TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS Arranged by Viviancess Kue

1. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS Arranged by Viviancess Kue

2. What is Asian American art? The answer cannot be found but rather interpreted for a person for himself. What I have discovered about Asian American art, for myself, is that the artist does not necessarily have to be Asian American. To me, Asian American art is any piece of artwork that has been influenced or shows the culture, personal experiences, or the structure of Asian America. What I mean by this is that the many Asian American movements, struggles, cultural customs, and immigration experiences are displayed in art pieces, symbolizing the Asian American history and heritage.

3. Modern Art Art from the Impressionists (say, around 1880) up until the 1960's or 70's. Artist's in this era usually are influenced by their immigration Contemporary Art Art from the 1960's or 70's up until this very minute. (Esaak, Shelly) Artists in this era usually are influenced by World War II and immigration The difference between Modern art and Contemporary art is the time frame of eras. Modern Art was before World War II and before the mass migration of Asian immigrants where as Contemporary art emerged after the war and during the time of the mass migration of Asian immigrants. *Please note: The featured artists are either Modern or Contemporary or both. See each description”

4. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS CONTEMPORARY ALBERT V. CHONG (b. 1958-) • Photographer, multimedia artists, educator • Inspiration through African, Jamaican, and Chinese ancestry • Deeper appreciation of the Rastafarianism culture in Jamaica through Bob Marley • Addressed racial identity, racism, exploitation, and violence • Works: Tresspass; In Memory of James Byrd, Throne for Two, The Story of My Father

5. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS The Story About My Father, 1995 • Thermal Transfer print on canvas with incised copper metal • “His father, who endured ridicule from the Chinese community for his dark skin, also struggled to fit into the Jamaican community” (Hallmark) • Another mixed media sculpture, The Throne for the Justice (1990), was in honor for his late father. • Frame is engraved with words about his father. • Portrait is of a woman and a man of darker skin, (his father and possibly his mother). . CONTEMPORARY ALBERT V. CHONG

6. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS MODERN Alfonso Ossorio (b. 1916, Manila, Philippines-d. 1990, New York, NY) • Drip Paintings • Abstraction • “In his later assemblage works, called 'congregations',” Ossorio used shells, driftwood, and other objects that would create a “challenging visual language that evokes the horror vacui of the tribal art of Oceania.” (Cornell) • Works: Beachcomber, Martyrs and Spectators, Sacred Heart, Veronica's Veil

7. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS Beachcomber. 1953 Oil on canvas, 84 x 144 inches, Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, and the Robert U. Ossorio Foundation • He “recalls the horror vacui of densley patterned non-Western art that the artist admired at the Peabody Museum” (Cornell) • At the center of the painting, a white homunculus (Ossorio's conscioussness) surrounded by abstract figures that “float throughout the space of the painting, available for the viewer to visually pick out and examine” (Cornell) MODERN ALFONSO OSSORIO

8. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS MODERN CHIURA OBATA (b. 1885, Okayama, Japan-d.1975, Berkeley, CA) • Nihonga: Japanese term describing modern artworks reflecting ancient Japanese aesthetics • Devoted his life to promote the legacy of Japanese art and philosophy. • Nature appreciation • Works: Mother Earth; Setting Sun: Sacramento Valley; Lake Basin in the High Sierra

9. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS • Setting Sun: Sacramento Valley, ca. 1925 Hanging scroll: ink, color, and gold on silk mounted to paper, 107 ½ x 69 in. Collection of Gyo Obata • “A Japanese American visual language engulfs the viewr as this firestorm of rays, interspersed with tiny ripples painted in gold metallic pigment, flares overhead.” (Cornell) • Obata included the intensity of the flames to emphasize the Japanese heritage into this depiction of California's sunset in Sacramento Valley. • Sense of heritage and freedom through the way the flares reach out from the horizon. MODERN CHIURA OBATA

10. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS MODERN ISAMU NOGUCHI (b. 1904, Los Angeles, CA-d. 1988, New York, NY) • Most famous artist of Asian ancestry to have worked in the US. • Mother was Irish American, and father was a Japanese poet (Yone Noguchi) • Originally known as Sam Gilmore • Stone carving sculpturing • Oeuvre references multiple cultures and aesthetics • Associated with the Zen minimalism of Japan • Alludes to Japanese philosophical perspecitves and aesthtics (rock gardens) • Works: Beachcomber, Martyrs and Spectators, Sacred Heart, Veronica's Veil

11. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS Walking Void #2, 1970 • 68 ¼ x 31 ½ x 25 ½ inches, Black Swedish granite, The Noguchi Museum, Long Island City, New York • “Suggesting human legs emphatically advancing forward, it blends the walking meditation practice of some forms of Buddhism with the Shakyamuni's teaching of emptiness, the “big zero” and the impermanent nature of form.” (Cornell) • Embodies a devotion to reductive asceticsm MODERN ISUMU NOGUCHI

12. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS MODERN & CONTEMPORARY RUTH ASAWA (b. 1926, Norwalk, CA-lives in San Francisco, CA) • Contributes to the arts through community service, education, and public art murals. • 1942, detained at Santa Anita racetrack in California (WWII) • Inspired by Natural Environment • Wall Hangings, sculptures, wire sculptures • Works: Mermaid Fountain, Aurora, Japanese American Internment Memorial, Desert Flower

13. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS Desert Flower 1965 • 18 3/8 x 18 ¾ inches, color lithograph Oil on canvas, 84 x 144 inches, Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, and the Robert U. Ossorio Foundation • “Her intricately hand-tied wire sculptures have been described as appearing to be crocheted (traditionally considered a 'woman's craft'), replicating the patterns, symmetry, and designs” (Hallmark) • There is a specific focus in the lines, shapes, and textures. • The idea that this is “women's craft” generates the stereotypes of gender. MODERN & CONTEMPORARY RUTH ASAWA

14. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS CONTEMPORARY SWATI KHURANA (b. 1975-) • Uses her old Hindu wedding photos as a foundation to her artistic style • Video, sculpture, collages, drawings (digital archive) • Her collages appear more “comical drawings” • Inspired by Bollywood films, Tahitian women, lively animals, family photos, trophies • Collections of random items • Works: Least Dutiful Wife, Ten Years Later, Paradise Lost, Export Kwality, Eiffel Sunset

15. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS Eiffel Sunset, 2007 30 x 20 inches, archival inkjet digital print on photogloss paper • “'By manipulating film stills, I revisited a particular song that takes the duo to a tulip field in Holland where they sing, dance and gaze love and placed them in similar dream-like landscapes amplified by glittery, fragile and illusory chandeliers.” (Khurana) • Inspired by Bollywood movie CONTEMPORARY SWATI KHURANA

16. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS MODERN Tokio Ueyama (b. 1889, Wakayama, Japan-d. 1954, Los Angeles, CA) • Immigrated from Japan • His landscapes acknowledged for the use of light and shadow • 1930- Los Angeles Times article named him among the most skilled portraitists in the country. • Works: The Evacuee

17. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS The Evacuee, 1942 Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 ¼ in Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, gift of Kayoko Tsukada, 92.20.3 • “'Framed by drawn doorway curtains, she meditatively crochets, perhaps catching the last afternoon light before darkness and meager illumination would make such work difficult.” (Cornell) • The woman is Ueyama's wife knitting in their barracks home in Granada Relocation Center. MODERN TOKIO UEYAMA

18. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS CONTEMPORARY Tomie Arai (b. 1949 -) • Masking and Portraits • Helped understand the stereotypical imagery of Asian women and experiences of Asians in America • Life installations, portraits, motion pictures • Her work was critiqued and analyzed as grave-looking memorials for the dead. She intended her pieces to be a virtual setting of ancestry • Works: Double Happiness, Laundryman's Daughter, Renewel

19. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS Renewal, 1998 90x456 inches, silkscreened mural on canvas • “'Renewal' celebrates the historic discovery of the African Burial Ground and pays tribute to the contribution that African Americans have made to the building of New York.” (Artist List) • The mural represents the cultural histories and ancestry of African American history as well as slavery. CONTEMPORARY TOMIE ARAI

20. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS CONTEMPORARY VALERIONO MONTANTE LAIGO (b. 1930-d.1992) Philippines • Paintings • Well known Filipino American artist • Immigrated to the US in 1921 • Work shown in Arizona and Mexico in solo and group shows • Contribution to art scene in Northwest (Seattle) is significant. • Works: East is West

21. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS Execution, 2002 • 29.5 x 41.5 inches, oil on canvas • “ East is West, is an abstract design constructed of vibrant tile and mirror pieces in patters of circles, stars and squares amid a backdrop of smaller multicolored tiles.” (Hallmark) • Project in honor of Filipino physician, novelist, and martyred nationalist Jose Rizal. • Jose Rizal was executed in 1896 for starting a cultural revolutino in Manila. CONTEMPORARY VALERIANO MONTANTE LAIGO

22. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS MODERN YUN GEE (b. 1906, Kaiping, Guangdong, China-d.1963, New York, NY) • High-key color and broken forms of European-derived Cubism • Organized Chinese Revolutionary Artists Club, Cofounded Modern Gallery, Supported by city's wealthy elite • Works: Where is My Mother; Butterflies: Dream of Chuang-Tze

23. TOP TEN ASIAN AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN ARTISTS • Where Is My Mother, 1926-1927 Oil on canvas 20 1/8 x 16 in. Collection of the Estate of Yun Gee, courtesy of Li-lan • “demonstrates why Gee was encouraged by his patrons to move to Paris, which he did in 1927.” (Cornell) • Gee paints the frame scenes drawn The immigrant man and the woman both are in sorrow. “The work's evocation of emotional pain and honesty resonates with anyone who has far from home to pursue a dream. • Comes with a short poem about trying to find the mother and being freed. MODERN YUN GEE

24. Looking through all of the books and archives, I was able to educate myself about the different backgrounds and influences of each artist. Also, I was able to compare the modern and contemporary art pieces and found that the older art pieces are more formal paintings but other than that all of the pieces had the same concept. They each built on heritage and cultural experiences while reflecting upon self-identity. Asian American art is a realm of history and ancestry that can be expressed through paint strokes, or molds, and photographs. The top ten have given me a new perspective of how I express myself in not only my future potential as a graphic artist, but as a student here at the University of Michigan. Sincerely, -Viviancess Kue

25. BIBLIOGRAPHY "ARTIST LIST - Artasiamerica - A Digital Archive for Asian / Asian American Contemporary Art History." HOME - Artasiamerica - A Digital Archive for Asian / Asian American Contemporary Art History. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. <http://artasiamerica.org/artist >. Cornell, Daniell, Mark Dean Johnson, and Gordon H. Chang. Asian American Modern Art: Shifting Currents, 1900-1970. [San Francisco]: University of California, 2008. Print. Esaak, By Shelley. "What Is "Modern" Art?" Art History Resources for Students, Enthusiasts, Artists and Educators - Artist Biographies - Art Timelines - Images and Picture Galleries. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. <http://arthistory.about.com/od/modernart/f/what_is.-Eoj.htm>. Hallmark, Kara Kelley. Encyclopedia of Asian American Artists. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2007. Print. Swati Khurana. Web. 23 Nov. 2010. <http://swatikhurana.com/>. Out of the Archive: Process and Progress. New York, 2009. Print. Swati Khurana. Web. 23 Nov. 2010. <http://swatikhurana.com/>.