Man's Informal Robe, Coromandel Coast, mid-18th century, cotton, plain weave foundation, painted and resist-dyed, Grace R. Smith Textile Endowment, 2016.176

Fabricating Fashion, Art Institute of Chicago
Final day January 2, 2023

Fabricating Fashion celebrates the artistry and rich legacy of an extraordinary range of fabrics for clothing from around the world.

Textiles are fundamental to clothing: they determine a garment’s color and texture and contribute to its silhouette. They have the power to convey messages, from social rank and status to gender to cultural identification, as well as individual preference and taste. Handmade fabrics, in particular, often have special resonance for the wearer as the product of human labor and technical expertise.

The decorative fabrics presented in this exhibition, all part of the museum’s permanent collection, were specifically intended for clothing and meant to be worn in a particular way or made into a certain type of garment. Indeed, some of the works on view are fully realized articles of clothing. They were created by a range of communities and by individuals, both professionally trained and self-taught, who come from a spectrum of economic classes and are often unidentified.

While a number of techniques showcased in this presentation—such as dying, embroidery, printing, and weaving—are practiced globally, other materials and methods are more closely associated with particular cultures: Indian cotton, Chinese silk, French embroidery, West African indigo, among them.

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Tianzhuo Chen, Trance, 2019 (video still), Two single-channel videos with sound (loop) Courtesy of the artist and BANK/MABSOCIETY. Image courtesy of the artist, BANK/MABSOCIETY, and Asia Society Museum, New York

Mirror Image: A Transformation of Chinese Identity
Asia Society New York
Concludes December 31, 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)

Nam June Paik, Li Tai Po, 1987, Ten antique wooden TV cabinets, 1 antique radio cabinet, antique Korean printing block, antique Korean book, 11 color TVs H. 96 x W. 62 x D. 24 in. (243.8 x 157.5 x 61 cm), Duration: Continuous loop, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold and Ruth Newman, 2008.2. Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2014

Visionary Legacies: A Tribute to Harold J. Newman
Concludes December 31, 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.

Cong (Ts'ung) Prismatic Cylinder and Bi disc, Qijia Culture, Late Neolithic Period (2100-1600 BCE), jade

Round Heaven | Square Earth: Ancient Chinese Jade, TAI Modern
Last day—December 30

Chinese cosmology views the world in geometric terms. The Earth was square shaped and the Heavens round. As far back as the Neolithic period (10,000 – 2,000 BCE), Chinese artisans have used these shapes to symbolize their universe, which is most apparent when viewing the jade objects on display in Round Heaven | Square Earth: Ancient Chinese Jade.

The Neolithic Period witnessed stone workers carving jade into beautifully polished objects with possible ritual, symbolic or astronomical functions. As jade is both very tough and harder than steel, it is very durable but difficult to shape and carve. As the Smithsonian’s Freer-Sackler Museum of Asian Art describes it, “Working jade is an extremely laborious process that involves both slicing and removing unwanted stone with powdered abrasive minerals.”

This exhibition primarily highlights two distinct types of ritual jade objects: Bi (pronounced Bee), a thin disc with a hole in the center, and Cong (Tsung), a cylindrical tube encased in a square prism. They clearly had great significance, but despite many theories, the purpose of Bi and Cong remain a mystery.

Susumu Shingu, Astral Forest, 2013, stainless steel, aluminum, polyester cloth

Susumu Shingu: Sculpting with Wind, Ippodo Gallery
Concludes December 29

Ippodo Gallery presents the renowned kinetic-sculptor Susumu Shingu’s first solo exhibition in the United States. Shingu’s large-scale public works are and have been continuously displayed around the world.

The artist’s large-scale permanent outdoor sculptures serve as a reminder of the constancy and immensity of the Earth’s natural forces – wind, water, light, and gravity – that affect our human bodies/lives. The artist’s elegantly engineered sculptures are durable yet never the same, responding to diverse environments. Shingu’s kinetic sculptures oppose the perception that the world around us is eternal or static; they visually and mentally activate a viewer’s sense of their individual relationship to nature.

Shingu’s wondrous churning objects explore how the environment shapes and creates behavior, and have made him a favorite of well-known architects, including Renzo Piano, Tadao Ando, and Enrique Norten. Ippodo Gallery offers an exceptional showcase of drawings, interior sculptures, and colorful abstract paintings, as well as several large-scale exterior proposals.

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Kawase Hasui (1883-1957), Santa Claus, ca. 1950s, koban 5 3/4 x 3 7/8 in. (14.5 by 10 cm.),
Scholten Japanese Art

Your friends at AWNY wish you a happy and healthy holiday season with the warm company of friends and family, wonderful food, time for peace and ease, and some occasions to enjoy great art!

Vase Technique Carpet, Kerman Province, Iran, 1600s, hand-knotted wool pile,
Saint Louis Art Museum: Gift of Nellie Ballard White, 285:1972

Rugged Beauty: Antique Carpets from Western Asia,
Denver Art Museum
December 18, 2022-May 28, 2023

Rugged Beauty: Antique Carpets from Western Asia opens a window into the artistic and utilitarian innovations of weavers, domestic consumption, and the cross-cultural exchanges between present-day Turkey, Iran, and the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia) from the 1500s to the 1900s.

The stories in Rugged Beauty showcase the living traditions of western Asia, a vast and culturally rich region of the world. Each of the more than 40 objects on display were made by hand, predominantly dyed by hand, and hand-woven using the knotted-pile weaving technique. Though the individual identities of the makers are mostly unknown, the rugs' designs of rich colors, intricate patterns, and complex symbols reveal a deep history of trade, diplomacy, and foreign relationships.

Related Events:
January 24, 2023, 6–7pm
Artist Talk: Baseera Khan

March 25, 2023, 9am–4pm
From Workshop to Nomad: New Thinking about Rug Weaving Categories and Design Influences

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Clockwise from upper left: Minegishi Seiko (born 1952), Beige Colored Tea Bowl in Cracked Celadon, stoneware, H: 3.5 in. (8.8 cm.), Dia. 4.7 in. (11.9 cm.), Dai Ichi Arts LTD; Inoue Manji (born 1929, Living National Treasure), Engraved Hakuji (white porcelain) Peony Cup, 2019, H. 4 3/4 in. (12 cm.), Onishi Gallery; 11.83ctw Diamond 14K Yellow Gold Bracelet, with 38 round diamonds, Lot 6410808, FR3SHLM at iGavel; and Tsuchiya Kōitsu (1870-1949), Koitsu: Sacred Bridge at Nikko, 1937 (this edition ca. late 1940s), ôban (28.8 x 42.7 cm), Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints

Trying to find the perfect and unique gift? Something that special person will treasure for years to come? The members of Asia Week New York have just the right thing!

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And, finally, museum memberships provide hours of education and pleasure throughout 2023! AWNY member museums offer a wide array of engaging exhibitions and programs, click here.