Born in colonial Hong Kong, Mung Lar Lam is a San Francisco based artist who has shown nationally and internationally. Lam received her MFA degree from California College of the Arts, San Francisco and currently holds a full-time faculty position at The Art Institute of California and a Lecturer position at California College of the Arts.


artist statement
Using the qualities of simple reclaimed cloth and methodologies based in rudimentary textile traditions, my work merges drawing, painting, sculpture and architecture to bring about perceptual experiences and spatial studies through the activation of light. Concurrently the practice of domestic, labor-intensive and gender related tasks as an art medium considers and addresses issues of human and social conditions.

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"Ironings" is a domestic, gender-related and labor-intensive body of work created by employing reclaimed cotton fabric (rejected for its color), starch and the manual chore of ironing. Through evolutionary and performative installations, the medium of ironed, re-ironed and un-ironed marks and folds are used to highlight concepts of temporality, transition, memory and perception; while notions of extended and compacted spaces are explored. Concurrently the practice of this cultural and socially specific task questions the positioning of women and labor in society and the relevance of classical art mediums in contemporary art.

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Needlemarkings utilizes the trace residue of stitching and construction as a mark-making medium, while addressing the historical and cultural positioning of needlework and those who employ it. Referring to needleworked samplers as the first form of women's education, each puncture of light traces the long history of this craft and illuminates socially coded concerns.

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Stitchings utilizes the act of hand sewing and thread to sculpt optical and perceptual experiences relative to light and it's transformative quality.

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Chalkings, at once additive and reductive, are ephemeral pieces created using tailor's chalk.

apature arvo part carl auge charles beronio val britton michele carlson change is good paul chan kyu che susan chen derek chung craft & folk art museum(la) pip culbert the drawing center david fought wayne grim eleanor harwood

anja hitzenberger walter kitundu le cent quatre kwong li issac lin yo yo ma christy matson megan mccready museum of contemp. craft museum of craft & folk art(sf) huong ngo one laptop per child open courseware consortium yoonhye park francesca pastine queens nails annex lacey jane roberts

room to read zachary royer scholz mimi smith shannon stratton stephanie syjuco weston teruya michele theberge deborah valoma jamie vasta jeanne verdoux vertexlist gallery anneliese vobis anne wilson pauline yao christine wong yap

bibliography

sprayblog interview - 2009 hello craft blog - 2009 fiber arts magazine - 2008

cafam interview - 2008 la times - 2008 south china post - 2008

beverly press - 2008 sf gate slideshow - 2007