Celebrating Asian Art

Mirror Image: A Transformation of Chinese Identity
Asia Society New York
Opens 15 June 2022
This exhibition presents 19 artworks by seven artists, born in mainland China in the 1980s. Belonging to what is referred to as the ba ling hou generation, they grew up in a post-Mao China shaped by the one-child policy and the influx of foreign investment. Comprising painting, sculpture, performance, installation, video, digital art, and photography, the exhibition reflects the dramatic economic, political, and cultural shifts the artists have experienced in China during their lifetimes.

The exhibition’s title, Mirror Image, refers to the double reflection at the heart of the exhibition. Rather than emphasizing their “Chinese-ness,” these artists’ respective practices are born of a contemporary China where Starbucks can be found in the Forbidden City and the internet permits them access—despite the obstacles of censorship—to a host of influences beyond geographical boundaries.

Participating Artists:
Tianzhuo Chen (born 1985 in Beijing, China; lives and works in Beijing)
Cui Jie (born 1983 in Shanghai, China; lives and works in Beijing, China)
Pixy Liao (born 1979 in Shanghai, China; lives and works in Brooklyn, New York)
Liu Shiyuan (born 1985 in Beijing, China; lives and works in Beijing and Copenhagen, Denmark)
Miao Ying (born 1985 in Shanghai, China; lives and works in Shanghai and New York City)
Nabuqi (born 1984 in Inner Mongolia, China; lives and works in Beijing, China)
Tao Hui (born 1987 in Chongqing, China; lives and works in Beijing, China)

Visionary Legacies: A Tribute to Harold J. Newman
Asia Society New York
Opens 15 June 2022
This exhibition celebrates Hal Newman (1931-2021) who, with his wife Ruth, endowed Asia Society Museum’s Collection of Contemporary Asian Art with a seminal gift of some 30 artworks in 2007. Works by eight artists and one artist collective featured in the exhibition represent Hal’s eye and passion for art that pushes the boundaries in Asian and Asian American contemporary art.

In 2007, Asia Society Museum inaugurated its contemporary art collecting program with a significant gift from Mr. and Mrs. Harold and Ruth Newman. Their largesse provided the means for the Museum to acquire thirty-four objects by twenty-two artists from eight countries—including iconic video works by Cao Fei, Dinh Q. Lê, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Koki Tanaka, and Yang Fudong, among many others—and develop a solid foundation for its contemporary collection. The Newmans’ gift also provided the Museum the opportunity to collect new media artworks at the highest level, following the precedent of connoisseurship set by John D. Rockefeller 3rd’s gift of traditional Asian art to the Museum. In memory of our beloved Trustee and friend, this exhibition serves to celebrate the Newman family’s legacy of commitment to Asia Society with this selection of highlights from the Harold and Ruth Newman New Media Collection, an integral part of the Asia Society Museum Collection. This show is curated by Michelle Yun Mapplethorpe, Vice President for Global Artistic Programs & Asia Society Museum Director.

Making Home: Artists and Immigration
Exhibition through July 3
Making Home: Artists and Immigration focuses on immigration and related themes through the works of Phung Huynh, Beili Liu, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, and Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya. The exhibition engages with the individual, lived experiences of immigration through the paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, and installations of the four featured artists. Making Home centers on the complexities of deeply personal histories of immigration, as the artists consider topics of intergenerationality, the repercussions of colonial histories, dislocation, memory, otherness, belonging, and resilience.

Docent-led tours of Making Home allow visitors to experience art on a personal level, learn about art historical periods and styles, and hear stories associated with the artwork. In-person tours are available for this exhibition at 11am on Saturday, May 21 and 28 and July 2.

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JapanCraft21: Building a Movement,
Asia Society Japan
In-person and online program, July 5 8am Tokyo time/July 4 7pm EDT
JapanCraft21 Director Steve Beimel will take a hard look at the current situation around Japan’s Master Crafts tradition — why the system is faltering, what can be done to turn it around, and the actions that JapanCraft21 is taking.
Read more and register, click here.