ABOUT
“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 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 in 2016, with a Silas H. Rhodes Scholarship. In 2019, she earned an MFA with an emphasis on drawing from the New York Academy of Art. Her first solo exhibition in New York took place at Fortnight Institute in January 2020. Since then, Han has had several solo exhibitions, including Nine Lives at Gallery Belenius, Stockholm (2023); Lost and Found at Fortnight Institute, New York (2022); and a solo presentation at Independent Art Fair, New York (2021). She has also participated in selected group exhibitions at the Flag Art Foundation, Jeffrey Deitch (Wonder Women, curated by Kathy Huang), Art&Newport Foundation (Pictus Porrectus: Reconsidering the Full-Length Portrait, curated by Alison M. Gingeras and Dodie Kazanjian), Aïshti Foundation (Dark Light: Realism in the Age of Post-Truths, curated by Massimiliano Gioni), BLUM Gallery (Pictures Girls Make, curated by Alison M. Gingeras), Nicola Vassell Gallery (The Selves), Art Intelligence Global (Teach Me How to Fish, curated by Will Leung), and Levy Gorvy Dayan and Wei (How Mundane!).
Her works can be found in the collections of the Aïshti Foundation in Lebanon, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami, and Museu Inimá de Paula in Brazil.
Biography
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, NYC
2021: Solo Presentation at Independent Art Fair, NYC
2020: Foreplay at Fortnight Institute, NYC
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024: Holiday, Harper’s, New York, NY
2024: How Mundane!, Levy Gorvy Dayan, Hong Kong
2024: Teach me how to fish, curated by William Leung, Art Intelligence Global, Hong Kong
2024: The Selves, Nicola Vassell Gallery, New York, NY
2024: Pictures Girls Make: Portraitures, curated by Alison Gingeras, Blum, TEFAF, New York, NY
2023: Pictures Girls Make: Portraiture Through the Lens of Progress, curated by Alison Gingeras, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, C A.
2023: In New York, Thinking of You , FLAG Art Foundation, New York
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, Rhode Island
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, 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, NY
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Museu Inimá de Paula, Brazil
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
Artist's Book, Lost and Found, Published by Fortnight Institute, 2024.
Zaman, Ashik. “Sally, Cats and Nine Lives”. C-Print. 2023. Online
Griffin, Jonathan. “Pictures Girls Make” A Genre of Appearance. Los Angeles Times. November 15, 2023. Online
Vargas, Steven. “Los Angeles Times: On my mind.” Los Angeles Times. September 13, 2023. Online
Zaman, Koshik. “When C-Print Met Sally.” C-Print. 2023. Online
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. Print and 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. Print and 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.