Why Asia?: Essays on Contemporary Asian and Asian American Art - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0814735797 ISBN 13: 9780814735794

Publisher: NYU Press, 1998

Synopsis

Why Asia?: Contemporary Asian and Asian American Art is a ground-breaking investigation into two overlapping and rapidly emerging areas in contemporary art. Extricating them from their current confusion under a generic "Asian" label, Yang reveals the specificity of each. The book consists of lucid discussions on individual artists, exhibitions and theoretical issues. With over sixty illustrations it serves to introduce the current landscape of Asian and Asian American Art, with essays on art in China, Taiwan and North America, as well as individual essays on leading artists such as Rirkrit Tiravanija, Xu Bing and Michael Joo. Above all, Yang explores the challenges that contemporary Asian and Asian American art poses to artists, critics, curators and viewers alike. In particular, she reflects on the complexities of exhibition practice, the role of identity politics in arts, the unspoken assumptions of Western critics faced with Asian art, and the difficulties faced by artists working between cultures. This is a major critical contribution in an area where criticism conspicuously lags behind artistic practice.

About this title

About the Authors

Alice Yang (1961-1997) was Curator at the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton and former Assistant Curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. As a critic and curator, she wrote widely on contemporary art, with special attention to Asian and Asian American art.

Jonathan Hay is Associate Professor of Fine Arts at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Co-editor Mimi Young is a practicing artist in New York and Former Exhibitions and Publications Coordinator at The New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.

Mimi Young is a practicing artist in New York and Former Exhibitions and Publications Coordinator at The New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.

Edition details

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0814735797
• ISBN 13: 9780814735794
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160
• Editor: Yang Alice, Hay Jonathan, Young Mimi