My Profile

Chaw Ei Thein’s Profile

I was born in 1969 in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma). I graduated with LL.B (Law) in 1994. I has started art at an early age through I had received numerous national and international art prizes and awards. My father is an artist and art teacher Pathein Maung Maung Thein. He is my art teacher and mentor. My artistic practices are diverse and I am working as a painter and a performance artist. I profile my personal life and socio-political views in my artworks.

Over the years I have lectured and exhibited extensively, participating in numerous international performance art festivals. I exhibited "September Sweetness", in collaboration with Richard Streitmatter-Tran, at Singapore Biennale 2008 and gave talk "The Burmese Performance Art Scene: Faced by Burmese Artists" at the Asia House Gallery, London, in 2007. I has been selected for several awards and residencies in the United States, including Asian Cultural Council fellowship in New York from 2009 to 2010 and Art Omi, the Gardarev Center Fellow, and the Sea Change Residency, GAEA Foundation. In 2016 I received AIT (Art Initiative Tokyo) fellowship in Tokyo, Japan.

I have been given artist presentations at several universities and institutions including School of the Art Institute Chicago (SAIC), Massachusetts College of Art, Brown University, Princeton University, New School, Northern Illinois University at DeKalb (NIU), University of Minnesota, and the Open Society Institute (OSI) in New York.

My work has been covered in the international arts press including Sculpture Now (2013), Asia Art Now (2012), Artforum, Art Asia Pacific, Yishu, C-Arts, The New York Times, Washington Post and The Straits Times.

I was also co-founder and Director of the Sunflower Art Gallery in Yangon, Myanmar. In this capacity I have developed several initiatives including the organizing of art exhibitions and fairs including special exhibitions for children’s art in Myanmar and Cambodia, and for psychiatric patients since 1994. I had been teaching art to children for more than 15 years and served as Editor for a youth magazine in Yangon.

I received “Finalist of 2017 Joseph Balestier Award for the Freedom of Art”.

Myanmar Director Min Min Hein created Documentary (short) film “LISTEN” about me, Chaw Ei Thein, and released film in 2017.

In 2021 I co-founded “Association for Myanmar Contemporary Arts (AMCA) organization with other fellow Myanmar Artists and friends in New York.

I am a co-founder of STUDIO MUDRA gallery in Santa Fe. In 2023 I became a member of Santa Fe Society of Artists.

Solo Exhibitions

2023                       Wanted: form & concept, Snata Fe, NM, USA

2008                       In this Dark and Closed Space, Balance Art Gallery, Chiang Mai, Thailand

2005                       Dream Weaver, Espace Gallery, SEAMEO SPAFA, Bangkok, Thailand

2004                       Tokyo, Japan

Select Exhibitions

2023                       Die Fliege is a fly in volo: AR/GE Kunst, Italy

2023                       The After Hope: Videos of Resistance: Peabody Essex Museum

2022                       Non-Anonymous Men and Women, Japan-USA-Gerymany

2021                       Body Response: FD13 Residency, Dreamsong Gallery, Minneapolis , MN, USA

2021                       Myanmar Voices: We are Still Here, Karin Weber Gallery, Hong Kong

2021                       Myanmar: NOT OK!!, Requiem for Justice by Action for Hope ASBL, Belgium

2021                       Burma Pavilion, curated by Ruggero Maggi, Italy

2021                       Voices from Burma: Poets of NO Name, Asia Society, New York, USA

2020                       After Hope, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA

2020                       Stealing Public Space, the Substation Gallery, Singapore

2019                       Concept, Context, Contestation (CCC) Yangon, SEA Contemporary Art in Myanmar

2018                       Tokyo A La Carte, The Backers Foundation and AIT, Tokyo, Japan

2018                       Seven Decades, Yangon, Myanmar

2018                       4th Mardin Biennial, Marcin, Turkey

2017                       Voices of Transition, London, UK

2016                       Body Luggage, Steirischer Herbst festival, Graz, Austria

2016                       Healing and Loving, Yamamoto Gendai Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2015                       Building Histories, Goethe Institute, Yangon, Myanmar

2015                       My Country, Asia Week New York presented by Shalini Ganandra Fine Art, NY

2013                       Works on Paper 2013: Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art & Ginza Space Atte., Tokyo

2011                       ARTLIVE2011, CATM Chelsea Gallery, New York

2010                       Stories Out of Burma: with artist Htein Lin, Thavibu Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand

2010                       Public Consumption: Puffin Room, Soho, New York

2008                       Wonder: Singapore Bienniale 2008, Singapore

2006-2007            Hermes' Ear exhibition: Nitrianska gallery, Nitra, Slovakia & Budapest, Hungary

2002                       Myanmar Contemporary Artists’ Nude Art Exhibition: Beikthanoe Gallery

1999                       98’ Modern Art Group Show: Yangon, Myanmar

2000                       Neo Modern Art Exhibition: Yangon, Myanmar

1995, 2000           Annual Group Art Exhibition: Gangaw Village, Lawkanat Gallery, Yangon, Myanmar

Select Performances

2021                       The 6th SIPA International Performance Art, Philippines

2020                       ZERO PLATFORM “21st Century of Performance Art Role”, Yangon, Myanmar

2018                       WOMYN NOW, Performance Art Show, Turning Tables Myanmar

2016                       Healing and Loving, Solo Performance, Yamamoto Gendai, Tokyo, Japan

2015                       PF QUINQ: IN MULTIPLICITY AND FLEXIBILITY, Grace Exhibition Space, Brooklyn, NY

2014                       Need: Solo Performance, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, NY

2014                       Solo Performance, for Get on the Bus, by Amnesty International (USA) Cooper Union, New York

2013                       Duet Performance with Lee Wen, Design Cloud, Chicago

2012                       Rapid Pulse International Performance Festival, Chicago

2011                       WEs, Solo Performance, 11pm Series, Mobius, Boston

2011                       Infiltrate! Performance Art Festival:  Fountain Art Fair, New York

2010                       Being (T)here:  "Creative Panel Performance": Nuyorican Poet Café, New York

2010                       4Directions from Asia: Performance at Grace Exhibition Space, New York

2007                       8 Open International Performance Art Festival: Beijing, China (2008?)

2005                       7th Asiatopia, & First Southeast Asia Performance Art Symposium: Bangkok, Thailand

2005                       Test Motion Taiwan International Performance Art Festival: TipaLIVE. Taipei, Taiwan

2005                       Mobile  Gallery + Mobile Market Street Performance (with Htein Lin). Yangon

2004                       The 9th NIPAF Asian Performance Art Series. Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagoya, Nagano, Japan

Awards and Residencies

2021                       Finalist for the 2021 Gold Art Prize

2017                       Finalist, Joseph Balestier Award for Freedom of Expression, US Embassy, Singapore        

2016                       Fellowship. Art Initiative Tokyo (AIT), Tokyo, Japan

2012                       Award. Sea Change Residency, GAEA Foundation. Province Town, Massachusett.

2009-2010             Award. Asian Cultural Council (ACC), New York

Publications and Press

2023                       Pasatiempo Magazine (August 25, 2023), The Gifted Dissident by Brian Sandford

2016                       Body Luggage, Steirischer Herbst Festival by Zasha Colah

2013                       Sculpture Now, Thames & Hudson, World of Art

2010                       Asian Art Now. Melissa Chiu & Benjamin Genocchio (Page. 186)

2009                       Artforum (January 2009) Philip Tinari. 2008, Singapore Biennale

2008                       The Straits Times (Singapore) Mugilan Rjasegeran. The Sweet Taste of Art.

2007                       New York Times Jane Perlez. From a Burmese Prison, a Chronicle of Pain in Paint.

2004                       SPAFA Journal, Born to Paint: Chaw Ei Thein, Burmese Artist by Ean Lee