The current rage of coffe houses opening all over Manhattan, has inspired Ken Chu to create "Cafe Cure," an installation addressing the issues of long-term survival with HIV/AIDS. Using altered Ken dolls and acupuncture models, Chu focuses on the importance of including alternative health care with primary health care to lengthen the lives of people infected with HIV/AIDS.
"What is an All-American?" Ken Chu asks.
"Submerged in a diner filled with replicas of Twinkies, bacn, and Kool-Aid, cans of cheese and cartons from malt liquor are life-size photo-based images of Americans of color. These people will be portrayed as American icons, short order cooks, soda jerks, residents of a trailer past (with true-to-life reproduction of a trailer home) ranch hands, cheerleaders, et cetera. The following quote from Time magazine will be silk screened onto the plexiglass.
"'Nationwide, an average of 13.5% of Americans say they eat Twinkies, the renowned snack cakes. Twinkie eaters tend to live in rural areas and are more likely than other Americans to enjoy bacon, aerosol-can cheese, Kool-Aid and malt liquor. Ironically, the San Francisco Bay Area, home of the famed "twinkie defense," ranks low on Twinkie consumption." Time, March 21, 1994. (Ken Chu from original installation proposal.)
"Ken Chu's installation may be the first to blend concerns about Asian-American sexual identity with concerns about long-term survival with HIV/AIDS and with New York's burgeoning cafe scene. Chu says the 200 Ken dolls he fastened to a table in the derelict diner were painted yellow to address racial stereotypes. A little of the old diner lingers in Chu's "cafe." A sign out front says "Bill's Gyros, Souvlaki," and Chu has his memories,'I used to eat here,' he says.'It was gross.'" ("Naughty, Bawdy, Gaudy Was Never Like This," Tagami, New York Newsday.)
Artists' Biography
Ken Chu is a painter whose work explores Asian-American male identity. He is a founding member of Godzilla: Asian American Art Network, and is currently involved in developing a journal of lesbian and gay art.
History of the Site
