Robert Oxnam, Untitled (detail), 2009, wood, milk, paint, organic Carnauba wax, 16 x 12 in.

Robert Oxnam: Searching for Qi
June 10 – July 3, 2026
Curator Talk with Dr. Susan Beningson: Wednesday, June 17, 5pm
120 East 65th St, NYC

Alisan Fine Arts is proud to open Searching for Qi, an exhibition of Robert Oxnam’s sculpture and photography. Featured in the 2025 Finding Qi exhibition, this body of work was curated by Amei Wallach and Vishakha Desai at the East End Arts Council. They are now honored to present it in their New York gallery, where a portion of the exhibition proceeds will be donated to the Asia Society New York.

A scholar by training and a non-profit leader by profession, Robert Oxnam discovered his artistic practice almost by chance. Walking the beaches of the Long Island Sound, he noticed fragments of weathered wood—washed up on the shore by currents, half-buried under sand and wedged between rocks, carved from sea water, climate, and insects. Oxnam collected these gnarled, irregular shards, cleaning them to reveal a striking parallel. The wooden forms bore an uncanny resemblance to ancient Chinese scholars’ rocks—a millennium-long practice wherein scholar-officials collected unusual rocks for their studios. The custom symbolized an association of small fragments with the expansive, cosmic energy of nature.

The intent, Oxnam noted, was not to replicate the scholar stones tradition, but to seek inspiration in its conceptual metaphor. He continued to explore the close relationship of fragments to the whole, investigating this intimacy in a series of macro photographs. Capturing glacial rocks and boulders on Rocky Point Beach, he became enthralled by the finer details—a circular mark on a rock, a flash of color invisible to the naked eye, an impression filled with sea water after a wave. To Oxnam, these features were simultaneously specific and vast; as if taken from “Google Earth,” they remained minute while suggesting a natural expanse.

Searching for Qi presents these two related bodies of work: Oxnam’s driftwood sculptures, for which he was best known, and his foray into photography.

To learn more, click here.

Kim Lim, Centaur I (detail), 1963

Art Basel 2026
June 18–21, 2026
Booth A12
Messe Basel, Switzerland 

Tina Kim Gallery is thrilled to return to Art Basel with presentations in both the Galleries sector and the Unlimited sector, dedicated to expansive, in-situ projects that transcend the classical art fair booth. Their selection of works brings together a breadth of artists from their program whose practices have defined contemporary and modern Korean and Asian diasporic art on an international stage. Works by leading figures of the Dansaekhwa movement and Korean modernism, such as Ha Chong-Hyun and Kim Tschang-Yeul, will be presented alongside visionaries including Pio Abad, Kim Lim, Pacita Abad, and Suki Seokyeong Kang, all of whom have garnered recognition from major art institutions and across cultural contexts.

They are pleased to present the works of Korean-born, San Francisco-based artist Maia Ruth Lee (b. 1983), a focus of their booth this year and a featured artist of Art Basel Unlimited. Once we leave a place is it there (2024–25), displayed at Unlimited, is an ambitious, large-scale work from Lee’s Bondage Baggage series, created using a binding technique in which the artist tightly bundles and dyes cord-bound fabric before unfurling the work to reveal ghostly, abstract impressions. Their booth will feature smaller extensions of this series, similarly depicting grids, atlases, maps, and readers in reference to the artist’s tender navigation of a life defined by transience, translation, and the diasporic experience.

They look forward to welcoming you to Basel and sharing these exceptional works in person!

To learn more, click here.

Takami Kōho, Flowering Gourds and Insect, 1920s, two-panel folding screen; ink, mineral colors, and shell powder on silk, 66¼ x 73¾ in. (168.5 x 187.5 cm)

MAZE / Design Basel 2026
Opening & Cocktail: Sunday, June 14, 5-9pm (by reservation only)
VIP Day: Monday, June 15, 10am-7:30pm (by reservation only)
Public Days: June 16 –17, 11am-7pm; June 18, 11am-6pm 
Elisabeth Church (Offene Kirche Elisabethen), Elisabethenstrasse 14, Basel, Switzerland

Thomsen Gallery is delighted to return to the second edition of MAZE/Design Basel! Their exhibition will focus on Japanese bamboo baskets by the great masters of the 20th century while also featuring Japanese gold lacquer boxes, ceramics, scroll paintings, and Japanese folding screens.

If you’re in Switzerland during Art Basel week, be sure to visit them in the Elisabethenkirche, opposite the Kunsthalle Basel. They look forward to seeing you soon!

To learn more, click here.

Zoom Webinar, Guardians of Tradition: How Tibetan Art Lives on Through Museum Collections

Missed our recent webinar, Guardians of Tradition: How Tibetan Art Lives on Through Museum Collections? Watch the recording now on our website!

Collector Alice Kandell joined curators Rebecca Bloom, Debra Diamond, and Matthew Welch for a fascinating discussion on the stewardship of Tibetan Buddhist art and its journey from sacred spaces into museum collections. The conversation explores how these extraordinary works continue to inspire, educate, and retain their cultural significance for new generations.

Watch the full discussions here!

Installation view of Boundless: Stories of Asian Art at Seattle Asian Art Museum, 2026, photo: Alborz Kamalizad | Vajradhara with Eighty-Five Great Adepts (Mahasiddhas); Western Tibet; 15th century; Pigments on cloth; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, gift of the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation; F1998.17.3 | Photo by M5 Photography

Sharing a Legacy: The Rubin Collection at Seattle Asian Art Museum
Summer 2026

The Rubin’s collection is on the move! As part of their collection sharing program, which aims to expand access to Himalayan art to other museums through long-term loans and traveling exhibitions, a selection of 13 Rubin objects are now on view at the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) through 2031 as part of their permanent collection exhibition Boundless: Stories of Asian Art.

This addition of Rubin objects enhances the SAAM’s important collection of Asian art and enables the museum to convey a richer narrative of Asia by including Tibetan and Mongolian art.

Moving away from the chronological and geographic organization of most museums, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art groups objects across 12 themes to tell stories about Asia in a nonlinear narrative. The loan consists of Rubin collection objects made in Tibetan, Chinese, and Mongolian regions, including several paintings (thangkas), as well as a sculpture, illuminated manuscript, woodblock print, and headdress, all chosen by Rubin Senior Curator Karl Debreczeny in collaboration with FOONG Ping.

Sharing the Rubin’s collection and curatorial expertise is a central component of the Rubin’s decentralized, global model. In 2026 the Rubin’s collection sharing program includes long-term partnerships with the Brooklyn Museum, Lehigh University Art Galleries, Worcester Museum of Art, McMullen Museum of Art, Oglethorpe University Museum of Art, and Allen Memorial Art Museum.

To learn more about this partnership, click here.

Installation view of Zhang Xiaoli: Traveller 旅者 at Fu Qiumeng Fine Art

Zhang Xiaoli: Traveller 旅者
Closing Saturday, June 13, 2026
65 East 80th St., Ground Fl, NYC

There is still time to experience Zhang Xiaoli’s imaginative exhibition at Fu Qiumeng Fine Art before it closes on June 13.

Structured as a theatrical journey, the exhibition unfolds across four acts that invite visitors into the artist’s playful reinterpretation of Chinese pictorial traditions through the unexpected medium of LEGO® bricks. Moving between imagined landscapes, behind-the-scenes glimpses of the artist’s creative process, and opportunities for direct participation, the exhibition blurs the boundaries between viewer and creator.

Engaging, inventive, and reflective, Zhang’s work offers a fresh perspective on landscape painting, storytelling, and the act of making itself. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to step into the artist’s world before the final curtain falls.

To learn more, click here.

Melissa Bowers, Offerings Plate, lacquer and gold, 10 × 10 in. (25.4 × 25.4 cm)

Waves of Resilience
June 2 – 27, 2026
16 East 79th Street, NYC

Onishi Gallery is pleased to present “Waves of Resilience,” a tabletop collection designed by New York-based designer Melissa Bowers, in collaboration with Senshudo, a lacquer company in Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture. This eleven-piece luxury tabletop collection reflects Japan’s seas, skies, and journeys of healing, using the traditional art of lacquer to reflect the normally tranquil beauty of the earthquake-affected local landscape of Wajima and the strength of its people. As a charitable project for the city of Wajima, which has been featured in The New York Times article, Waves of Resilience supports recovery efforts. Featuring trays, plates, a vase, a bar, a coaster set, and other vessels, it merges classical techniques with contemporary aesthetics.

To learn more about the project, click here,

Krishna playing with the gopis in the Yamuna, circa 1770, India; Himachal Pradesh, Nurpur, opaque watercolor and gold on paper, Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund, 2018.118

Longing: Painting from the Pahari Kingdoms of the Northwest Himalayas
February 6 – June 7, 2026
953 Eden Park Drive

Don’t miss your chance to view Longing: Painting from the Pahari Kingdoms of the Northwest Himalayas at the Cincinnati Art Museum before it closes June 7. Featuring more than 40 works of art, the exhibition showcases vibrant court paintings from present-day India, spanning the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. These small, portable paintings were produced for royal and noble patronage by artists practicing unique artistic techniques. Influenced by the region’s culture and politics, they portray moments of leisure, religious devotion, and political positioning, and were given as gifts between regional nobility, families, and political allies.  Many paintings portray devotional acts meant to connect with the divine; others depict individuals and couples who yearn for romantic dalliance; still others portray rulers and noblemen who longed to be at the center of political control.

Organized around the theme of “longing,” the exhibition encourages visitors to experience art as multisensorial. Select paintings are paired with olfactory stations, touch opportunities, and musical soundscapes to heighten the work’s bhava (emotion or mood) and to encourage multiple ways to physically, intellectually, and emotionally connect with art.

To learn more, click here.

Panel Discussion with The Winter Show, Shaping Taste: Asian Ceramics and the Making of American Art & Design, Courtesy The Winter Show

If you missed our special live panel discussion, Shaping Taste: Asian Ceramics and the Making of American Art & Design at The Winter Show in January, watch the newly expanded recording here.

Leading curators and historians from four American museums examined how Asian ceramics have shaped American art and design, tracing their influence from nineteenth-century collectors and decorative arts traditions to the dynamic artistic exchanges that continue to inspire contemporary practice today.

The Distinguished Panel of Experts Included:

Glenn Adamson, Independent Curator, Writer and Historian

David L. Barquist, H. Richard Dietrich, Jr., Curator of American Decorative Arts, Philadelphia Art Museum

Monika Bincsik, Diane and Arthur Abbey Curator for Japanese Decorative Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ulysses Grant Dietz, Chief Curator, Emeritus, The Newark Museum of Art

Elizabeth A. Williams, David and Peggy Rockefeller Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, RISD Museum

Moderated by Joan B Mirviss, President, Joan B Mirviss LTD and Art Historian

Watch part one and two of this insightful discussion here!