Photography by @braydon_russell; Courtesy Alisan Fine Arts

Themes and Variations
Opening Reception & Live Performance: Thursday, July 25th from 6-8pm
Second Rotation: July 24 – August 23, 2024
120 E 65th Street, NYC

Alisan Fine Arts is pleased to introduce the second rotation of their current exhibition, Themes & Variations, on view from July 24th to August 23rd and cordially invite you to view these new pieces alongside a special performance by the talented ink artist Parin Heidari on July 25th.

Parin Heidari is a multidisciplinary artist known for her minimal art. She creates highly detailed and expressive works ambidextrously, using just a single line. With a strong foundation in traditional drawing and a passion for experimentation, Parin has developed a unique style that has garnered her a loyal following.

Themes and Variations features work of 15 artists who explore the use of Chinese Ink within their practice. The exhibition includes work by Hung Fai, Hung Keung, Lee Chunyi, Lin Guocheng, Lok Yitong, Ren Light Pan, Tai Xiangzhou, Wesley Tongson, Wang Mengsha, Wang Tiande, Wai Pongyu, Wei Ligang, Zhang Xiaoli, Zhang Yirong, and Zheng Chongbin.

To learn more, click here.

 

E-Seto ceramics; Courtesy Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd.

Tales of Seto: An Exhibition of E-Seto Ceramics
July 25 – August 9, 2024

Contemporary “Seto” ware is renowned for its distinctive glazes and exceptional clay quality, as well as its long history of artistic expression through ceramics. But how did this diversity in modern ceramics emerge?

On July 25th, Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd. opens Tales of Seto: An Exhibition of E-Seto Ceramics, an exhibition that explores the rich history of Seto ceramics, from the Edo to the Meiji and Showa periods, celebrating the evolution of “E-Seto (絵瀬戸),” which literally means “picture Seto.” This subcategory of Seto ceramics refers to a type of painted ceramic produced in Seto, Aichi Prefecture. The clay sourced from Seto possesses exceptional quality, consisting of kaolin and porcelain-type stone clay. When fired, this clay transforms into a brilliant white canvas, facilitating the creation of a vibrant palette of colored glazes. Experimentation with glazes and a variety of colors—black, white, green, iron red, ash, and blue and white porcelain—are hallmarks of Seto ceramics. Collectors and enthusiasts value E-Seto ceramics for their beauty, craftsmanship, and cultural heritage. Today, E-Seto ceramics continue to symbolize Japanese artistry, reflecting both traditional and contemporary influences.

They warmly welcome you to appreciate the origins of Seto pottery this summer!

To view their new online exhibition catalog, click here.

To learn more, click here.

Yoshitoshi (1839–1892), #45 Hazy Night Moon, From the Series 100 Views of the Moon, 1887, 14.37 x 9.75 in (36.50 x 24.76 cm)

The Art of Japan has just posted over fifty new Japanese prints on their website, including select designs from Yoshitoshi’s 100 Views of the Moon; a fine group of Kiyochika’s horizontal landscape prints; an original Kotondo painting of a bijin in a summer kimono; early Shin Hanga landscape prints by Hasui and Yoshida; 18th c. prints by Kitao Shigemasa, Utamaro and Hokusai; and a selection of deluxe edition prints from Hiroshige’s 100 Views of Edo.

To view these wonderful prints and more on their site, click here.

A Wedding Celebration, c. 1780, Tamil Nadu, Thanjavur, Company School, ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

This week’s Gallery Spotlight shines upon San Francisco-based gallery, Art Passages.  Founded in 2004, Art Passages specializes in Indian and Islamic paintings and works of art. Many of these fine pieces have been placed in significant private collections, as well as in major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Musee du Quai Branly in Paris.

Their recent show during Asia Week New York in March was an online presentation of Indian paintings exhibiting a wide array of schools and subject matter. Indian Paintings: Latest Acquisitions brought together works from Mughal portraiture to Company School, paintings that reflect the taste and interest of their patrons, such as Nobles, devotees, and English resident rulers of India. Among the highlights was Wedding Celebration, an exquisite Company School watercolor, circa 1788 seen above.

Accompanying their exhibitions are in-depth scholarly catalogs that can all be viewed online here.

Installation view, Future Minded: New Works in the Collection, Special Exhibitions Gallery, Harvard Art Museums

Future Minded: New Works in the Collection
Closing Sunday, July 21, 2024
32 Quincy St, Cambridge, MA 

This is the last week to view the Harvard Art Museums’ exhibition, Future Minded: New Works in the Collection, a selection of works acquired in recent years that exemplify their collecting vision and strategies. Nearly all are on display for the first time and staged across two adjacent galleries. This exhibition presents a range of drawings, photographs, prints, paintings, and sculptures spanning centuries and continents. The works are by roughly 30 artists, including Jean (Hans) Arp, Edward Mitchell Bannister, Willie Cole, Pietro Damini, Svenja Deininger, Jeffrey Gibson, Baldwin Lee, Ana Mendieta, Lucia Moholy, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Noriko Saitō, Melissa Shook, Jane Yang-D’Haene, and many others.

The museums are committed to acquiring art that expands the range of artists and cultures represented in the collections; that moves museum practice toward more nuanced understanding of both histories and contemporary issues; and that pushes boundaries and embraces experimentation. Many of the works on view are by living artists, an area of focused growth for the museums.

The galleries are free every day, so be sure to visit and view these newly acquired works before the show closes this Sunday.

To learn more, click here.

Courtesy Fu Qiumeng Fine Art

Transcultural Dialogues: The Journey of East Asian Art to the West
Opening Reception: Thursday, July 18th, 5-8pm
Rotations: July 11-August 10 and August 13-September 14

Fu Qiumeng Fine Art is delighted to open Transcultural Dialogues: The Journey of East Asian Art to the West, a summer exhibition that explores the artistic evolution of East Asian traditions as they spread to the Western art milieu, focusing on the exchange and interaction of visual language and conceptual frameworks between traditional ink art and modern American art.

Presented in two rotations, Transcultural Dialogues showcases works by more than 15 artists, including classical and modern masters Bada Shanren (1626-1705), Qi Baishi (1864-1957) and C.C. Wang (1907-2003), alongside contemporary artists such as Michael Cherney, whose artist language bridges the gap between tradition and the present offering reflections on identity, cultural exchange and the ongoing dialogue between East and West.

This exhibition is in collaboration with Hollis Taggart Gallery in Chelsea with each gallery presenting complimentary shows – one uptown and one downtown. While they will be showing Asian-American Abstraction: Historic to Contemporary, Fu Qiumeng is primarily focused on Chinese art spanning from the early 17th through the 20th centuries and into contemporary times, highlighting the early modernity and abstract quality of traditional ink masters alongside the reinterpretation of literati painting by diasporic Chinese artists who engaged with American Abstract Expressionism and explored notions of abstraction.

The exhibit is on view now, but be sure to join their reception next Thursday evening on July 18th!

To learn more, click here.

Courtesy Ippodo Gallery

We are delighted to showcase Ippodo Gallery for this week’s Gallery Spotlight.  Located on New York City’s Upper East Side neighborhood, the gallery was first founded in Tokyo in 1996 and opened stateside in 2008.  Ippodo Gallery is a cultural bridge to Japan’s living master artists and presents fine handcrafted and rare works created using traditional materials and methods. Each piece selected embodies Japanese aesthetic sensitivity that is born of a spiritual bond with nature. Ippodo’s exhibition program features unique objects – fine ceramics, lacquerware, metal crafts, sculpture, paintings, and works on paper – that celebrate human invention, the natural world, and sublime beauty.

Their recent exhibition during Asia Week this March, Cosmic Sound: Master Paintings by Ken Matsubara, was such a success that works from the show entered the respected permanent collections of the Dallas Museum of Art and Dartmouth College’s Hood Museum of Art.

Ippodo Gallery’s forthcoming Fall exhibition will continue to celebrate innovative and boundary-pushing Japanese artists with a solo presentation of Yukiya Izumita’s ceramics.  Expanding Earth: New Works by Yukiya Izumita will feature the artist’s latest laminate-layered sculptures, flat-folded vases, and tea bowls reminiscent of the rural seascape of the Tohoku region of north-east Japan. They welcome you to the exhibition opening on September 12th and look forward to your visit!

To learn more, click here.

 

 

 

 

Installation view, teamLab: The World of Irreversible Change, Courtesy San Antonio Museum of Art

Lecture: teamLab: Collectivity, Chance, and the Fabric of Urban Japan with Nina Horisaki-Christens
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
6:00 –7:00pm
John L. Santikos Auditorium
Ticket Price: $5.00
Ticket Price Members: Free

On the occasion of San Antonio Museum of Art’s Spring exhibition, The World of Irreversible Change where the digital artwork by international art collective teamLab is presented alongside a seventeenth-century Japanese screen from SAMA’s collection, they are pleased to hold a fascinating lecture about the exhibit with art historian Nina Horisaki-Christens.

Dr. Horisaki-Christens will explore the background of The World of Irreversible Change, teamLab’s digital, animated artwork reminiscent of historic Japanese folding screens depicting bustling cityscapes. The discussion will position the artwork within the Japanese contemporary art scene, the history of technology-based artistic experiments, and rhetorics of chance and change in Japanese art.

Nina Horisaki-Christens is a 2023-24 Postdoctoral Fellow at the Getty Research Institute and holds a PhD from the Department of Art History and Archaeology and the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia University. Her research focuses on the intersection of art, media, urbanism, translation, and social engagement in Japan, Asia, and the Asian diaspora.

To register in person, click here.

To register for the livestream, click here.

To learn more and watch teamLab’s artwork in action, click here.

Courtesy The Rubin Museum of Art

West Side Fest
July 12 – 14, 2024
The Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th Street

Visit The Rubin Museum of Art for this summer’s West Side Fest, a celebration of arts and culture on the West Side of Manhattan. Enjoy exhibition tours, artmaking workshops, and live music performances throughout the museum all weekend long!

Schedule is as follows:

Friday, July 12

6-10pm: K2 Friday Night – Enjoy free admission, cocktails, DJs from the Rāginī Festival, and more!
7:15pm: Guided exhibition tour
7-8pm: Brooklyn Raga Massive – Live performance featuring Indian classical music by musicians from the Brooklyn Maga Massive collective. Tickets = $28

Sat, July 13
11am–5pm: Free Admission to all galleries, including the 20th-anniversary exhibition Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now, featuring new commissions with objects from the Rubin’s collection
2pm & 3pm: Free 30 minute guided Exhibition Tours of the museum-wide exhibition Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now

Sun, July 14
1–3pm: Family Sunday with Free artmaking workshops for families

The West Side Cultural Network (WSCN) is a group of more than 20 museums, parks, performing arts centers, and cultural institutions along the West Side of Manhattan. WSCN aims to ensure New Yorkers and visitors alike know they have access to the myriad, dynamic cultural offerings along the Hudson River and the adjoining neighborhoods.

To learn more about the event, click here.

To learn more about The Rubin Museum of Art, click here.

 

 

The Great Elephant Migration: A Coexistence Story, Courtesy The Preservation Society of Newport County

Happy 4th of July! On our Nation’s Birthday, why not celebrate with a trip to one of our Asia Week New York Member Museums? Below is a list of those open today with summer exhibitions and events not to be missed!

In New York City:

Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858), Plum Estate, Kameido (Kameido Umeyashiki), no. 30 from 100 Famous Views of Edo, 11th month of 1857. Woodblock print, 14 3/16 × 9 1/4 in. (36 × 23.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum; Gift of Anna Ferris, 30.1478.30. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Brooklyn Museum
Hiroshige’s 100 Famous Views of Edo (feat. Takashi Murakami)
Closing August 4, 2024 

For the first time in twenty-four years, Utagawa Hiroshige’s 100 Famous Views of Edo—one of the Brooklyn Museum’s greatest treasures—returns to public display. Complemented by artist Takashi Murakami’s own paintings in response to these master prints, along with objects drawn from the Museum’s collection, this is the last month to explore this unique exhibition. Also mark your calendars for their upcoming talks and print workshop.

To learn more, click here.

Marquee: Detail of “Universal Gateway,” Chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra, Japan, Kamakura Period (1185–1333), dated 1257. Handscroll; ink, color, and gold on paper. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Louisa Eldridge McBurney Gift, 1953.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Anxiety and Hope in Japanese Art
Closing July 14, 2024 

Closing next Sunday, the 14th, this exhibition drawn largely from The Met’s renowned collection of Japanese art, explores the twin themes of anxiety and hope, with a focus on the human stories in and around art and art making. Also be sure to check out their many other outstanding exhibits and displays of Asian art throughout the museum.

To learn about them all, click here.

Green Tara (detail), 18th c., Tibet, pigments on cloth, 46 1/4 x 30 5/8 in., Rubin Museum of Art, Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin

The Rubin Museum of Art
Exhibitions on view through October 6, 2024 

Partake in all the groundbreaking exhibitions and events this summer and early Fall before The Rubin closes their physical doors on October 6th to transition into a global museum model. Learn about Himalayan art through their current shows such as Gateway to Himalayan Art and Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now, with new commissions, some site-specific, and existing works juxtaposed with objects from the Museum’s collection, inviting new ways of encountering traditional Himalayan art.

To learn more, click here.

Around the Country:

Yoshida Chizuko, Valley of Butterflies (Tanima no cho), 1979, Gift of Chizuko, Takasuke, and Ayomi Yoshida, The Art Institute Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago
A Sign of Things to Come: Prints by Japanese Women Artists after 1950
Closing July 15, 2024 

There’s still time to catch this remarkable exhibit focusing on female printmakers during the 1950’s. After World War II, women artists were drawn to the new sōsaku hanga (creative print) movement, whose adherents approached printmaking as a form of artistic expression. They came together and formed Joryū Hanga Kyōkai, an association that exhibited together for about 10 years. Its members included Iwami Reika and Yoshida Chizuko, both of whom are well-known today and appear in this exhibition.

To learn more, click here.

Barrel-Shaped Bottle with Peony Motif 모란무늬 장군(액체를 담는 그릇). Korea, 1400s, Joseon dynasty (1392–1897). Buncheong with inlaid and stamped design. 8.75 × 6.25 in. dia. (22.2 × 15.9 cm dia.), National Museum of Korea: Bequest of Lee Kun-Hee, 2021. © National Museum of Korea

Denver Art Museum
Perfectly Imperfect: Korean Buncheong Ceramics
Ongoing

Korean Buncheong ceramics are renowned for their white slip and adorned with diverse surface decorative techniques. This exhibition,  co-organized with the National Museum of Korea (NMK), features these exquisite ceramics from the 15th century to today and is accompanied by 20th and 21st century paintings, as well as 16 drawings by painters. Also stay tuned for their upcoming exhibit, The Life and Art of Tokio Ueyama, opening in a few weeks on July 28.

To learn more, click here.

Landscape (detail), Hosokawa Rinkoku (1782–1842), Japan, Edo period, 1835, handscroll, ink and color on paper, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, The Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, F2021.4.11a–c

The National Museum of Asian Art
Imagined Neighbors: Japanese Visions of China, 1680–1980
Closing September 15, 2024 

Located in our Nation’s capital, this Smithsonian museum hosts a fascinating array of exhibits and displays that help deepen our understandings of Asia, the United States, and the world. In addition to the exhibit, Imagined Neighbors: Japanese Visions of China, 1680–1980, closing this Fall, be sure to check out their many other events and exhibitions on view.

To learn more, click here.

The Great Elephant Migration: A Coexistence Story, The Breakers, The Preservation Society of Newport County

The Preservation Society of Newport County
The Great Elephant Migration: A Coexistence Story
July 3 – September 6, 2024

Twenty-six life-size Indian elephant sculptures parade across the back lawn of The Breakers as part of the first American stop of this traveling exhibition. The Great Elephant Migration is an outdoor art exhibition presented by Elephant Family USA in collaboration with Dodie Kazanjian of Art & Newport and various contemporary artists. The sculptures were created by The Coexistence Collective, a community of 200 indigenous artisans in the Nilgiri Hills of South India and will be available for purchase through The Great Elephant Migration website. Funds raised from sales will benefit non-governmental organizations performing conservation work around the world.

To learn more, click here.