THE SHOPHOUSE is pleased to present group exhibition “I & the ME” by Anders Lindseth, Iabadiou Piko, Josh Reames, Julian Watts, Kour Pour, Mahsa Tehrani, Osamu Kobayashi, Yves Scherer and Zhang Ji. Participating artists are invited to create two works, one representing "I", - the subjective side of the artists evaluating themselves. Another piece about "Me" - the objective side of themselves shaped by the market, exploring how artists rover around today's art world.

George Herbert Mead, a sociologist in the late 1800s, advocated his theory of self. Mead believes that the self is formed by the dynamic relations between the "I" and the "ME". The “ME" is the others' perspectives on ourselves - the "Objective part of self". The "I" is the part of us that responds to these attitudes - the "Subjective part of self".

The art world has radically transformed in the past thirty years, turning into a multibillion-dollar international industry. Artists and their career are becoming commanded by the market system, often packaged as a celebrity with unceasing output for the growing demand in consumer culture, sought after as profit generators of the commercial powerhouse. Would artists be affected in expressing themselves under such influence?