One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now
One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now brings together 17 artists from across the United States who challenge and extend the category of Asian American art. The title of the exhibition, inspired by the 1970s Blondie hit, suggests that there has never been a formulaic way of making or seeing art, either back then or now. Instead, these artists initiate a new set of conversations that highlight the multidimensional ways of conceptualizing and producing art today.
The selected artists came of age in various parts of the United States during the late 1970s and 1980s. They have at their disposal a wide array of art historical practices, popular culture references, and local influences. What characterizes much of their art, as distinguished from the work of previous generations, is a freedom to choose, manipulate, and reinvent different kinds of languages and issues, whether formal, conceptual, or political. The works in the exhibition, many of them made especially for this show, reflect this energy. Together, the artists and their work defy a definitive conception of Asian American art in favor of working—one way or another.
This show is curated by Melissa Chiu, Director and Curator of Contemporary Asian Art at the Asia Society Museum, Karin Higa, Senior Curator of Art at the Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, and Susette S. Min, Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies and Art History at the University of California, Davis.
View the online exhibition for One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now.