Big Chicken & Baby Bird
Familiar
On View: May 26 - July 22, 2023 I Front Gallery
Opening Reception: Friday, May 26, 2023 | 6 - 8 PM
Artist Talk: Saturday, May 27, 2023 I Starting at 2 PM
Art League Houston (ALH) is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition, Familiar, featuring the dynamic artistic duo Tsz Kam and Nat Power, also known as Big Chicken & Baby Bird. Through their bold and vivid paintings, Familiar invites viewers to explore the theme of duality and pairings. Kam and Power's works transform mythological creatures into characters with inevitable roles within an imagined world. The exhibition presents ornamental patterns that convey the rhythm of a dance, simultaneously known yet unfamiliar.
Through their collaborative work, Kam and Power create a new mythology that centers around the ambiguity of gender and the experience of shifting between girlhood and womanhood. Their paintings capture the tension between seduction and repulsion, oscillating between the two to create a rich visual narrative.
While set in a fantastical world, Familiar leaves the audience to question our perceptions of the world and the roles we play within it.
Tsz Kam and Nat Power
Image courtesy of the artists
About the Artists
Tsz Kam (Big Chicken) was born in colonial Hong Kong in the early 90s and grew up in the post colonial period till their teenage years when they moved to Texas. Kam is interested in studying ornamental and decorative motifs from various cultures and how notions of beauty are transformed through different cultural lenses. Using both the perspectives of an insider and an outsider, Kam reestablishes a sense of belonging through their works.
Nat Power (Baby Bird) was born and raised in Texan suburbia. She completed her BFA at UT Austin in 2016 and has since continued to live and work in Austin, TX. Power has been working as a tattooer since 2019, taking influence for painting from the narrative and intention of images presented in the tradition of tattooing. Her work observes the manifestation of feminine rage and its suppression, depicting characters that stall on the boundary between acceptability and anger.
Kam and Power met while studying at The University of Texas at Austin, where they obtained their BFAs. They formed the collective duo Big Chicken & Baby Bird, and have been collaborating since 2015.
Instagram: @tszkam_art
@natpowertat