What's Happening in Asian Art...
February 17, 2022
Embroidered Buddha, Banner Fragment, 7th-8th century, silk, from Toyuk, Xinjiang, China
Asian Art Museum, Berlin (III6178)
A "Devotional Form of Art:" Developing and Recycling Textiles Along the Silk Road, Dunhuang Foundation
Online talk, February 24, 2022, 7pm EST
The Dunhuang Foundation hosts a lecture by Mariachiara Gasparini, Assistant Professor of Chinese Art and Architectural History at the University of Oregon, that explores the processes involved in developing and recycling textiles in the western regions of China, beyond the main Silk Roads. During the Tang period (618–907), through a system of intra- and extra-monastery circulation of goods, high-ranking officials “sacrificed” some of their wealth in support of Buddhist communities. The gongde, literally ‘merit’ and ‘achievement and virtue,’ was applied to all kinds of Buddhist activities, including the redistribution and circulation of these “gifts.” Among the many goods that were offered and recycled, textiles provided Buddhist communities with various patterns and motifs – many of which were acquired from Turko-Iranian communities - that enabled the Sinicization of Buddhist art and its diffusion in East Asia.
The Dunhuang Foundation, founded in the U.S. in 2010, builds upon Dunhuang's rich legacy of intellectual and cultural exchange through programs that encourage participants to explore and expand upon the site's rich histories. The organization regularly organizes lectures by specialists conducting important research relevant to the study and understanding of Dunhuang. Recordings of previous lectures are available on the Foundation's website, click here.
For more information about Professor Gasparini's lecture and to register, click here
February 16, 2022
A Night at the Museum: Introducing Hong Kong's New M+ Art Center
China Institute and Asia Art Archive in America
Online program, Wednesday, February 16, 2022, 8pm
M+, Hong Kong’s new museum of 20th and 21st century visual culture, opened to the public in November 2021. The museum’s collections include visual art, design, architecture, and moving image from Hong Kong, Mainland China, elsewhere in Asia and beyond. Join China Institute and Asia Art Archive in America for a virtual walkthrough and live Q&A with M+ curators Pi Li, Sigg Senior Curator and Head of Curatorial Affairs, and Yokoyama Ikko, lead curator of design and architecture.
Following a brief introduction, the curators will guide the audience through their opening exhibitions: M+ Sigg Collection: From Revolution to Globalisation, a survey of contemporary Chinese art from the early 1970s to the present, and Things, Spaces, Interactions, an assemblage of more than five hundred design objects that have had a profound influence in Asia and across the globe over the last seventy years.
Read more, click here
February 16, 2022
Mamuli Heirloom Ornament, Sumba, 19th century, gold, 2.75 x 2.25 in. (7 x 5.7 cm.), 38.8 grams
Winter Bruneaf 2022, Thomas Murray Asiatica/Ethnographica
Online exhibition, February 16-20, 2022
This week Thomas Murray is participating in the prestigious Winter Bruneaf for non-European art in Brussels with an online exhibition. This biannual fair was established in 1988 and is one of the leading gatherings for specialists and galleries in Tribal Art. This season's show, which includes 28 galleries from Europe and the United States, features a wide array of Asian, Indonesian, African, Pre-Columbian, and Aboriginal Australian sculptures, masks, jewelry, coins, and other ritual or domestic treasures.
Among the selections of art works presented by Thomas Murray is this exceptional gold ornament from Sumba, an island in eastern Indonesia. In the shape of the characteristic omega form, which has been interpreted to represent the female genitalia and thereby reference fertility, it is balanced with “male” goats, which stand in profile at the base and bring about a cosmic harmony, even while symbolizing wealth and prestige. This exceptionally rare and important Goat Mamuli is possibly the companion to the related Goat Mamuli in the Metropolitan Museum of New York.
Read more, click here
February 15, 2022
Wan-go H. C. Weng, (1918–2020), Garden of Flowing Fragrance, 2007, handscroll, ink on paper, image: 10 3/8 x 50 7/8 in. (26.3 x 129 cm.), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
A Garden of Words: The Calligraphy of Liu Fang Yuan
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
San Marino, California
Now on view through May 16, 2022
Celebrating the recent opening of the final phase of its Chinese Garden, The Huntington presents an exhibition of contemporary Chinese calligraphy as the inaugural installation in the garden's new art gallery, the Studio for Lodging the Mind. The exhibition, designed to illuminate the art form and foster deeper appreciation of its expressive qualities, will be presented in two 16-week rotations of 20 works each. The work of 21 contemporary ink artists will be featured, including Bai Qianshen, Michael Cherney, Grace Chu, Fu Shen, Lo Ch’ing, Tang Qingnian, Wang Mansheng, Wan-go Weng, Zhu Chengjun, and Terry Yuan, among others. The works on view comprise the original calligraphic scrolls that served as the models for inscriptions throughout the garden.
Ordering the Myriad Things:
From Traditional Knowledge to Scientific Botany in China
Thursday, February 17, 2022, 7:30pm PST/10:30pm EST
In his new book, Ordering the Myriad Things, Nicholas K. Menzies, research fellow in The Huntington's Center for East Asian Garden Studies, examines how traditional knowledge of plants in China gave way to scientific botany between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries. This talk will focus especially on images of plants, contrasting their representation in late-imperial Chinese painting and materia medica to the conventions of scientific botanical drawing. It will highlight the work and careers of three 20th-century Chinese artists who paved the way for today's professional botanical illustrators.
Read more, click here
February 14, 2022
Yukiya Izumita (b. 1966), Sekisoh Layers, 2021, ceramic, 12 1/2 x 20 x 7 in.
Layers of Time: Spatial Ceramic Works by Yukiya Izumita
Closing day Feburary 17, 2022
The 25 ceramic works in the Yukiya Izumita exhibition are in perpetual tension. His inventive use of layered clay is as sophisticated as it is attuned to the earth, with the folds of mud suggestive of the toil they require. Now more than ever, the tactility of the works speaks to our need to reconnect—to the earth and to one another. An emphasis on environmental embrace has always been central to Ippodo Gallery’s mission, and its pertinence echoes through each work of art.
Read more, click here
February 13, 2022
Japanese Pop Culture: Connecting the World through Manga and Anime
Japan Society
Tuesday, February 15, 2022, 7pm EST
Japanese pop culture, symbolized by manga and anime, has become an increasingly significant part of the cultural conversation across the globe. Julia Mechler, manga creator and Content Production Group Manager at mixi, inc., and Roland Kelts, author of Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S., provide their insights into the current state of the industry, from pen to paper to screen, unpacking some of the latest trends and emerging technologies in Japanese pop culture. This webinar covers the historical development of manga and anime, the global influence of otaku culture, and what the future may bring inside and outside of Japan. Moderated by Bill Tsutsui, author of Japanese Popular Culture and Globalization, the fifth and final event in our five-part Living Traditions webinar series invites you on a journey into the sprawling Japanese pop culture grounded in a unique cultural DNA.
Read more and register, click here
February 12, 2022
Mayumi Lake (b. 1966), It's Alright #141199, 2014, archival pigment print, 27 1/8 x 36 in. (68.6 x 91.4 cm.), Edition of 3 plus 2 artist's proofs
Just Visiting This Planet, Winter Group Show 2022, MIYAKO YOSHINAGA
On view now-March 12, 2022
MIYAKO YOSHINAGA recently opened their Winter Group Show entitled Just Visiting This Planet. The 1991 documentary film of the same title featured the legendary Japanese butoh dancer Kazuo Ôno (1906-2010) visiting Berlin, Venice, Vienna, and New York. The film captured the aging dancer up-close and personal, performing indoors and outdoors on each city’s most culturally magnetic site, while creating his own universe. In tribute to the film’s essence—the celebration of the creativity of a free soul without physical boundaries—this group exhibition presents works by six contemporary Japanese photographers: Emi Anrakuji, Hitoshi Fugo, Mikiko Hara, Mayumi Lake, Yu Yamauchi, and Daisuke Yokota.
Read more, click here
February 11, 2022
AWNY’s recent posts on Chinese-language RED social media platform.
Now you can follow Asia Week New York on the Chinese-language social media site RED. This new method of communication is thanks to the help of our new consultant, Sharon Zheng, who lives in Guangdong and is a dealer in Japanese ukiyo-e prints. You can follow Sharon on her own accounts on Instagram (artof_ukiyoe) and RED (浮世绘女魔头). Not only are Sharon’s linguistic skills critical, but her knowledge of Chinese-language social media sites and Asian-art activity in China will provide invaluable expertise in posting what RED readers are interested to see.
L-R: Sharon Zheng with AWNY Treasurer Katherine Martin at Scholten Japanese Art.
RED, which is known in Chinese as 小红书 or “little red book”, was founded in 2013 and has become not only one of China’s most popular social media and e-commerce platforms but also one of the largest in the world. Called “China’s answer to Instagram,” RED started with a focus on online shopping and then expanded its content. RED now has more than 300 million registered users and more than 100 million monthly active participants.
We started our campaign with introductory posts that explained who and what Asia Week New York is. We are now sharing daily images of great art works from our members of tigers and plum blossoms to celebrate the new year. We also plan to open accounts on the popular platforms Weibo and WeChat soon.
If you’d like to follow AWNY on RED, click here
February 11, 2022
Kelly Wang (Wang Jiayi, b. 1992), Life & Death II, 2020 and Spring Thoughts, 2018. Collection of the Artist.
Between Heartlands/Kelly Wang, Princeton University Art Museum
Now on view-February 27, 2022
Art@Bainbridge, 158 Nassau St, Princeton
Kelly Wang (Wang Jiayi王佳怡, b. 1992) combines contemporary and ancient influences, as well as American and Asian traditions, to create multimedia works infused with elements of cultural identity and personal grief. She creates landscapes of the heart that revolve around places, people, or events with which she shares a deep sense of belonging. For the artist, such heartscapes are not natural phenomena but creations of the mind and heart that often generate tensions related to human identity or crisis. These moments give rise to original and experimental works of art that challenge the way we think about heritage and the way we see the world around us. Walking a tightrope between past and future, West and East, Wang explores the boundaries of calligraphy, painting, and sculpture in new ways while confronting life and mourning. Between Heartlands is curated by Cary Y. Liu, Nancy and Peter Lee Curator of Asian Art, Princeton University Art Museum.
Read more, click here
February 10, 2022
NYC-Arts Top Five Picks: New York Rhythms: C.C. Wang Calligraphy
NYC-Arts named Fu Qiumeng's current exhibition New York Rhythms: C.C. Wang Calligraphy as one of its Top Five Picks for the week of February 4-10. NYC-Arts is an award-winning arts program co-hosted by Paula Zahn and Philippe de Montebello. Both Paula Zahn and Philippe de Montebello have won a NY Emmy for their work on the program.
New York Rhythms: C. C. Wang's Calligraphy, on view now through March 5th, is the first retrospective to focus on the artist's final two decades of calligraphy practice in New York City. The exhibit's 16 pieces, culled from the collections of a small group of Wang's friends and students, represent three significant stages of work. They chart the artist's journey from traditional calligraphy, through an experimental phase, and culminate in an abstract calligraphic period that marks his transformation from a classical Chinese landscape painter to a contemporary artist, working in tune with the 1980s and 1990s creative currents. The exhibition's title is drawn from a remark made by C.C. Wang that his art work had developed to the point that it had "become just like jazz music."
This week's other Top Five Picks include David Zwirner Art Gallery's Toni Morrison’s Black Book, Forum Gallery's Stillness of Life: Bauer | Fenniak | Massad | Mitri, Baryshnikov Arts Center's Philippe Petit: Open Practice and White Wave's 6th Annual SoloDuo Dance Festival at Dixon's Place.
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