ASIA WEEK

Suneil Sanzgiri (born Dallas, Texas, 1989; active in Brooklyn, New York), Still from My Memory Is Again in the Way of Your History (After Agha Shahid Ali), 2023, 16 mm film (color, silent): 1 min., looped; Courtesy of the artist

Suneil Sanzgiri: Here the Earth Grows Gold
October 27, 2023 – May 5, 2024
Brooklyn Museum
Stephanie and Tim Ingrassia Gallery of Contemporary Art, 4th Floor

How do we live through and narrate moments of revolution and revolt, and how do we understand these experiences across time and distance? Using imaging technologies to meditate on what it means to witness from afar, Suneil Sanzgiri explores the complexities of anti-colonialism, nationalism, and diasporic identity. His work is inspired by his family’s legacy of resistance in Goa, India, an area under Portuguese occupation for over 450 years until its independence in 1961. Two Refusals (Would We Recognize Ourselves Unbroken?), the artist’s newest two-channel video installation, combines archival footage, animation, interviews, and a script written by poet Sham-e-Ali Nayeem. The film tells the stories of the mutual struggle in India and Africa against Portuguese colonialism, highlighting the solidarity that developed between the two continents during the 1960s and 1970s.

Here the Earth Grows Gold, Sanzgiri’s first solo museum exhibition, pairs the film with a 16 mm projection and new sculptural work. Modeled on bamboo structures seen across South Asia, the assemblage features family photos, 3D renderings, anti-colonial publications, and images of water and red clay soil from Goa that are drawn from his research. Together these works present the concept of diaspora as a way to reconfigure our understanding of history and belonging.

To learn more, click here.

(L) Goto Hideki 後藤秀樹, Watatsumi No.1 海神, 2023, with signed wood box, stoneware, H9.4″ x W16.5″ x D12″; (R) Higashida Shigemasa 東田茂正, Oribe Water Jar, 2023, with signed wood box, stoneware, H9″ x W6.4″ x D6.6″

Goto Hideki, Higashida Shigemasa & Contemporary Expressions of Shino and Oribe
October 26 – November 13, 2023
In-Person and Online

Dai Ichi Arts is delighted to present a two-person show of contemporary ceramic artists and craftsmen who breathe new life into traditional techniques, the Oribe & Shino talents Higashida Shigemasa and Goto Hideki.

The accompanying exhibition catalog showcases articles by their guest essayist Andreas Marks, Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese and Korean Art and director of the Clark Center for Japanese Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

To view the exhibition, click here.

The Preservation Society of Newport County Fall Lecture Series
"The Celestial City: A Closer Look at Treasures Illuminating China’s Contributions to Newport"
Thursday, October 26, 2023
6:00pm – 7:00pm EDT
Live at Rosecliff and via Zoom Video Conference

In conjunction with groundbreaking exhibition, The Celestial City: Newport and China,  the Fall Lecture Series explores different aspects of the Chinese-American experience and the many ways life in Newport and America was influenced and enriched by people of Chinese heritage.

Presented by Dr. Nicole Williams, Preservation Society curator of collections and curator of the The Celestial City exhibit, and Dr. Bing Huang, Assistant Professor of Art History at Providence College, this second lecture highlights the dazzling artworks in the show that reveal the unsung contributions of Chinese and Chinese-American individuals to life in Newport.

Gain an insider's look as Dr. Williams and Dr. Huang tell inspiring stories about the Chinese artists, merchants, immigrant entrepreneurs and women suffragists who shaped the city’s culture, economy and politics. Dr. Williams also will discuss the show’s innovative curatorial process that engaged descendants, contemporary artists and scholars across multiple disciplines. 

To learn more and register, click here.

Masaaki Miyasako, Firework ‘Aqua’ (Shimane Prefecture), four-panel byoubu screen, 2023

Masaaki Miyasako: Living Dreams
October 26 – November 22, 2023
Opening Reception with the Artist on October 26, 2023, 5-8pm, RSVP required

Ippodo Gallery is honored to present Masaaki Miyasako: Living Dreams, the legendary painter’s premier solo exhibition in the United States. He returns to his signature Nihonga painting medium after leading Tokyo University’s special projects division for a half-decade. Miyasako's unique approach to line—almost verging on pointillism—draws on traditional Japanese techniques of portraying shadows and space to a profound effect. His pictures represent romantic visions of life, nature, and the change of seasons in East and Southeast Asia.

This exhibition features eight large paintings, one four-panel folding screen, and ten calligraphy and sculptures, all displaying Miyasako’s transcendent sense of the invisible and unspoken dimension, inviting viewers to enter the sublime and ephemeral world of tender imagination.

To learn more about the exhibition, click here.

To RSVP for the opening reception, please call or email the gallery.

Four Rivers from Eden: Works of Art and Paintings from the Islamic and Indian World Catalog and Exhibition

Four Rivers from Eden: Works of Art and Paintings from the Islamic and Indian World
October 23–27, 2023

This upcoming exhibition at Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch Ltd. contains a wonderful selection of Indian and Islamic ceramics including Iznik pottery and tiles, glass and paintings, as well as Ottoman arms and silver.

To preview the show, check out their new catalog here. 

Products for Fluxus editions, 1964; Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY

Out of Bounds: Japanese Women Artists in Fluxus
October 13, 2023 – January 21, 2024

Out of Bounds: Japanese Women Artists in Fluxus is the first exhibition to fully explore the essential role of Japanese women in Fluxus, a movement that helped contemporary artists define new modes of artistic expression. Near the 60th anniversary of the movement’s founding, this show highlights the contributions of four pioneering Japanese artists – Shigeko Kubota (1937–2015), Yoko Ono (1933–), Takako Saito (1929–), and Mieko Shiomi (1938–) – and contextualizes their roles within Fluxus and the broader artistic movements of the 1960s and beyond.

Out of Bounds: Japanese Women Artists in Fluxus is organized by Midori Yoshimoto, Guest Curator, and Tiffany Lambert, Curator and Interim Director, Japan Society.

To learn more, click here.

Ryoanji
Saturday, October 21: Preconcert Lecture at 7:30pm and Performance at 8:30pm
Sunday, October 22: This matinee performance will feature an alternate configuration.

Inspired by the Zen rock garden of the renowned Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto, which John Cage personally visited in 1962, he composed Ryoanji (1983) using a non-ordinal graphical notation. Embracing Cage’s free-spirited approach to the score, composer/musician/vocal performer Tomomi Adachi brings his composition to life in a cutting-edge concert that connects two cities remotely: New York’s International Contemporary Ensemble will perform alongside musicians in Kanazawa City, Japan with Hitomi Nakamura on the ancient hichiriki woodwind and Maki Ota on vocals streaming live from a tea house. A lecture on the origins of John Cage’s fascination with Japanese culture, led by Cage scholar Dr. James Pritchett, precedes the concert.

To learn more and purchase tickets, click here.

Shinsui (1898-1972), Enjoying the Evening Cool (171/200), 1922, woodblock print, 17.25 x 10.37 in (43.82 x 26.34 cm)

The Art of Japan has just posted 101 new works on their website, including seven of Shinsui's top designs from the pre-earthquake set of New 12 Images of Modern Beauties, a special exhibition of the complete set of 28 Murders by Yoshitoshi and Yoshiiku, a dozen early impressions of Kiyochika Landscapes (from an important Japanese collection), several fine Kuniyoshi and Sadahide prints, and moderns by Yoshida, Oda Kazuma, Hiroaki and others.

To view them all, click here.