Five Reasons to Make Us Part of Your Mothers’ Day

Sunday is Mothers’ Day. Whether you think this is a sacred day to celebrate everything your Mom has given you or a cynical attempt by greeting card companies to fleece you of your May paycheck, chances are you’re planning to do something special for your Mom. Here are five reasons we should be on your list:

1. Your Mom took you to museums. On rainy days, on Saturdays, on holidays, your Mom stood in line with you outside. She looked at bugs with you. She encouraged you to pore over old swords and dinosaur eggs and she patiently followed you as you sprinted through her favorite art museum. So now it’s your turn.

2. Surprise your Mom with a gift membership; she can enjoy the museum year-round, as well as take advantage of discounts and special offers. If you buy a membership during your visit we’ll take off the cost of her admission ticket, too.

3. We’re open late Thursday (till 9 pm), so you can stop by on your way home for a last-minute Mothers’ Day gift from our store.

4. Sunday is going to be a beautiful day. Treat Mom to lunch on our outdoor terrace and enjoy a first glimpse of Breathing Flower, a motorized 24-foot red lotus that will be installed on Saturday May 12 in Civic Center Plaza.

5. There’s plenty here for you, too. Many of our Phantoms of Asia artists will have installed their works in our galleries, so it’s a great opportunity to get a sneak peek at some of them. And you and Mom can visit old favorites and discover new ones. We don’t have any dinosaur eggs, but we do have the odd sword.

A Farewell to Maurice Sendak

Maurice Sendak, children’s author and illustrator, died today. For those who loved his books it’s a great loss.

You may be wondering what this has to do with Asian Art. Granted, not a lot. But it has to do with how we think about children, and what we share with them. Sendak’s work is dark, exploring some of the grimmest topics a child could be exposed to. He didn’t believe in sheltering children from the real world. He had a deep respect for the ability of children to deal with complex and challenging themes. For an insight into Sendak’s work, check out this recent interview from The Colbert Report.

Phantoms of Asia, which opens on May 18, is in many ways a challenging show. As a parent, I am wondering how my three-year-old will react to the images. I wonder if he should even be exposed to some of them. I have been speaking with other parents here at the museum about how we plan to address some of the questions that could come up: about death, about violence, about sex. We will all have different ways of dealing with these questions, depending on the age of our kids, our own experience, our parenting styles. But we’re all bringing our children to see the show. We all feel there’s something in it that will be enriching for them. And I can’t speak for the others, but for me I know that Maurice Sendak is part of the reason that I feel prepared to engage with this material: not just as a parent, but as a person.

Vale, Mr. Sendak.

Phantoms of Asia: Art Everywhere

We’ve wrapped up week two of the Phantoms of Asia installation (read about week one here) and a crazy week it has been. Because this exhibition encompasses the entire museum, the install team has had the challenge of juggling simultaneous installation in several galleries at once.

Phantoms of Asia Curator Mami Kataoka surveys "Mountain Gods" (2011) by Aki Kondo, being installed in the Tateuchi Thematic Gallery.

Tateuchi gallery was the first major transformation. The brilliantly colored walls of Deities, Demons, and Dudes with ‘Staches have given way to a contemporary white space exploring the theme of sacred mountains.

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Artists at Work

Jakkai Siributr, Karma Cash. © Jakkai Siributr. Courtesy of Tyler Rollins Fine Art.

Last week we told you that Sun K Kwak had started work on her site-specific installation. She’s still working, and her ethereal piece now stretches almost the entire length of North Court.

Over the next two weeks, Kwak will be joined by Charwei Tsai, Heman Chong, Adrian Wong, Takayuki Yamamoto, Jompet Kuswidananto, and Jakkai Siributr, all of whom will be in the galleries installing their pieces. These artists work with materials as diverse as self-adhesive labels (Heman Chong) and live plants (Charwei Tsai), so it’s safe to say that the installations will be like nothing we have ever seen at the museum before.

Most of the artists will be working in public view, so if you’re in the museum you may catch a glimpse of a work in progress. The busiest days are likely to be May 10th and 11th; plan to come in on one of those days if your heart is set on seeing artists at work.

Phantoms of Asia: Installation in Progress

The first week of an exhibition install is always a magical week. As we begin to unpack and examine the artwork up close, we are continually reminded that catalog photographs are no substitute for the real thing.

Museum Conservator Katie Holbrow examines "Absence of God VII" (2008) by Raqib Shaw.

For Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past, the first week of installation has concentrated on incorporating contemporary artwork into the second and third floor galleries.

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Inspiration, Installation

Sun K. Kwak at work on the installation.

What happens when an artist is suddenly inspired? She gets to work, of course. Artist Sun K. Kwak was scheduled to begin her installation on the first floor of the museum next week, but a flash of inspiration has brought her in today.

We don’t know how long she will be working this week and we don’t know when she’ll be done. As our exhibition manager Kelly put it, “This is kinda like whale watching—things just happen.” We are watching art performed and made in real time. If you’re able, you should join us.

Artists from Phantoms of Asia will be installing their work in our galleries over the next couple of weeks.

Check back here for updates about who is coming when. We promise you’ll know as soon as we do.

Phantoms of Asia: Bits and Pieces

One of the challenges of contemporary art is that artworks may be created for a particular space or a particular time. As a result, instead of shipping finished artwork from studio to museum, for the exhibition Phantoms of Asia we have found ourselves moving around a lot of bits and pieces for artworks that won’t be fully realized until the final installation.

Adeela Suleman, Untitled 1 (Peacock with Missiles) with added elements, 2011. Ink on paper. © Adeela Suleman. Courtesy of the artist and Aicon Gallery. Sketch of work to be installed for Phantoms of Asia.

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Phantoms of Asia: Art Remixed

With Maharaja: The Splendor of India’s Royal Courts leaving us, the official  big countdown to Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past has begun. Around the museum there is lots of talk about the new works that are coming fresh from the artist’s studios, from leading galleries, and even being created right here. It’s new and it’s exciting and honestly makes our head spin. But did you know that new works are only half the show?

The Hindu deity Balarama diverting the Yamuna River, approx. 1725. India; former kingdom of Basohli, Punjab state. Ink, opaque watercolors, gold, and beetle thorax casings on paper. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. George Hopper Fitch, B82D10.

Phantoms of Asia is also about the phantoms in the Asian Art Museum’s own collection—more than ninety wonderful and seldom seen objects that will join contemporary artworks in the special exhibition galleries.

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Phantoms of Asia: New Hell Project

Contemporary artist Takayuki Yamamoto got together with the Asian Art Museum and local art education non-profit Artseed to create the latest chapter of his ongoing artwork called What Kind of Hell Will We Go To.

Da Juan poses with his creation

Under the artist’s direction, and with help from staff and volunteers, children in the after-school program run by Artseed at Leola Havard Early Education School in the Bayview district of San Francisco devised and constructed their own “hells”.  These are places where they imagined miscreants of all types might end up.  The young denouncers were then filmed describing their creations; the transgressions, and the curious, often torturous, and sometimes hilarious, situations that awaited the guilty within.

Organizing and scheduling all the different players and components took super-human effort by the artist, staff, volunteers, and parents.  One initial challenge was in finding the perfect group of kids to partner with. After a lot of searching Artseed’s after-school program was recommended and we knew it’d be a great fit.

The week of the project itself was an eye-opening and invigorating spin-cycle of activity.  Takayuki’s calm confidence and child-like sense of playfulness and curiosity brought a sense of shared purpose and joy to the children and adults alike.  The results are funny and cute, bitter and grim, and altogether quite thought-provoking.  We’re all looking forward to seeing Takayuki Yamamoto’s (and the kids’) What Kind of Hell Will We Go To on display as part of the Phantoms of Asia exhibition beginning May 18. Yamamoto will also be participating in our teacher program Shh! We’re not Supposed to Talk About Religion and a panel discussion with other contemporary artists on May 12.  Hope to see you in new hell!

Art in a Box

Our upcoming show Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past is presenting us with all kinds of unexpected delights. Assistant Registrar Cristina Lichauco sent me this image of one of Singapore artist Heman Chong’s works that will appear in the show. Well, not exactly. It’s a box of stickers, actually; the raw material of the work. Chong will be applying them directly to the gallery wall to create Star(burst).

This box of stickers, seen here in our registrars' office, will be used to create Heman Chong's Star(burst).

Cristina is also expecting 8,500 sticky dots from London, which will be used to hang Chong’s Calendars (2020–2096). The piece itself is coming from Singapore. As Cristina says, this truly is an international effort.

We’re incredibly excited that we will be welcoming artists like Heman Chong to the museum to install their work in the coming months, and seeing our galleries transformed with new materials and unique installations. How do you feel about art using everyday materials like self-adhesive stickers? We’d love to hear your thoughts.