Joe Bun Keo: broken courage

Opening Reception: First Thursday, January 2nd, 5-8PM

Second Reception: First Thursday, February 6th, 5-8PM

Gallery Hours: By Appointment on Saturdays, 12-3 PM

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Specialist presents broken courage, new work by Joe Bun Keo.

“In a world overburdened with stuff, these objects give an object’s account of what it means to be in the world. It is an understanding of the world on the part of the commodity as a historical subject, rather than on behalf of humans.” – Joshua Simon, The Unreadymade from Neomaterialism

“…the Khmer term for trauma is ‘baksbat’; a broken body that leads to a broken spirit, broken courage” – Boreth Ly, on his book “Traces of Trauma”

broken courage features deceptively muted, autoethnographic, and punny new work that unpacks the intergenerational trauma of growing up in Predominantly White Middle Class Suburban America a child of Khmer Rouge survivors and Cambodian refugees. Materials used in the work range from traditional Khmer krama scarves to old wooden hat stands. These objects can exist in the past, present and future. We are subordinate to the commodity, the thing, the product. Healing and pain management are derived from sentimental value that resides within each item.

Joe Bun Keo (Khmer American, b.1987, Bristol, CT) received a BFA in Sculpture from the Hartford Art School in 2009 and an MFA in Visual Studies from Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2023. He had a solo exhibition at Real Art Ways (Hartford, CT). He also exhibited at RAINRAIN (New York, NY), Spazio ORR (Brescia, Italy) and Chert Ludde (Berlin, Germany). Joe Bun Keo is an art handler at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and The Cartin Collection. He lives and works in Connecticut. He’s very post-studio.