced Out , Two-person exhibition with Henry Chang, YUI Gallery, curated by Qiaoyi Shi, New York, NY

2019: Take Home A Nude 2019,  Sotheby's, Manhattan, New York, NY

2019: New York Academy of Art Alumni: Summer Exhibition Online Exhibition, curated by Mariano Cinat, Organized by SHIM Art Network

2019: MFA Thesis Exhibition, Wilkinson Gallery, New York, NY

2019: Tribeca Ball 2019, New York Academy of Art, New York, NY

2018: New York Academy Annual Summer Exhibition, curated by Brent Beamon, Nicole Berry Matthew Flowers, Alice Gray Stites, Ambre Kelly and Richard Vine, Flowers Gallery, New York, NY

2018: Fun House, curated by Danijela Purssey & Istvan Banyai, Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, New York, NY

 

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami

The Aïshti Foundation, Lebanon

 

PRIZES, AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS 

2019: Gamblin Paint Award
2019: Patricia & Scott Moger Research Grant
2019: Nomination to the Chubb Fellowship Award

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Forthcoming Artist's Book, Lost & Found, Published by Fortnight Institute, 2024.

Zaman, Koshik. “When C-Print Met Sally.” C-Print. 2023. 

Yau, John. “Long Live Life’s Little Moments.” Hyperallergic. October 26, 2023. Print and online.

Marius, Marley. “An Enthralling Exhibition in Newport Puts the Full-Length Portrait in Focus.” Vogue. July 15, 2022. Online. 

Mendelsohn, Meredith. “In Newport, Artists Turn Tables on the Gilded Age.” The New York Times. July 6, 2022. Online. 

Armstrong, Annie. “This Summer, New York Art is Magic, Mystic and Uncanny.” Cultured. August 12, 2021. Online. 

Fateman, Johanna. “Nine Lives.” The New Yorker. August 9, 2021. Online. 

Mantai, Joshen. “Sally J. Han, Hummingbirds Can Fly Backwards. Can you?” Flaunt. April 14, 2021. Online.

Grayson, Emma. “Sally J. Han Steeps Her Work in Culture For All.” Art of Choice. June 26, 2020. Online. 

Narciso, Everett. “Sally J. Han: Foreplay.” The Brooklyn Rail. February 23, 2020. Online.

Press
Exhibitions
Installation shots
No images available.