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Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College
87 North Main Street, Oberlin, OH 44074
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Shadows of Meaning, Echoes of Memory: Works from the Zirinsky Collection

January 31 - June 29, 2025
In Stern & Ripin Galleries

Shadows of Meaning, Echoes of Memory: Works from the Zirinsky Collection

January 31 - June 29, 2025
In Stern & Ripin Galleries

This spring, the Allen celebrates the many gifts to the museum from Oberlin College alumni Driek (OC 1965) and Michael (OC 1964) Zirinsky. Since 2010, their donations of contemporary art have expanded our capacity to tell varied stories and share differing perspectives, amplifying the voices of artists from many different communities both in the United States and abroad. Shadows of Meaning, Echoes of Memory is divided into two parts: one in the Stern West Gallery and the other in the Ripin Gallery.

In the Stern Gallery, the exhibition features works by Asian and Asian American artists that explore themes of history, memory, and identity, exemplified in Dinh Q. Lê’s Russian Roulette and Xiaoze Xie’s March 2002, P. P-G. Nearby, you will find works by Peng Hung-Chih, Xu Bing, and Haegue Yang, which further explore these themes while highlighting the complexities of how we record and transmit meaning.

In the Ripin Gallery, Laleh Khorramian, Tomiyuki Sakuta, and Haoyu Xu create abstract worlds where perception and imagination intermingle. Xu Bing, Zhang Yunling, and Zhi Lin revisit landscapes filtered through lenses of language, history, and cultural remembrance. Chul Soo Lee, Boonmee Sangkhum, and Wal Chirachaisakul present Buddhist-inflected meditations on mortality. Finally, Masao Yamamoto, Kyohei Sakaguchi, and Xiaoze Xie draw attention to forgotten things: photos kept in boxes, books on shelves, or even people.

Take your time to look closely—doing so can reveal the rich layers of these artists’ visions.


Images:
Chul Soo Lee (Korean, b. 1954). Falling Petals, 2011. Color woodcut. Gift of Driek (OC 1965) and Michael (OC 1964) Zirinsky, 2023.1.3.

Laleh Khorramian (American, born in Iran, 1974). Zoomscape: Gerard, 2nd Generation, 2003. Digital zoomscape and drawing. Gift of Driek (OC 1965) and Michael (OC 1964) Zirinsky, 2023.1.77.

Tomiyuki Sakuta (Sakuta Tomiyuki 作田富幸) (Japanese, b. 1960). Person 1, 2015-16. Intaglio and chine-collé. Gift of Driek (OC 1965) and Michael (OC 1964) Zirinsky, 2017.35.77.

Dinh Q. Lê (Vietnamese-American, 1968–2024). Russian Roulette, 2002. Cut-and-woven chromogenic color prints and linen tape. Gift of Driek (OC 1965) and Michael (OC1964) Zirinsky in honor of Ava and Bill Lavery, 2023.1.60.

Xu Bing (Xú Bīng 徐冰) (Chinese, b. 1955). Quotation from Chairman Mao, 2002. Ink on paper. Gift of Driek (OC 1965) and Michael (OC 1964) Zirinsky in honor of Andria Derstine, 2023.1.42.

Xiaoze Xie 谢晓泽 / 謝曉澤 (Chinese, b. 1966). March 2002, P. P-G, 2003. Oil on canvas. Gift of Driek (OC 1965) and Michael (OC 1964) Zirinsky in honor of Edith and Nahman Zirinsky, 2010.18.2.

Organized by

Kevin R. E. Greenwood

Joan L. Danforth Curator of Asian Art

With assistance from

Joanne Kim (OC 2026)

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