Tai Hwa Goh: Ebb and Flow

Press Release

New Jersey-based artist Tai Hwa Goh incorporates traditional printmaking techniques with hand-waxing to create a site-specific installation that resembles landscapes and biological forms. This exhibition is on view at the University Galleries from January 25 through March 4, 2016. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on January 31, February 21, and February 28 from noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free. An opening reception for the exhibition will be held on Sunday, January 31 from 2 to 4 p.m. 

Tai Hwa Goh experiments with traditional printmaking to push the boundaries of the medium and explore three-dimensional space. Her process begins with hand drawings, which she scans and manipulates in Photoshop. The digitally altered illustrations are then silk-screened onto hand-waxed paper. In the process of cutting, flipping and overlapping her prints, images are gradually transformed away from identifiable objects. By densely layering her imagery, she reflects on the accumulation of memory and experiences. Her images evolve upon close inspection from landscapes to biological forms that denote the penetrability and vulnerability of the human body. Working primarily with paper, Goh constructs tubes and pipes brimming with fluid-like stands of paper as a metaphor for the expiration of life. “I become the extension of nature and nature becomes the extension of my body,” she says. In the immersive installation on view at William Paterson, she responds to the architecture of the gallery space while reflecting on experiences of loss and absence. 

Tai Hwa Goh is a Korean-born artist who primarily works with printmaking and paper installation. Goh received a MFA degree at the University of Maryland in 2004 specializing in printmaking and sculpture. She also received a MFA in printmaking at Seoul National University (Korea) in 2000. Goh has participated in solo exhibitions and numerous group shows at numerous venues including IPCNY (NY), Carriage House, Islip Museum (NY), Flashpoint Gallery (DC), Gallery Aferro (NJ), AIR Gallery (NY), Arlington Arts Center (VA), and the Consular Office at Embassy of Korea (DC and NY). In fall 2016, she will have a solo exhibition at Wave Hill (Bronx, NY). She has been awarded grants and residencies from Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (NY), Evergreen Museum & Library (MD), Vermont Studio Center (NY), and Lower East Side Print Shop (NY). Her works are included in the collection of the DC City Hall, Lower East Side Print Shop, and University of Maryland. She teaches at Fairleigh Dickinson University (NJ) and the Northern New Jersey Art Center (NJ), and lives in Fort Lee, New Jersey. 

The exhibition is one of two on view concurrently in the University Galleries. The South and East Galleries features four photographers who utilize scientific research, conduct experimental studies, or embark on expeditions to capture the passage of time through changing landscapes, organic life cycles, or celestial activity in Traces of Time: Photographic Explorations of the Natural World. 

This exhibition is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. The William Paterson University Galleries are wheelchair-accessible. Large-print handouts are available. For accessible parking or other additional information, please call the Galleries at William Paterson University at 973-720-2654.