Asia Week New York 2024 – A Bounty of Art from Asia

March is the month we don’t have to fly out to Asia – Asia flies in, to us with scores of wonderful exhibitions at galleries, museum shows, and artist talks all highlighting Asian art from the many countries of Asia from India to China to Viet-Nam.  Celebrating Asia Week’s 15th anniversary, 28 international galleries converge in New York to present rare treasures of Asian art. All the exhibitions are free and open to the public, in galleries from Chelsea to the Upper East Side.   https://asiaweekny.com/

 

As every year, a group of art journalists got to have an up close and intimate sneak peek at over 20 galleries, meet and talk with noted and rising artists and have them share their creative process with us. This walking tour took us to many galleries scattered across New York, all devoted to Asian art. Sturdy sneakers and a bottle of water were a wise choice!Art was very much in the air, even in the lunch we were served at INKstudio. It was as exquisite as a work of art with cascades of golden good luck oranges decorating the table and with the meal served in lacquer trays. And who can say no to passion fruit juice?

INKstudio also served up a lot of food for thought with the amazing exhibition of their two young contemporary artists Kelly Wang and Ren Light Pan, who are both from New York. Art is so much more than the finished product – the creative process behind each is just stunning and reveals so much about the artist and why they do what they do.

Kelly Wang uses newspaper twisted into strands and sculpted into two-dimensional and three-dimensional landscape forms.  There’s even a story behind how she acquired the newspapers and why she embarked on this journey.

Ren Light Pan, in her Sleep series paintings, uses the heat of her body and the physical and material properties of ink and water to record her sleeping body. In fact, her body becomes her brush – and there’s a story behind that too!

( Read about these two dynamic artists in their own words in a future post on Lassi with Lavina.)

Another remarkable exhibition from another age and time – merging the modern with the ancient – is the gorgeous exhibit ‘Cosmic Sounds by the Japanese artist Ken Matsubara at the Ippodo Gallery. Kukai’s View; Sun and Moon, Sun and Venus painted in 2017 is a set of three panels. You literally feel time stands still as you view his large-scale compelling works and you are reluctant to leave the room: “Sound echoes within Matsubara’s paintings. The roar of the deep waves on the night sea; trembling air dancing about the incandescent stars.” There is pin drop silence in the room as you take in all this, a soundless landscape full of sound.  We were fortunate to meet the master ken Matsubara, who was born in 1948, and has had a long and rich career in putting on canvas what is uncapturable.

 

Japanese bamboo art at Tai Modern highlighted the longevity yet contemporary touch to this ancient tradition. Bamboo sculpture has a long tradition in Japan but now there are less than a hundred artists left to practice this painstaking and exquisite art. ‘A Pause in time, An Emptiness in Space’ was the name of this exhibition, and indeed the pieces evoked timelessness and eternity in our rushed lives.

While art from China, Japan and other Far Eastern countries has predominated, Indian art is also being showcased in several galleries and museums.  Francesca Galloway is one gallerist who had flown in from London with her collection of exquisite Indian paintings highlighting pomp and glory and power, as well as the joyful Rangamala works. Mughal miniatures are usually formal, but she pointed out a small, unusual work: “This is the Emperor Akbar fondling his grandson and it’s a very rare image of the Emperor showing the love he’s got for his grandchild.” The painting also has another child in it, a playmate to the royal child, and a cat, thus making the scene informal and heartfelt.

At Kapoor Galleries, it was interesting meeting the grandfather and grandson team which is behind the enterprise which has been there since the 60’s.  Their latest exhibition is Time isnterpri a Construct, the reimagining and reinterpretations of iconographic themes across myriad artistic epochs of Indian and Himalayan history. Highlights of the exhibition include an exquisite  pair of carved and silvered horses, besides a selection of sculptures from India, Nepal, and Tibet.

There are talks and displays at several galleries and museums during Asia Week, as well as auctions of Asian art at the major auction houses including Christies and Sotheby’s. So click on the link and plan your trip to Asia – without leaving New York!

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