Pauline Lim - Art & Music
I grew up in a small town in Iowa and was one of the few Asian people in a predominantly blond, Scandinavian population, which was a painful and isolating experience. I took refuge in my imagination and had steely ambition to get the hell out of there. My parents were refugees during the Korean War and wanted me to be a Nobel-Prize-winning doctor. I managed to get into Harvard, but then I majored in studio art, which devastated my parents, so I’ve always felt sheepish that I wasn’t some successful superstar. I could never live up to their expectations, so I compensate by creating as fast and constantly as I can.
My parents instilled in me an awareness of the precariousness of life. I am always freaking out about the fact that we all have to die, so a lot of my paintings have to do with the frustration of being trapped in a mortal existence. The increasing aches and pains of aging underscore this dilemma to me every day, and make me seek out color and beauty, as well as the relief of laughter alongside the recognition of despair.
Lately I have been obsessed with Old Master paintings, so I’ll start on a painting with the intention of emulating Holbein or Vermeer, but then I get dissatisfied with the overall effect—“this looks like bad hotel art!”— and start adding three-dimensional items to the surface. Mosaic techniques satisfy my compulsion to always be busy. I try to pick activities that are fun, restful or refreshing, and that also satisfy my need to always be productive, a byproduct of my driven, expectation-laden upbringing.
In my work I started off exploring the themes of dreams and illness. Then I was drawn to Medieval and Renaissance images of saints. I also like playing with scale-- giant cat heads on human bodies, or tiny humans intermingled with items on a tabletop landscape. Basically, I just create paintings that make me want to go on living—that recognize the truth and folly of our existence, that are visually stimulating, hopefully gorgeous, possibly funny.
Artist's Statement
Résumé
Date of Birth: November 3, 1966
Place of Birth: Clarinda, Iowa
Education:
1984 Graduated cum laude from Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts.
1988 A.B. magna cum laude from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, with a degree in Visual and Environmental Studies (emphasis on painting). Studied under Carole Bolsey, Christopher James, Alfred DeCredico, Toshi Katayama, Joseph Masheck.
Honors and Awards:
2022 Outstanding Artist Award, Center for Arts at the Armory, Somerville, MA
2019 Somerville Arts Council Artist Fellowship, Visual Arts.
2014 Selected artist, Neighborhood Art Exhibition Program, Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC), 300 Summer Street, Boston
2014 Invited Master of Ceremonies, Mayoral Inauguration for the Hon. Joseph Curtatone, City of Somerville, MA
2013 Selected artist, StreetPianos Boston Festival, organized by the Celebrity Series of Boston.
2013 Selected artist, Phone Art Box project, sponsored by Nave Gallery, Somerville, MA.
2012 Invited artist, TEDxSomerville Conference.
2011 Somerville Arts Council Artist Fellowship, Visual Arts.
2009 Invited artist/ambassador to City of Somerville’s sister city of Tiznit, Morocco.
2009 Project grant from the Somerville Arts Council, local chapter of Massachusetts Cultural Council, for Zefiro early-music concert in conjunction with “HOLY”, an art show I curated in the Brickbottom Gallery.
2008 Invited artist, New England Biolabs, Ipswich, MA, organized by ArtFocus.
2008 Invited artist, Cell Signalling Technologies, Danvers, MA, organized by ArtFocus.
2007 President, Brickbottom Artists Association, Somerville, MA.
2007 Massachusetts Cultural Council Organizational Support Award 2008 for the Brickbottom Artists Association. As President of the BAA, I wrote and obtained this grant.
2006 Artist of the Month, ARTSomerville.
2001 Artist in Residence, Kalani Oceanside Retreat, Pahoa, Hawaii.
2000 Provincetown Art Association National Juried Exhibition Finalist.
2000 Cover artist, Boston Music Awards compilation CD.
1995 Somerville Arts Council Artist Fellowhip, New Music Composition.
1994 New England Foundation/National Endowment for the Arts Regional Fellowship Finalist.
1993 Somerville Arts Council Artist Fellowship, Painting.
1991 Soho International Art Competition Prizewinner, Ariel Gallery, New York City.
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2022 “Travels in My Armchair”, solo exhibit at the Cahoon Museum of American Art, Cotuit, MA.
2021 Solo exhibition at Arts at the Armory Café, Center for the Arts at the Armory, Somerville, MA
2020 Solo exhibition at Arts at the Armory Café, Center for the Arts at the Armory, Somerville, MA
2014 “Why Can’t It Last Forever?" 25 paintings at Athan’s Café Art Gallery, Brighton, MA.
2013 Solo exhibition at Somerville Community Access Television, Somerville, MA.
2008 Solo exhibition at the BAAK Gallery, Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA.
2007 Solo exhibition at Wu Chon House, Union Square Somerville, part of the Windows Art Project sponsored by the Somerville Arts Council.
2001 Nemasket Gallery, Fairhaven, MA.
2001 Populated World, Cape Cod Conservatory of Music and Arts, W. Barnstable, MA.
2000 Tristan Gallery, Provincetown, MA.
2000 Impotence Pill and Other New Works, Newton Free Library, Newton, MA.
1999 The Time I Dreamt in Full Color, Gallery G, presented by Cynthia Glacy, Somerville, MA.
1996 Skybabies and Other Paintings, 29 Newbury St., presented by Brian Patrick Adams, Boston, MA.
1995 The Homesick Paintings, 29 Newbury Street, presented by Brian Patrick Adams, Boston, MA.
1995 The Emerging Collector, New York City.
1995 Ricochet, New York City.
1994 29 Newbury St., presented by Gallery Per Tutti, Boston, MA.
1993 Thirteen New Paintings, at Somerville Community Access Television, Somerville, MA. Supported in part by a grant from the Somerville Arts Council, Massachusetts Cultural Council, and National Endowment for the Arts.
1993 Songs for the Guilty, Gallery Per Tutti, Boston, MA.
1992 Dreams, Dramas and Dodos, Galerie Mondiale, Concord, MA.
1991 Somerville Community Access Television, Somerville, MA.
Group Exhibitions:
2023 Inspiring Change for the Climate Crisis @ Brickbottom, curated by Adriana Prat, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA.
2022-3 SHOW US YOUR ART! Till Wave Art Gallery, Watertown, MA.
2022 Dark Tales, Familiars and Objects of Divination, curated by Boriana Kantcheva, Inside-Out Gallery, Somerville, MA.
2022 Emerging from Refuge, curated by Karen Smigliani, Arthaus Gallery Allston, MA.
2022 Nature in a Balance, curated by Kristina Goransson, Arlington Center for the Arts, Arlington, MA.
2021 Re-Emergence: Awakening the Artist Within, TILL Wave Art Gallery, Watertown, MA.
2020 Guess Who? TILL Wave Art Gallery, Watertown, MA.
2019 Art and Soul, Inside-Out Gallery, Somerville, MA.
2019 Peace in Her Time: Visionary Women Against War and Violence, Honan-Allston Library Art Gallery, Allston, MA, curated by Susan Janowsky.
2019 ARTchitecture: The Art of Buildings and Buildings as Art, Howe Creative Studio and Gallery, Medford, MA, curated by Christopher Howe.
2019 Aeronaut Brewing Company, Somerville, MA.
2018 What’s So Funny?, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA, curated by Zachary Katz.
2018 Fairy Tale/Scary Tale, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA, curated by Pauline Lim.
2018 Wellness: Art for Physical and Emotional Healing, Wedeman Gallery, Lasell College, Yamawaki Art and Cultural Center, Newton, MA
2018 Wicked Strange: Art Oddities from the New England Imagination, Brookline Arts Center, Brookline, MA, juried by Brian Goslow.
2018 Stranger Times, Living in a World of the Upside Down, Inside-Out Gallery, Davis Square, Somerville, MA, curated by Martha Friend
2016 Bricks at the Mill: Brickbottom Artists at the Old Schwamb Mill, Arlington, MA.
2016 Freedom, Honan-Allston Library Art Gallery, Boston, MA.
2016 Gravity, Brookline Arts Center, MA.
2016 Temptation of the Mind and Body, Harvard Education Portal, Boston, MA, curated by John Quatrale.
2016 Wish You Were Here, Inside Out Gallery, Somerville, MA.
2016 Boston Biennial juried exhibition.
2015 Olympic Spirit, Boston City Hall.
2015 Images of Grief and Healing, Chandler Gallery, Maud Morgan Arts Center, Cambridge, MA.
2015 Healthful, Honan-Allston Library Art Gallery, Boston, MA, curated by John Quatrale.
2014 Strange Days: The Uncanny, the Curious, and the Quite Possibly Magical, Lamont Gallery, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH.
2014 Anxiety and Relief in the 21st Century, Brickbottom Gallery, curated by Pauline Lim and Joanne Desmond.
2014 Song Cycles, Honan-Allston Library Art Gallery, curated by Julia Ryan.
2013 Doodle, Nave Gallery Annex, juried show.
2013 Entering Somerville, Nave Gallery Annex, juried show.
2013 Phantomaton, Nave Gallery Annex, juried show.
2011 Morocco: Sister City Visions, an art exchange with artists from Somerville's sister city, Tiznit, Morocco, organized and curated by Cynthia Maurice and Pauline Lim, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA.
2011 Group exhibit, The Emporium, Wellfleet, MA.
2010 What is BIG? Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA.
2010 Group exhibit, BAAK Gallery, Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA.
2009-10 Holy, exhibit curated by Pauline Lim, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA.
2009 Somatic Mirror II, Brickbottom Gallery, curated by Peter John Marquez.
2008 Point of View: Women Creating, Higgins Art Gallery, Cape Cod Community College, Barnstable, MA.
2008 FIRE, exhibit curated by Pauline Lim, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA.
2007 Gallery Penumbra, Rocky Neck Art Colony, Gloucester, MA.
2007 BAAK Gallery, Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA.
2007 Windows Art Project, juried exhibit, Somerville, MA.
2006 Colors Notebook Project, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France.
2006 Windows Art Project, juried exhibit, Somerville, MA.
2006-7 Tristan Gallery, Provincetown, MA.
2006 Under the Influence: SCIENCE, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA.
2005-7 J&W Gallery, New Hope, PA, in conjunction with Tristan Gallery, Provincetown, MA.
2005 Three-person show, Tristan Gallery, Provincetown, MA.
2004 Gallery 263, Cambridge, MA.
2004 PLAY, Nave Gallery, Somerville, MA.
2004 Four-person show, Tristan Gallery, Provincetown, MA.
2004 Under the Influence: TRAVEL, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA.
2003-4 The Gallery, Vineyard Haven, Martha's Vineyard, MA.
2003 Multicultural Art Exhibit, Cape Cod Community College, West Barnstable, MA.
2002 Small Works: Harry Folsom & Pauline Lim, Space 12 Gallery, Boston, MA.
2002 Three-person exhibit, Tristan Gallery, Provincetown, MA.
2001 Three-person exhibit, Tristan Gallery, Provincetown, MA.
2001 Femmes, Fire Patrol No. 5, Harlem, NYC.
1999 21/31 Dianna, Tristan Gallery, Provincetown, MA.
1998 Current, The G Lounge, Boston, MA.
1998 Diana Fever, The Emerging Collector, New York City.
1997 East Meets West, The Emerging Collector, New York City.
1997 Paintings/Stories, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA.
1996 Track 5 at Brickbottom, Somerville, MA.
1996 The Emerging Collector, New York City.
1995 Icons and Altarpieces, New Art Center Galleries, Newton, MA.
1995 The Perrin Gallery, Brookline, MA.
1995 Group exhibit in Potsdam, Germany, sponsored by the Emerging Collector, New York City.
1995 Windows Art Project, presented by the Somerville Arts Council and the City of Somerville.
1995 Kroma Gallery, Salem, MA.
1994 Icons and Altarpieces, New Art Center Galleries, Newton, MA.
1994 The Studio Show, juried exhibit, Boston Center for the Arts.
1994 Van Ward Gallery, Ogunquit, ME.
1991-4 The Emerging Collector, New York City.
1993 26: An Exhibition of Recent Grant Winners in the Visual Arts, sponsored by the Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA.
1993 Somerville Museum, Somerville, MA, juried exhibit of contemporary art.
1993 Tales of Love and Lost, The Open Gallery, Cambridge, MA. I was a co-curator of this show.
1993 Mirror, Mirror, The Artists Foundation, Boston, MA.
1993 Staged, Perrin Gallery, Brookline, MA.
1993 Toucan Gallery, Cambridge, MA.
1992 House on Fire, Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA. I created a sound environment as well as paintings for the show.
1992 X-Art, sponsored by the Freedom Festival, Mu Gallery, Boston, MA
1991 Ancien Musée des Automates, Paris, France.
1991 Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, Cambridge, MA.
1991-3 DeHavilland Fine Art, Newbury Street, Boston, MA.
1991-3 The Open Gallery, Cambridge, MA.
1991-2 Gallery Per Tutti, Boston, MA.
1991-2 Galerie Mondiale, Concord, MA.
1991-2 Toucan Gallery, Cambridge, MA.
1991 The Gallery at 102 Watts Street, Brookline, MA.
1990 Enrico Donati Gallery, Newburyport, MA.
1989 The Visual Object of Desire, the Artists Foundation, Boston.
1988 Senior project exhibit, Carpenter Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
1987 Senior show, Adams House, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Print Media:
2014 “Creating As Fast As She Can”, Cloth Paper Scissors Studios Magazine, Fall 2014, p. 100-107.
2011 Featured on the front page of the “Lifestyle” secion of The Somerville Journal for the Geocaching Urban Shrines Project, November 25, 2011.
2010 Featured in Cambridge Day, August 25, 2010.
2005 Featured artist and cover artist, Middlesex Beat.
1995 Cover artist, The Electric Walleye magazine.
Radio/Television/Electronic Media:
2010 Feature about the City of Somerville, MA, Chronicle, channel 5 Boston.
2010 Featured in The Somerville Patch , November 8, 2010.
2010 Interviewed on TurningArt.com, July 21, 2010.
2006 Featured artist apt literary magazine, November 19 issue, http://apt.aforementionedproductions.com
2005 Featured artist, Sadie Mag
Private Collections:
Collectors of my work include Dr. Natasha Staller, Professor of Art History, Amherst College; Clarence Carter, painter and former director of the Works Progress Adminstration (WPA) art program; Nicholas Mitropoulos, Massachusetts State Arts Council and Executive Director of the Taubman Center, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; Brendan Fraser, Actor; Patrick Lyons of the Lyons Group, Boston nightclub entrepreneurs; Dr. Brian Seed, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Dr. Gary Ruvkun, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Prof. Dr. Reginald Birngruber, Munich, Germany
Notable Musical Performances, Vocal:
2014 Schola Cantorum of Boston, director Frederick Jodry: William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons - Madrigals and Verse Anthems, Boston and Providence, RI.
2013 Schola Cantorum of Boston, director Frederick Jodry: “The Night Before Christmas: Christmas from Olde and New England” with Musicians of the Old Post Road, Boston and Sudbury, MA.
2010 Zefiro, three concerts for the Society for Historically Informed Performance (SoHIP) in conjunction with the Boston Early Music Festival; Chapel at West Parish, Andover, MA; Emmanuel Church, Boston; St. Peter’s Church, Weston, MA.
2010 Schola Cantorum of Boston, director Frederick Jodry: Josquin de Pres “Missa Gaudeamus”, motets of Obrecht, Ockeghem, and Poulenc; in Boston, Providence, and Brookline, MA
2009 Schola Cantorum of Boston, director Frederick Jodry, 23rd Concert Season. Music by Byrd, Palestrina, Ockeghem. Boston, Providence, Hancock, NH, Bristol, RI, Weston, MA.
2009 Zefiro, “Victoria/Gesualdo: Light and Shadows”; Providence, RI, Chestnut Hill, MA, Somerville, MA.
2009 Zefiro, Taylor House Concert Series, Jamaica Plain, MA.
2009 Zefiro, three concerts for the Society for Historically Informed Performance (SoHIP) in conjunction with the Boston Early Music Festival; Chapel at West Parish, Andover, MA; Emmanuel Church, Boston; St. Peter’s Church, Weston, MA.
2009 Schola Cantorum of Boston, director Frederick Jodry, Josquin‘s “The Deploration for Ockeghem”, motets of Brumel, Compere and de la Rue; Boston, Providence.
2008 Schola Cantorum of Boston, director Frederick Jodry, works by Dufay, Josquin, Ockeghem; Boston, Providence, and Weston, MA.
2008 Passio ensemble, director Rebekah Westphal, concert of early music, Christ Church, New Haven, CT; S. Stephen’s Church, Providence, RI, Cathedral of St. Paul, Boston, MA.
2006 Schola of Boston, director Frederick Jodry, all-Josquin concert, Society of St. John the Baptist, Cambridge, MA; St. Joseph’s Church, Providence, RI
2006 Schola Cantorum of Boston, concert of early Spanish composers, Providence, RI
2006-7 Passio ensemble, director Rebekah Westphal, concert of early Tudor music, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT; St. Joseph’s Church, Providence, RI
2005 Passio ensemble, concert of early Tudor music, Christ Church, New Haven, CT; St. Joseph’s Church, Providence, RI
Performances under the pseudonym "Pauline Easy-Off":
1995 Solo multimedia performance at Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA featuring new paintings and a slide show set to my electronic music compositions. Supported in part by a music composition grant from the Somerville Arts Council, Massachusetts Cultural Council, and National Endowment for the Arts.
1995 "Jejune," an evening of music by John Zorn, performed by the Jejune Music Coalition, Berklee Performance Center, Boston, MA.
1994- Ongoing local performances approximately twice a month with ensemble, "Pauline Easy-Off", performing electronically amplified experimental and pop/rock music in area clubs.
1989 "An Evening of Music by John Zorn", Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.
1989 Group for New Music concert, Paine Hall, Harvard University. I performed my own compositions.
1988 Two concerts of music by John Cage that were part of the Norton Series retrospective of Cage's work, Sanders Theater, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Musical recordings:
2009-2010 “Marian Antiphons”, “Victoria/Gesualdo: Light and Shadows”, “The Spirit and The Flesh”, by Zefiro.
2006-2010 Various recordings with Schola Cantorum of Boston, Director Frederick Jodry.
2006 "The Angel and the Girl Are Met", Schola Cantorum of S. Stephen’s Church, Providence, RI. Director, James Busby.
2003 "Stephen Full of Grace", Schola Cantorum of S. Stephen’s Church, Providence, RI. Director, James Busby.
1994 "Girl", compilation of songs by female recording artists, released by Curve of the Earth Records.
1993 "Beanstalk to Nowhere", a full-length album.
1993 "Pauline Easy-Off", a six-song EP.
1992 "Real-Life Problems", a full-length album.
1992 "Nurses and Parachutes", a music video.
1992 "House on Fire", a sound environment to accompany the exhibit of the same name at the Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA.