ASIA WEEK

David Or, Moon Mandala [No. 20]

David Orr: Radiance + Reflection, Tibet House US
Last day July 17, 2022

This exhibition integrates two primary bodies of work which evoke interconnection and impermanence: Mandala Lunae, photographs of the moon, repeated and arranged in geometric patterns via digital reflection, and ILLUMINED, a series wherein photographs of sacred manuscripts, texts, and sūtras—from myriad traditions—have been reconfigured into purely visual forms. In both series, the visual modifications are key, transforming the original subjects into contemplative forms.

The catalogue for the exhibition is available online, click here.

Dominique Paul (born 1967), Insects of Surinam 13, 2013, archival pigment print on
Hahnemuhle Photo Rag, 12 1/8 x 9 1/8 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm), Edition 3 of 6

Lasting Life: Works by Dominique Paul and José Luis Fariñas
MIYAKO YOSHINAGA
July 6-August 5, 2022
Opening Reception: Wednesday, July 13, 6-8pm

This exhibition features a selection of works by Canadian artist Dominique Paul and Cuban artist José Luis Fariñas. Both artists utilize insects–bees, butterflies, etc.–as a metaphor for the changing nature of human existence. Paul's opulent photographic prints concern the biological and ecological coexistence of humans and insects, whereas Farinãs's intricate ink-and-watercolor drawings deal with the introspective and philosophical implications of their coexistence.

Dominique Paul (born 1967) is fascinated by the transformation of the human body as a result of physical exercise, plastic surgery, or genetic engineering. This once controversial but now congenial notion of body transformation informs Paul’s fantastical invention of hybrid creatures. She combines the elements of human bodies with those of plants and insects in her “Insects of Suriname” series. The lacy cutouts of bodybuilder’s flesh are buoyed by colorful consumer products, all found in various magazines. These surrealistic scenes of chaos share a background of cutout collage images of flora and insects by Maria S. Merian, a Baroque-era naturalist. Taking the form of a botanical mandala, Paul strives to express a sense of urgency and questions the durability of the entire ecosphere in these times of human exploitation of the planet’s resources.

José Luis Fariñas (born 1972), On the Backyard of the Sky (Soul's Documents), 2012, fine brush and watercolor on paper, 18 7/8 x 14 1/8 in. (48 x 35.6 cm)

José Luis Fariñas (born 1972) explores the subjects of chaos, infinity, and transmutation in philosophical and biblical allusions in ink-and-watercolor drawings. These images are threaded together through Fariñas’s singular vision of the universe, in which our conflicted reality is successively metamorphosing. Unlike Paul whose work is informed by scientific observation, Fariñas invents an array of symbolic motifs to fortify this vision. He repeatedly portrays a half-human half-insect creature such as a winged old man with insect antennae in nightmarish scenarios, as well as an egg that is metaphorically the birth of the universe. In the mysterious surroundings of human life, Fariñas sees the eternal cycle of our emotional ups and downs without end.

The gallery’s summer hours are Tuesday–Friday, 12 noon–6 pm.

Read more, click here

Fukami Sueharu 深見 陶治 (born 1947), Untitled, 1985, with signed wood box, celadon porcelain on wood base, H. 6.2 x W. 18 x D. 2 in. (15.7 x 45.7 x 5.0 cm)

Modern Splendor: Exceptional Contemporary Japanese Ceramics,
Dai Ichi Arts Ltd.
July 11-August 31, 2022

Dai Ichi Arts' summer show features splendid works by Modern Japanese ceramic artists who are masters of their craft in technique and aesthetic sensibilities. This summer show includes works of art in clay by Fukami Sueharu, Yoshikawa Masamichi, Kawase Shinobu, Imanishi Masaya, Shimizu Keiichi, Mihara Ken, & more.

Read more, click here

On the left is Zhang Daqian's forgery of a painting by Bada Shanren, Four Geese, vertical scroll, ink on paper, pictured on the right behind Fu Qiumeng

Although Asia Week New York’s youngest member, Fu Qiumeng is impressive in the diverse experience she has already acquired and in her vision for her gallery’s future. A native of Chengdu, Fu, who also uses the name Mona, encountered Chinese traditional paintings and calligraphy at a young age in the company of her father and grandfather, both avid collectors. She also started painting while still a child. However, she initially started a career in advertising until Fu realized she was meant to work in the arts.

In 2012 Fu began working for Yang Wu and Zeng Yiyan, a noted ink painter, calligrapher, and connoisseur, at their Bao Rui Ying International Auction Company in Beijing. Because the house was just starting, Fu was involved in all aspects of work and quickly gained a wide range of experience. In 2014 she enrolled at Northwestern University for an M.S. in Leadership in Creative Enterprises. After moving to New York, Fu garnered more experience by working for Lark Mason Associates and studying painting with scholar-artist Arnold Chang. But perhaps most influential was her time spent at the contemporary Southeast Asian art gallery Tyler Rollins Fine Art in Chelsea; as it was there Fu learned how to position Asian tradition in the realm of the contemporary art world. She determined to utilize strategies from this robust and active part of the art market to promote East Asian contemporary art characterized by a connection to China’s rich tradition and opened her own gallery in 2016. (For the gallery website, click here.)

View of Fu Qiumeng Fine Art’s main gallery during the exhibition Nothing but Recollection: Hisao Hanafusa, 2021

Now working in her gallery, which is well situated on 80th Street just a few blocks from the Met, Fu Qiumeng presents several exhibitions and events each year that feature the works of contemporary artists connected to the visual art history tradition. During March Asia Week, Fu exhibited the popular collaborative works of Arnold Chang and Michael Cherney in Ink Affinities (for more details, click here). Their innovative works combine the photograph details of China’s topography taken by Cherney, who lives in Beijing, with the traditional ink paintings of Chang, who is based in New Jersey. These collaborations create not only visually appealing images but epitomize Fu’s interest in engaging varied media and avoiding pigeonholes of ethnicity. Fu’s current show, Moonlight on Stones, presents the work of NY-based painter and calligrapher Wang Mansheng (for more details, click here). As Wang’s works and background are deeply steeped in Chinese traditional literature, Fu invited Dr. Chao Ling, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chinese and History, City University of Hong Kong, to curate the show. Fu seeks to engage the research, ideas, and voice of young scholars to imbue her exhibitions both with interdisciplinary insights and added layers of depth, while providing these specialists with a welcome platform and audience.

L-R: Arnold Chang and Michael Cherney, Da Ming Mountain Study #2, 2021, photography and ink on xuan paper, mounted on paper and Wang Mansheng, Celestial Lake on Mountain’s Top, 2013, ink, walnut ink, tempera, acrylic on paper

Fu Qiumeng Fine Arts expends much energy on preparing and sharing research and information about Chinese paintings and calligraphy. Fu productively spent the months of Covid isolation investigating in great depth the preeminent scholar and artist Wang Fangyu’s studies of the work of Bada Shanren. The result was the highly informative and thought-provoking exhibition Authentic or Forgery: How Does a Chinese Connoisseur Work?, presented from December 2020 to January 2021 (for more details, click here).  In addition to regular in-person and online lectures and numerous essays and news items on their website, the gallery also participates in wùgé publishing, which integrates art, scholarship, design, and bookmaking.

Yau Wing Fung, Riding Mist XXI, 2022, ink and color on paper

Fu Qiumeng will continue to feature the work of young artists this summer with their upcoming summer group show The Rain Freshens. On view July 29 through September 3, this show includes paintings by four vibrant ink artists of the new generation: Yau Wing Fung (born 1990), Chen Duxi (born 1983), Zhang Xiaoli (born 1989), and Zhang Yirong (born 1979), who explore and reinterpret classical codes and practices.

When asked why she decided to establish her gallery in New York, Fu Qiumeng noted that this city is the most vibrant in the U.S. for Chinese art, as there are several museums with exceptional collections and events, important university programs, and an active Chinese art community. Moreover, it is one of the world centers for contemporary art. Where better to build bridges between “east and west, contemporary art and traditional?”

For an engaging interview with Fu Qiumeng and Artnet, click here.

Artist Talk: Heeseop Yoon, Korea Society
Online program, July 12, 2022, 5pm EDT

Although her intricate installations are often so large that they spread over walls onto ceilings and floors, Heeseop Yoon, whose solo exhibition Agglomeration is on view at The Korea Society Gallery through August 25, thinks of her work as freehand drawings. All of Yoon’s works are based on real spaces with vast messes, such as basements, workshops, storage spaces, or “places where everything is jumbled and time becomes ambiguous without the presence of people.” Based on photographs, Yoon draws freehand without erasing; based on her own drawings, she creates her enlarged wall drawings using black tapes. In the final installation, her miscalculations and corrections are visible, as Yoon is interested in how memory and perception constantly adjust both for herself and for her viewer, and the paradox that the more she corrects her work, the less legible the drawing becomes. In this video presentation, Yoon discusses her career and work.

Read more and register, click here.

The Emperors Babur and Humayun, Folio from the Late Shah Jahan Album, Mughal dynasty, ca. 1640, opaque watercolor and gold on paper mounted on board, Purchase—Smithsonian Unrestricted Trust Funds, Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program, and Dr. Arthur M. Sackler

For those who are unable to visit the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. in person, the museum's website offers a rich array of online exhibitions and educational materials for enrichment and enjoyment. Two online exhibitions that are currently available explore the art associated with Mughal emperor Babur and the Sogdians of Central Asia.

Writing My Truth: The Mughal Emperor Babur
The founder of India’s Mughal dynasty (1526–1858), Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur (1483–1530), rose from origins as a Central Asian princeling to rule a vast empire stretching across today’s Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Over the course of his extraordinary life, he wrote a memoir known as the Baburnama, weaving incisive observations on art and nature into recollections of love, war, and political alliances. Babur’s grandson, the Mughal emperor Akbar (reigned 1556–1605), later commissioned the translation Writing My Truth: The Mughal Emperor Babur brings together Persian paintings from Babur’s lifetime with Mughal paintings from 1580 to 1650, when his autobiography was illustrated and circulated.

To explore this exhibition, click here.

Camel with Musicians, Tang dynasty (618–907), glazed earthenware, H. 58.4 cm,
National Museum of China, Beijing

The Sogdians: Influencers on the Silk Roads
The Sogdians: Influencers on the Silk Roads is a new digital exhibition that explores Sogdian art through existing material culture. It focuses on the golden age of the Sogdians, from the fourth to the eighth centuries CE, when Sogdiana flourished through trade and agriculture. Sogdian emigrant communities spread across China, South and Southeast Asia, and into the Central Asian steppe and Mongolia. During these centuries, a highly sophisticated and distinct Sogdian urban culture developed, epitomized by richly colored wall paintings and exceptional textiles, metalwork, and sculptures. Various dimensions of Sogdian culture, from art, music, and feasting to religious and funerary practices, are presented in this digital exhibition. New 3-D models of metalwork objects, photographs of archaeological sites, and international scholarship reveal new details about these forgotten people.

To investigate this exhibition, click here.

Miracle, Mountain, Museum: Curator Sonya Mace on Revealing Krishna,
National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution
Live program, Friday, July 8, 2022, 5:30–6:30pm

The exhibition Revealing Krishna: Journey to Cambodia’s Sacred Mountain, currently on view at the National Museum of Asian Art, transports visitors to a sacred mountain in the floodplains of southern Cambodia. The exhibition showcases a monumental sculpture of the Hindu god Krishna lifting Mount Govardhan to protect his people from a torrential storm sent by an angry god. Sonya Rhie Mace, the George P. Bickford Curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art, reveals in this illustrated lecture how provenance research and conservation over the last decade have led to new, awe-inspiring insights into the meaning and context of this monumental Cambodian masterpiece.

This talk is part of the event Afterhours@NMAA: Summer Festival and offers a variety of activities, including evening hours in the galleries, art and music from across Asia with performances, artist demos, and a special movie screening. Food and cocktails will be available.

Read more and register, click here

Sueharu Fukami (born 1947), Firmament, 2013, wheel-thrown porcelain with seihakuji glaze,
D. 23 in. (58 cm)

NOMAD Capri, Thomsen Gallery
July 6-10, 2022

Thomsen Gallery is now participating at NOMAD Capri, a new destination of the international art fair for collectible design and contemporary art. Taking place in the historic 14th-century monastery Certosa Di Capri on Capri, Italy, Thomsen's exhibition offers a select group of works by the renowned Japanese porcelain sculptor Sueharu Fukami, maki-e lacquer boxes by the Kyoto lacquer artist Yoshio Okada, and Japanese bamboo ikebana baskets by the great master Iizuka Rōkansai.

If you are fortunate enough to be on Capri, do visit Thomsen's display in Room 7 of Certosa Di Capri. For complimentary admission tickets, please register here.

Trefoil-shaped covered box with decoration of chrysanthemums, ca. 12th century, lacquer inlaid with mother-of-pearl and tortoise shell over pigment, brass wire, 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm), L. 4 in (10.2 cm), D. 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm). Fletcher Fund, 1925 (25.215.41a,b)

Shell and Resin: Korean Mother-of-Pearl and Lacquer,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Last day July 5th

Lacquerware with mother-of-pearl inlay has a long and rich tradition in the history of Korean art. This show showcases nearly thirty outstanding works of Korean lacquerware from The Met collection to highlight the distinctive materiality of lacquer and mother-of-pearl. The exhibition begins with a twelfth-century trefoil box, noteworthy for its rarity, and follows the traditional to the present with contemporary works by master artists.

Pillow in the shape of an infant boy, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), 18th–19th century, jadeite.
Gift of Heber R. Bishop, 1902

A Passion for Jade: The Bishop Collection
July 2, 2022–February 16, 2025
More than a hundred remarkable objects from the Heber Bishop collection, including carvings of jade, the most esteemed stone in China, and many other hardstones, are on view in this focused presentation. The refined works represent the sophisticated art of Chinese gemstone carvers during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) as well as the highly accomplished skills of Mogul Indian (1526–1857) craftsmen, which provided an exotic inspiration to their Chinese counterparts. Also on view are a set of Chinese stone-working tools and illustrations of jade workshops, which will introduce the traditional method of working jade.

Covered box with hibiscuses and grape vines, Ming dynasty (1368–1644), mid-15th century,
cloisonné enamel, Promised Gift of Clara and Theodore Wang

Embracing Color: Enamel in Chinese Decorative Arts, 1300-1900
July 2, 2022 – February 17, 2025
Enamel decoration is a significant element of Chinese decorative arts that has long been overlooked. This exhibition reveals the aesthetic, technical, and cultural achievement of Chinese enamel wares by demonstrating the transformative role of enamel during the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties. The first transformational moment occurred in the late 14th to 15th century, when the introduction of cloisonné enamel from the West, along with the development of porcelain with overglaze enamels, led to a shift away from a monochromatic palette to colorful works. The second transformation occurred in the late 17th to 18th century, when European enameling materials and techniques were brought to the Qing court and more subtle and varied color tones were developed on enamels applied over porcelain, metal, glass, and other mediums. In both moments, Chinese artists did not simply adopt or copy foreign techniques; they actively created new colors and styles that reflected their own taste. The more than 100 objects on view are drawn mainly from The Met collection.

Rotation 1: July 2, 2022–April 30, 2023
Rotation 2: May 20, 2023–March 24, 2024
Rotation 3: April 13, 2024–Feb 17, 2025