March 10, 2023 – June 25, 2023
Drawn from the exceptional and diverse Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, Global Asias examines the cosmopolitan, playful, and subtly subversive characteristics of contemporary Asian and Asian American art. The exhibition highlights the work of fifteen artists of Asian heritage who draw on a rich array of motifs, techniques, and cultural motivations to construct complex identities in a modern global context.
What do we mean by Global Asias? Is it a place? An idea? This exhibition moves us away from considering Asia as a geographical location and instead invites us to think broadly about how “Asia” has long served as an imaginative construct. By focusing on the conceptual dimensions of Asia—and in thinking about Asia not in singular but plural terms—Global Asias encourages us to recognize the power of imagination in constructing Asia as a site of meaning across the globe.
The exhibition is divided into three thematic sections. Exuberant Forms features works that reshape and challenge conventional views of abstract art by exploring new materials, techniques, and metaphors. Moving Stories encourages viewers to reflect on the experiences of migration, both within Asia and beyond. Asias Reinvented highlights works that transform styles and motifs of traditional Asian art to engage, probe, and critique contemporary popular culture and politics. Combined, the works in Global Asias suggest the plurality and fluidity of “Asia” as cultural construct and creative practice.
Organized by the Palmer Museum of Art in association with the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, Global Asias was guest curated by Dr. Chang Tan, Assistant Professor of Art History and Architecture.