Paula Tin Nyo, founder & CEO of Yone Arts (www.yonearts.com ) is pleased to announce the U.S. premiere of censored artwork from her native country of Myanmar during Art Basel Week in Miami. This groundbreaking body of artwork by Southeast Asian Myanmar artists has never been seen outside of Myanmar. It represents the finest contemporary art of the country of Myanmar, which has skyrocketed into the international limelight since 2012, when its 40 year military regime stepped down from power.
“I am elated to bridge the divide between the remarkable vision and stories of my homeland after so many years of isolation and the rest of the world,” remarked Tin Nyo.
This group show represents the first sizeable shipment of contemporary artwork since U.S. trade sanctions were suspended in 2012 from the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). Obama’s post-inaugural visit to Myanmar put it on the map and it is currently considered the hottest emerging market in the world.
Tin Nyo has made many trips back to her country to personally select artists and curate art for this monumental groundbreaking premiere in America during Basel Week. She will be showcasing a diverse group of talented artists and their work that includes both paintings and photography. They include Zay Yar Aye, Sandar Khine (SDK), Min Zaw, Nge Lay and Soe Naing.
Paula Tin Nyo’s personal story on how Yone Arts came to fruition is quite fascinating. It is like a page out of the best selling book, “Eat, Pray, Love”. On her first visit to home soil, Paula was at Inle Lake, a famous Myanmar agricultural site known for its one-legged rowers and many monasteries. She found herself at a pillared temple gate with the customary symbol of Myanmar, the elegant and proud peacock on one side, but mysteriously, the symbol of the humble rabbit on the other. This intrigued her, especially since she was born in the year of the rabbit. A monk at the neighborhood tea shop revealed the yin yang of these symbols: “Both the rabbit and the peacock are symbols of Myanmar. The peacock is like the sun; it shows itself more readily. The rabbit is like the moon, it remains in the darkness, but shines from the reflected light. Both are necessary.”
The next day, Paula went to the Inle Market and bought some silk. Over the customary ye nwe xian (Myanmar green tea) and peanuts with their red skins still on, Paula exchanged some brief words about her journey home and her family to the silk merchant. This weathered man said he had met her grandfather, Edward Law Yone, Editor-in-Chief and publisher of the influential post-colonial newspaper The Nation. The merchant carefully wrote some curvilinear Myanmar characters on a scrap of recycled paper and handed it to her. “You should come here and do business. Call it Yone. It will be a success.”
Paula looked at the paper and asked him what it meant. Yone, he explained meant different things depending on the pronunciation, writing and context. Yone means “Office or Bureau.” It also means “Rabbit.” And if it is combined with other words, it means, “I believe you” and “You believe me.” So it was that, on the advice of a lotus silk merchant, Yone Arts was spun into the business of bringing hidden treasures to light.
The first U.S. unveiling of Yone Arts will be Saturday, December 7 from 1-4pm at a private penthouse in the sky at the Portofino Towers building at 300 South Pointe Drive in South Beach by invitation only. The event will be co-hosted by Yone Arts founder, Paula Tin Nyo, and Diane and Jessica Lieberman of South Beach International Realty. It will be a true celebration of freedom of expression in this private invitation only exhibition of previously censored artwork from Myanmar.
Yone Arts artwork will be on public display as an invited participant of Art Stage Singapore, the leading art fair in Southeast Asia from January 16-19, 2014. But for now the first ‘sneak peek’ will be in Miami during Art Basel Week.
Additionally, Paula Tin Nyo will be speaking about Yone Arts and the journey that brought together her groundbreaking group of artists from the emerging country of Myanmar at a Yale sponsored Symposium during Basel Week on Friday, December 6 from 2-6 PM at the Ritz-Carlton, South Beach.
This link below provides details and ticket information: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/get-your-art-on-2013-the-aya-at-art-basel-miami-tickets-9164801167?aff=es2