contemporary art in Asia Asian Art

Latest Exhibitions Explore art from across Asia - Asian Art ...
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Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
On-line home of one of the largest museums in the western world devoted exclusively
to Asian art and culture.
Bonhams : Asian Contemporary Art
www.bonhams.com/departments/ORI-CON/
Bonhams
The market for Modern and Contemporary Art from Asia has developed dramatically
over the past ten years as collectors from around the world have ...
Contemporary Art at the Sackler | Exhibitions | Freer and ...
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Freer Gallery of Art
THE CONTEMPORARY ASIAN ART PROGRAM at the Freer and Sackler Galleries ... our
understanding of Asia and the development of global contemporary art.
Contemporary Asian Art Auction Department | Sotheby's
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Sotheby's
Sotheby's Contemporary Asian Art Department presents its upcoming ... Senior
Director, China & Southeast Asia, Head of Department, Contemporary Asian Art.

http://www.asiacontemporaryart.com/home/main/en/
Fabrik Gallery is delighted to present “Sensual Encounters” by Pang Yongjie. The artist is widely recognized as one of China’s leading “post contemporary” abstract painters. His unique and striking paintings are favoured by collectors in Asia and Europe, and have achieved success at auction. Pang’s works have been widely exhibited in China, several Asian countries, the USA, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and France.
VIEW

Fabrik Gallery, 1102 Nam Wo Hong Building, 148 Wing Lok Street, Sheung Wan
Monday - Friday 10 am - 6 pm, Saturdays & Sundays by appointment
To arrange a viewing, please contact Jason Apolinario at 2525 4911 | jason@asiacontemporaryart.com

http://www.artinasia.com/home.php

IMAGES https://goo.gl/EGw6dT


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Asian Contemporary Art: An Introduction
Melissa Chiu
Dinh Q. Lê: Untitled (Ecstasy in Blue) from From Vietnam to Hollywood series, C–type print and linen tape, 1.0×1.9 m,
2003 (New York, private collection); photo courtesy of Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Dinh Q. Lê: Untitled (Ecstasy in Blue) from From Vietnam to Hollywood series, C–type print and linen tape, 1.0×1.9 m,
2003 (New York, private collection); photo courtesy of Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

Since the 1990s, Asian contemporary art has grown exponentially due to a mushrooming of regional biennials and triennials
(drawing attention to Asian cities as alternative art centres), the building of new contemporary art museums and the
international recognition and success of Asian artists such as Chinese-born Cai Guo-Qiang,
Japanese-born Mariko Mori, and the Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija.

The sudden rise and international popularity of Asian contemporary art raises many questions for art historians, students
and art critics. How, for instance, does one define Asian contemporary art? How does it differ from artwork produced in art

centres such as New York and London, especially when several major Asian contemporary artists live
and work in these cities? Are there differences in the work of Asian artists living in the West to those living in Asia?
And, perhaps more importantly, what underpins this new field of study? It is not possible to provide
an exhaustive survey of contemporary art in Asia—a region that is almost one-third of the world's land mass and home to
two-thirds of the world’s population and a huge range of languages. However, even a general overview,
such as this, provides evidence of the recent rise and astounding diversity of contemporary artistic practice in the region.

Parameters

There is no single, unified history of Asian modern art, which is largely defined by a series of overlapping engagements
with Western art and cultural influences. This engagement was less of a wholesale adoption of foreign art styles than
a history of selective engagement based on relevance to local circumstances (see Asian Modern
and Contemporary Art). The same applies to Asian contemporary art, which is more of a catch-all term for diverse
contemporary, avant-garde, experimental or non-traditional art practices by Asian artists (regardless of
where they were born, live, or work) than a viable geo-cultural category. Coverage of Asian contemporary art in Grove
Art Online focuses mostly on experimental art practices, such as installation art, video art, photography
and performance art. Painting is also discussed, though mostly works executed in oil and acrylic.

Experimental media was preferred by many younger generation artists during the 1980s, many of them curious about
Western culture and art history, which seemed more progressive, exciting and liberating than the type of activities
conventionally regarded as culture in their own, often tradition-bound, societies. This same spirit also
influenced other art forms, such as music (Asian pop) and film and television (e.g. MTV). The exceptions were Japan
and Korea, where experimental art groups developed much earlier. Examples include Gutai, a Japanese avant-garde
group formed in 1954, and the Korean Avant-Garde Association, formed in 1969. Through the adoption of experimental media,
Asian artists were able to engage with an international art world: they began to be included
in large thematic survey exhibitions outside Asia, as well as art magazines and popular studies of contemporary art.

It is also important to note that this interest in new forms of representation was not embraced by all contemporary
artists in Asia. Many artists, in some cases the vast majority, continued to advance local artistic traditions: for
example, patra painting in India, calligraphy in China, or lacquer painting in Vietnam. Their work
was frequently overlooked by international curators interested almost exclusively in artists working in experimental
media, which matched their own ideas of more progressive contemporary art. Thus parallel art worlds
emerged in many of these countries, where those who worked in experimental media tended to sell and exhibit their
work in the international art world, while those who specialized in more traditional or established media
remained confined to local and national arenas.

Transmission

The knowledge of experimental contemporary art was transmitted to artists living in Asian countries through multiple
channels. One obvious route was imported foreign art magazines and books, which provided much needed historical and
visual information. Another route was provided by exhibitions of foreign art. However, there is little
direct evidence for the influence of these exhibitions of Western art, because although they travelled to Asia starting
in the 1960s and were particularly important catalysts for change in local art worlds—one need only
look at the exhibitions that toured China during the 1980s and the debates in art circles that these generated—they
were rarely exhibitions of contemporary art. A much more important influence was individual artists
returning from study abroad.

During the 1980s and 1990s, transmission of experimental art came from artists who had returned from study overseas.
This pattern of transmission has historical precedents in countries such as China and Japan in the early 20th century,
where the return of artists from abroad prompted wide-ranging artistic reform linked to discussions of
modernity. The dissemination of information was transmitted from artist to artist, rather than through art academies
and art schools, since these were subjects not formally taught until the late 1990s. The most important
of these forums for the exchange of ideas about experimental art were artist-run initiatives—informal gallery spaces
founded and funded by artists (see Alternative Spaces in Asia).

But perhaps the single most important influence was the international and regional biennial and triennial exhibition.
These events not only brought significant international art and artists to Asian cities, often for the first time, but
they also fostered a new sense of a regional contemporary art identity. First, they united the work
of contemporary artists from different countries in one place, and second, they created spaces in which artists from
these countries could meet, see each other’s art and discuss shared issues and concerns. Subsequent
exhibition catalogues remain some of the most important primary documents for Asian contemporary art. Akira Tatehata
discusses the phenomenon of biennials and triennials in Asia and explains how they influenced the types of
work that Asian artists began to produce—mostly installation art, video and performance art (see Asian Contemporary
Art and Internationalism).

The sheer number of Asian cities hosting periodic exhibitions—which includes Jakarta, Taipei, Yokohama, Pusan, Gwangju,
Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Fukuoka and Singapore—is striking. However, the most influential of these
exhibitions have been the Asia-Pacific Triennial (begun 1993) at the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane,
Australia, the Asian Art Shows, and later the Fukuoka Triennial (begun 1999) at the Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan. The
Shanghai Biennial (begun 1996) in China and the Gwangju Biennale (begun 1995) in Korea played
an important role in the advancement and dissemination of contemporary art in their respective countries.

The emergence of periodic contemporary art exhibitions across Asia coincides with growing regional prosperity. This is
more than coincidental, particularly as most, if not all, of the Asian biennales have been funded by ambitious local city
governments eager to promote themselves as regional cultural hubs. Substantial new museums devoted
to contemporary art, many of them linked to or hosting these biennales, have also sprung up across the region, something
that was unheard of ten years earlier.

Beyond Asia

Just as Asian biennales sought to bring non-Asian contemporary artists to Asian cities, non-Asian biennales increasingly
sought to bring Asian contemporary artists to the attention of international audiences. The São Paulo Biennial has a
history of exhibiting Asian artists, as has the Venice Biennale, the world’s oldest continuously
running periodic contemporary art exhibition. (Japanese artists have exhibited at the Venice Biennale since 1952.)
Through the late 1980s and early 1990s, thematic and national exhibitions in Europe, Australia
and the USA also sought to introduce contemporary artists from Asian countries to international audiences. For
example, Magiciens de la Terre at the Centre Georges Pompidou in 1989 was one of the first exhibitions to bring
together artists from non-Western countries (including many from Asia) in an international contemporary art
exhibition (see Exhibitions of Asian Contemporary Art in the West). Exhibitions of Asian contemporary art have also
fuelled a growing art market in and outside the region.

More recent developments in Asian contemporary art are less easy to categorize. This is because there is now a much
more fluid and dynamic flow of people and ideas both inter- and intra-regionally, partly due to globalization and
partly because wealth and success have fostered a new level of artistic mobility. Many important
Asian artists now live outside the region (the Chinese post-Tiananmen Square generation moved to New York, Sydney
and Paris), while others have shuttled between various Asian and non-Asian cities (Rirkrit Tiravanija
between Thailand, Germany and the USA, Michael Lin in Paris and Taipei, and Navin Rawanchaikul between Fukuoka
and Chiang Mai), or returned to their countries of origin to make work (Chinese artists Xu Bing and Gu Wenda)
. Still others have lived and worked in non-Asian countries for years before returning to their homes (Ai Weiwei,
Lin Tianmiao and Wang Gongxin lived in New York and returned to China, and Michael Shaowanasai lived
in Chicago before returning to Bangkok). In the early 21st century Asian contemporary art reflected this
plurality of transnational identities and experiences (see Transculturalism and Asian Diasporic Art ).


BIBLIOGRAPHY

J. Clark: Modern Asian Art (Sydney, 1998)

C. Turner, ed.: Tradition and Change: Contemporary Art of Asia and the Pacific (St Lucia, 1993)

Art in Southeast Asia 1997: Glimpses into the Future (exh. cat., Tokyo, Museum of Cont. A.; 1997)

Inside Out: New Chinese Art (exh. cat. ed. M. Gao; New York, Asia Soc. Gals and P.S.1 Contemp. A. Cent.;
San Francisco, CA, Asian A. Mus. and MOMA; Monterrey, Mus. A. Contemp.; Seattle, WA, Henry A.G.; Tacoma,
WA, A. Mus; Canberra, N.G. and Hong Kong, Mus. A.;

http://www.oxfordartonline.com/public/page/asiancontintro
https://www.nyu.edu/greyart/exhibits/asia/page2.htm
http://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/collection/contemporary_asian_art

Contemporary Asian Art
BOONMA,-Montien,-Lotus-sound,-1992.jpg

Montien Boonma | Thailand 1953–2000 | Lotus sound 1992 | Terracotta, gilded wood | 300 x 350 x 300cm (approx.) |
The Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Collection of Contemporary Asian Art. Purchased 1993 with funds from The Myer Foundation and Michael Sidney Myer through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
Ah-Xian,-Human-Human.jpg

Ah Xian | China/Australia b.1960 | Human human - lotus, cloisonné figure 1 2000-01 Hand-beaten copper, finely
enamelled in the cloisonné technique | 158 x 55.5 x 32cm | Purchased 2002. The Queensland Government's Queensland
Gallery of Modern Art Acquisitions Fund | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery

Established in the early 1990s, the Gallery’s contemporary Asian collection is one of the most extensive in the
world, comprising close to 1000 works from the late 1960s to present. Including painting, sculpture, installation,
video, photography and works on paper from East, South-East, South, Central and West Asia, this
collection area provides rich opportunities to engage with the art and culture of Asia today. The contemporary
Asian collection demonstrates the important contributions that Asian artists make to the development of global
contemporary art, often by drawing on local concerns and traditional forms, philosophies and techniques. This
is evident in key works that reflect significant moments in the twentieth and twenty-first century Avant-garde,
including Xu Bing’s A book from the sky1987–91, Nam June Paik’s Global groove 1973 and TV Cello 2000, as well
as works by Yayoi Kusama, Lee Ufan and Ai Weiwei.

Collection strengths include contemporary Chinese art, highlighted in the ‘Three Decades: The Contemporary Chinese
Collection’ exhibition, which was part of ‘The China Project’; contemporary Indian art including major works by
NS Harsha, Bhupen Khakhar, Bharti Kher, Nalini Malani, Nasreen Mohamedi, Surendran Nair, Pushpamala N,
Ravinder Reddy and Vivan Sundaram; and strong collections of Thai and Indonesian art, including works by Dadang
Christanto, Montien Boonma, Heri Dono, Mella Jaarsma, Kamin Lertchaiprasert, Eko Nugroho, Chatchai Puipia,
Pinaree Sanpitak and Vasan Sitthiket. Contemporary Japanese art is another focus area, with important works by
Emiko Kasahara, Yasumasa Morimura, Takashi Murakami, Kohei Nawa, Tsuyoshi Ozawa, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Shigeo Toya
and YNG (Yoshitomo Nara and graf).

While Asian cultures are distinct and diverse, many works in the contemporary Asian collection display recurrent
iconography due to long histories of cultural and economic exchange and the sharing of religious beliefs. The
lotus, for example, is used as a symbol of purity and transformation in Dinh Q Lê’sLotusland 1999, an
exploration of the effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam; is central to Montien Boonma’s reflections on the
importance of daily Buddhist practice; is at the feet of Ravinder Reddy’s monumental sculpture Woman with lotus flower 1998
and is an ornamental motif in Ah Xian’s Human human – lotus, cloisonné figure 1 2000–01. Richly symbolic floral
imagery can also be found in Yayoi Kusama’s exuberant, oversized sculpture Flowers that bloom at
midnight 2011, Khadim Ali’s exquisite miniature paintings commenting upon contemporary events in Afghanistan,
and in Fang Lijun’s 980810 1998, with its reference to Mao Zedong’s ‘Hundred Flowers Campaign’ of the 1950s.