Ala Ebtekar
Indigo Som
Mike Arcega
Binh Danh
Glenn Kaino
Mari Eastman
Anna Sew Hoy
Kaz Oshiro
Jon Moritsugu
Shu Lea Cheang
Gregg Araki
Gina Lim
Patty Chang
The exhibition features more than thirty works by seventeen Asian American artists, most of whom were born after 1970 or who grew up in the U.S. during that decade. Working in a range of styles and media, the artists reveal widely divergent ideas about being Asian American.
Asian American Art Now. Group show
The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA)
presents One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now, a major exhibition that asks
what it means to be Asian American in today's world.
The exhibition features more than thirty works by seventeen Asian American artists,
most of whom were born after 1970 or who grew up in the U.S. during that decade.
Working in a range of styles and media, the artists reveal widely divergent ideas
about being Asian American. One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now is organized
by the Asia Society, New York, and opens at BAM/PFA on September 19 and runs through
December 23, 2007.
Unlike an earlier generation of Asian American artists whose work made very bold and
deliberate statements of identity -- as seen in the ground-breaking Asia/America:
Identities in Contemporary Asian American Art, organized by the Asia Society in 1994
--the artists featured in One Way or Another create work that is not dominated or
defined by their ethnicity. Instead, "Asian Americanness" is a theme that
informs, rather than drives, the artists' work.
The biggest thing we had to address was what constitutes 'Asian American
arts,'" says Susette Min, one of the exhibition curators. "Is it art
created by an artist who identifies as Asian American? Is it art created by an
artist who has at least one parent who's Asian? Is it art that has something
thematically associated with being Asian in America? Does it have to be politically
motivated, or engaged with 'traditionally' Asian American issues.
One Way or Another features artists primarily from three major regions with large
Asian American populations: Los Angeles, New York, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Four artists are based in the Bay Area -- Ala Ebtekar and Indigo Som (Berkeley),
Mike Arcega (San Francisco), and Binh Danh (San Jose) -- and four in Los Angeles:
Glenn Kaino, Mari Eastman, Anna Sew Hoy, and Kaz Oshiro. The exhibition's title is
taken from the 1978 Blondie hit, and reflects the visible influence of popular
culture on these artists' work.
Film Series
In conjunction with the exhibition, the Pacific Film Archive will present More than
One Way, a film series that looks at several generations of Asian American
moving-image artists, concentrating on earlier moments in their creative careers.
This nine-part series affords an overview of a quest for cultural identity that has
evolved throughout recent decades. Artists such as Jon Moritsugu, Shu Lea Cheang,
Gregg Araki, and Gina Lim, display in all their energetic departures a restless
instinct for the brash, the unconventional, and the fearless. Patty Chang, a
performance artist included in the gallery exhibition, will participate in a short
residency, bringing her forceful and telling work to several BAM/PFA events.
Public Programs
One Way or Another will include a wide array of public programs that explore the
question of Asian American identity. These include an interdisciplinary panel
featuring several of the artists featured in the exhibition, a talk and
demonstration by artist Binh Danh, a reading by young Asian American poets, a
performance by artist Patty Chang, and a panel discussion focusing on Asian American
identity and Asian adoption in the U.S.
Credit Line
The exhibition was organized by Asia Society Museum, New York, with support from
Altria Group, Inc., the W. L. S. Spencer Foundation, Nimoy Foundation, and Asia
Society's Contemporary Art Council. The Berkeley presentation is supported in part
by Richard Shapiro and Patricia Sakai. In-kind support provided by Southwest
Airlines.
Opening September 19
University of California
Berkeley Art Museum and
Pacific Film Archive
2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley
Free Admission