Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle

The New Gallery, with support from the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts and the Department of Art + Design, is pleased to present “Valery Jung Estabrook: Three American Bodies” to continue an exciting 2018-19 exhibition season.

Estabrook is a multidisciplinary installation artist whose works explore the intersections of culture, identity and technology. She seeks to push the boundaries of how we interact with and perceive time-based artwork by using unexpected approaches and materials. Often installed as themed tableaus, her work is intended to be experienced through various sensate strategies by asking the audience to not simply “view” but to also touch and feel.



“With this year’s exhibition schedule, I have been bringing in artists that explore the notion of identity through their respective cultural lenses,” Michael Dickins, director of The New Gallery, said. “‘Three American Bodies’ is an exhibition of works by Korean-American artist Valery Jung Estabrook that look at assimilation of culture as viewed through the lens of a biracial Korean-American artist who was born and raised in the American South. Since childhood, she has straddled both cultures making it often difficult to fit into either. It is my hope, as with the artist’s intent, that this exhibition will invite conversations regarding race, alienation and assimilation by challenging the notions of traditional Southerness and American culture.”



Estabrook was born in Plantation, Florida, and grew up on an organic Asian pear farm in rural southwestern Virginia. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including New York, Los Angeles, Lagos, Bilbao and Melbourne. In 2018 she received the Gold AHL-T&W Foundation Contemporary Visual Art Award, an annual award recognizing artists of Korean heritage in the United States.



She holds an MFA in painting from Brooklyn College and a BA in visual art from Brown University. She works and resides in New Mexico.



The exhibit opens Monday, Nov. 5, at The New Gallery in the Art + Design building on the campus of Austin Peay State University and runs through Dec. 5. Estabrook will give a public lecture on her work at 6 p.m. Nov. 5 in Heydel Hall in the Art + Design building. There will be a reception the following day from noon-1 p.m., with a gallery talk with Estabrook beginning at 12:30. All events are free and open to the public.

For more on Estabrook and her work, visit valeryestabrook.com.

Hours for The New Gallery are 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday- Friday, closed on weekends and holidays and follows the university’s academic calendar. For more information on this exhibition, which is free and open to the public, contact Dickins at dickinsm@apsu.edu.