Up to 45 participants on site, and no limitation to join on Zoom.

Join Fou Gallery and The Serica Initiative for an evening of layered storytelling and introspective dialogue as we explore the complexities of identity through literature and visual art. Writer Daniel Tam-Claiborne will share insights from his debut novel Transplants, a cross-generational story following two women’s parallel journeys of self-discovery across borders. Japanese artist Naomi Okubo, known for her psychologically charged paintings examining themes of identity, beauty, and self-concealment, will speak about the personal narratives embedded in her practice. 

In conversation with a moderator the two artists will reflect on cultural displacement, personal reinvention, and the many ways identity is constructed, masked, and revealed. This will be filmed and recorded for online promotions. The evening will include a guided walkthrough of the exhibition led by Lu Solano, curator of Okubo’s solo exhibition Resonance on a Surface at Fou Gallery.

Transplants: A harrowing and poignant novel following two young women in pursuit of kinship and self-discovery who yearn to survive in a world that doesn’t know where either of them belong. On a university campus in rural Qixian, Lin and Liz make an improbable pair: Lin, a Chinese student closer to her menagerie of pets than to her peers, and Liz, a Chinese American teacher grieving her mother’s sudden death. They’re each met with hostility—Lin by her classmates, who mock her for dating a white foreigner; Liz by her fellow English teachers, who exploit their privilege—and forge an unlikely friendship. After a startling betrayal that results in Lin’s expulsion, they swap places. Lin becomes convinced to pursue her degree at a community college near Liz’s Ohio hometown, while Liz searches for answers as to what drove her parents to leave China before she was born. But when a global catastrophe deepens the fissures between modern-day China and an increasingly fractured United States, Lin and Liz—far from home and estranged from themselves—are forced to confront both the familiar and the strange in each other.

Resonance on a Surface: The solo exhibition by Japanese artist Naomi Okubo continues Okubo’s exploration of home, intimacy, solitude, and escapism through intricately composed visuals. Okubo’s practice explores alternative ways of living that slow down the pace of global culture. Okubo’s process begins with digital collages that incorporate photography, drawing, and found imagery. Drawing from architecture, interior design, fashion, and art history to textiles, scientific diagrams, and decorative patterns, she constructs richly layered compositions that blend elements of Japanese culture with Western motifs.

*This event is made possible by the generous support of Teasthetic and AccentSisters.

Writer: Daniel Tam-Claiborne is a multiracial author, multimedia producer, and nonprofit director. He serves as Deputy Director at The Serica Initiative as well as a producer for two public media initiatives at WNET, America’s flagship PBS station. His debut novel, Transplants (Simon & Schuster, 2025), was a finalist for the 2023 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Daniel has spent over five years living and working in Greater China and is an outspoken advocate for Asian American issues and increased global understanding through education, cultural exchange, storytelling, and effective philanthropy. He holds degrees from Oberlin College, Yale University, and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

Artist: Naomi Okubo

Curator: Lu Solano

$45

As summer finally arrives, we welcome the eighth of the 24 Solar Terms—Xiaoman (the beginning of summer)—on May 21st. To celebrate the season, Fou Gallery is delighted to invite chef Yuezhou Zhu to curate a special afternoon tea and dessert journey featuring seasonal herbs and fruits.

For this exclusive menu, Yuezhou Zhu thoughtfully blends Asian-origin ingredients such as rhubarb and green tea with southern Mediterranean flavors like blood orange, incorporating them into French- and Japanese-style desserts. This menu features a seasonal selection that blends Asian flavors with classic French culinary techniques. The matcha canelés, crème fraîche with blood orange jelly, and rhubarb mini tart showcase fruits and vegetables currently in season, offering a vibrant and refreshing taste. Each dessert highlights a thoughtful balance of textures from crunchy to creamy, and flavors that evolve from sweet and tangy to a subtle hint of bitterness. Complementing the experience, the selected beverages draw inspiration from traditional Chinese herbal teas—a time honored practice in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, and Macau— designed to dispel internal humidity and heat. Much like artist NISKY, who finds inspiration in Surrealist painter Max Ernst, traditional Chinese landscape painting, and European Renaissance art in his painting Midsummer Darling, chef Yuezhou Zhu crafts a fusion menu that harmonizes Asian ingredients with European culinary techniques. This special event embodies a shared artistic and cultural dialogue, transcending both time and tradition.

Guests are invited to explore the exhibition, engage with the artworks alongside curator Yifu Liu, and savor the thoughtfully prepared small plates and beverages.

Chef

Yuezhou Zhu  is a professional pastry chef with a degree in Baking and Pastry arts from the Culinary Institute of America. She has gained extensive experience working as a pastry cook for Sankara Hospitality Group in Tarrytown, New York, and Union League Cafe in New Haven, Connecticut. Yuezhou later served as the pastry chef at Blanko Cafe in Beijing, where she led the pastry program and further refined her craft.

Curator

Yifu Liu is an art historian and curator. He is a PhD candidate in Art and Archaeology at Princeton University, and Anne L. Poulet Curatorial Fellow at The Frick Collection. His research focuses on the cultural exchange and hybridization of artistic practices between Europe and China in the 18th century. He was the doctoral fellow at the Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History at Boston College, and he worked in the curatorial and education departments of the Morgan Library and Museum (New York), Brooklyn Museum (New York), and Princeton University Art Museum (New Jersey). He also gained curatorial experiences by working in a number of art institutions in China, including M Woods Museum (Chengdu) and Museum of Contemporary Art (Yinchuan) and Today Art Museum (Beijing). Currently, he is preparing for an upcoming exhibition at the newly renovated Frick space in 2026, and organizing the annual art history symposium in collaboration with the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University in 2025.

Payment and Cancellation Policy

At Fou Gallery, we are dedicated to offering meaningful and enriching experiences through our courses. Due to the intimate nature of our programs and the detailed planning required with our instructors, we kindly ask for your understanding of our non-refundable policy. Once registered for a course, all payments are final and cannot be refunded.

Event Photos

Up to 45 People

$25 (light food and drinks included)

Fou Gallery is delighted to host “COSMISM: An Union of Spirits” - a sonic journey organized by experimental composers Chamberlain Zhang. This immersive performance bridges music and visual art, creating a dynamic interplay between sound and Il paradiso non finito, the current solo exhibition at Fou Gallery featuring artist NISKI.

By weaving together architecture, sound, and improvisation, the musicians ( Haku, Finn, mlee and Red Lunch) will perform as an ensemble and invite audiences into a transformative listening experience—one that transcends physical and perceptual boundaries. Their performance is a parallel vision  of improvisation and composition, and responds with the themes of the exhibition, extending its surrealistic qualities into the realm of sound.

Curated by Chamberlain Zhang, COSMISM is a monthly performance series initiated by China Institute Next Gen x Serica (CINGS). Dedicated to fostering emerging artists with Asian heritage in New York and beyond, COSMISM serves as an evolving social experiment—cultivating a communal space where music, art, and collective transformation converge. Fou Gallery is proud to support this initiative, reinforcing its commitment to nurturing cross-disciplinary dialogue and amplifying the voices of Asian artists.

Musicians

Many Ohms is a union of resonating musical spirits. What begins as improvisation becomes structure; what begins as noises becomes meaningful frequencies. Each performance unfolds as a sonic ritual, where repetition becomes trance, and silence becomes offering.

Haku is a ukulele lover and soul singer, walking the path of awareness, observation, healing, and gratitude. A practicing medicine musician and versatile multi-instrumentalist, his sound is rooted in deep presence—offering space for reflection and connection, within and without. His expression unfolds as a journey, inviting deep meditation, introspection, and grounding relaxation. 

Finn is a sonic-sculpting project by Yining Fu that focuses on storytelling. Their practice involves melodic narratives through synths, piano, and spontaneous exploration. Amalgamating elements from ambient textures, jazz sensibilities, glitch aesthetics, and pop structures, Finn constructs emotional architectures — immersive worlds filled with pulsating buildings. Their improvisational approach fluctuates between composition and intuition, fleeting, whimsical, yet cohesive. Within the project, Finn grounds the collective between harmony and tension, a reflective counterpoint that invites listeners inward.

mlee is a multidisciplinary spectralist who sculpts airwaves at the intersection of art and technology. A saccharine synthesist at heart, mlee cooks with raw waveforms to carefully put together new nonexistent sounds that blend emergent materiality with movement.

Red Lunch is an experimental, performance-driven music maker unbound by genre or artistic discipline. In this project, Red puts forth original field recordings, synthesized designs, and rhythms to support the sonic styles of the group. Always interdisciplinary and collaborative, Red reaches for the obscure in the mundane, the grounded in the groundless, disregarding conventions, but embracing sonic and personal union with the band and the audience alike.

Payment and Cancellation Policy

At Fou Gallery, we are dedicated to offering meaningful and enriching experiences through our courses. Due to the intimate nature of our programs and the detailed planning required with our instructors, we kindly ask for your understanding of our non-refundable policy. Once registered for a course, all payments are final and cannot be refunded.

Fou Gallery and Teasthetic are delighted to co-host a special Lunar New Year event, inviting participants to explore and honor the rich cultural traditions that mark this auspicious time. This thoughtfully curated program combines the elegance of a tea ceremony with the artistry of Chinese calligraphy, creating a meaningful and enriching experience for all attendees.

Chinese Tea Ceremony: The Chinese tea ceremony, deeply rooted in tradition, represents harmony, respect, and tranquility. During the Lunar New Year, it is a cherished ritual that fosters connection and gratitude while symbolizing wishes for peace and prosperity in the year to come. Participants will experience the meticulous preparation of premium teas, savor handcrafted tea snacks and the contemplative spirit that accompanies this practice.

Calligraphy Workshop: Writing chunlian (春联), or New Year couplets, is a longstanding tradition rooted in the desire to invite blessings, happiness, and prosperity into the home. These poetic phrases are typically displayed around doorways during the Lunar New Year. Participants will also write the character 福 (meaning “blessing” or “good fortune”), another cherished practice that symbolizes the hope for a prosperous year. Many families hang the 福 character upside down to signify the arrival of blessings (福到). Guided by an experienced calligrapher, attendees will learn the culture, techniques and meanings behind these traditional writings.

New Year Gift Set: To commemorate the occasion, each participant will receive an exclusive Lunar New Year gift set, valued at $25, featuring premium loose tea and a specially selected seasonal keepsake.

Lunar New Year Celebration at Fou Gallery and Teasthetic, photograph by Jackie Zhang

Instructor

Mengyan Gong is a tea artist, pursued in-depth studies of Chinese tea culture after earning her Ph.D. from Tsinghua University in 2015, apprenticing under the highly innovative tea master Li Shuyun. Mengyan has collaborated with arts and culture institutions in New York to host numerous tea gatherings and educational events. In 2023, she founded the Teasthetic Studio (instagram: @teasthetic.life), with a mission to spread the tradition of Chinese tea art and culture in a modern and innovative manner by drawing inspiration from contemporary life and art.