I’ve an admission to make: I’ve been playing a little game, waiting for someone to call me out on the fact that I’ve placed a book of 17th century paintings in a section reserved for contemporary South Asian art. But you’ve got to admit: on the surface, it’s not an easy call.
It will come as no surprise to anyone who has visited the museum store that we undergo some fairly significant changes for each exhibition. While visitors can usually expect to find Korean & Chinese ceramics, Southeast Asian textiles, antiques and oddities, as well as artist-produced goods from Asia and the Bay Area, exhibitions are an opportunity to show off cultural connections.
But this time around, we’re doing things a little differently.
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Although you might guess that things around the Museum are winding down–we’ve less than a month of the Bali exhibition left–think again.
The rare opportunity to see noted puppet master I Wayan Wija brings an added benefit: Wija has brought a number of his puppets and miniatures, several of which will be available in the Museum Store through his Asia Alive residency, which runs until August 28th.
Current favorites include the frogs and lion (with wagging tail), and quite a few of the miniatures, which are essentially small, unmounted paintings done in the style of the wayang (puppets).
Ratih, the Balinese goddess of romantic love, lust, & everlasting pleasure
And then there’s my personal favorite:
If you can’t make one of the performances or talks, stop by the Museum Store to see the work of one of the world’s greatest living masters.
When someone mentions Bali and Java, what do you see? Some speak of impossibly verdant jungle broken by blue expanses of sea and sky, sharp-toothed deities in wood and stone, dancers dripping with gold ornament, the press of tourists.
Perhaps because I have never visited Indonesia, I tend to think of its art and craft, the dislocated souvenirs of Paradise. Like the pieces on view in the galleries, they’re my link to places I may never visit, and so become microcosms of a word-of-mouth world. But there’s one thing I don’t need imagination for, and that’s batik.
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In order to read a Chinese newspaper, around 4,000 characters must be committed to memory. According to one of my favorite professors who spent time in China during the Open Door policy of the late 70s: “Give yourself about a dozen years to get a good grasp of it.”
Chinese, for anyone who has studied it, is a highly complicated language that requires a reader to quickly glean from the root (or radical) some piece of meaning. Consider that every foreign concept that comes into China requires a new word. The word for computer, then, is not computer, but closer to “electric brain.” Try this link for a clearer breakdown of the process.
If this seems like a strangely digressive introduction of artist Xu Bing, who will be speaking at the Museum this Friday, maybe you don’t know Xu’s work.
Something I’ve noticed about the Zhang Huan sculpture in Civic Center: it serves as an excellent meeting place. If you tell your friends to wait for you in Civic Center, they’ll often be found fifteen minutes later, standing in U.N. Plaza. If you tell them to meet you next to the massive, multi-armed statue, there’s little room for error.
In case you weren’t in the neighborhood last Saturday, the sculpture in the plaza was the meeting place for several hundred participants of Santarchy (aka Santacon). My thanks to everyone for making my Saturday, it never quite feels like the holidays until I see this thoroughly San Francisco phenomenon.
But make no mistake, although the event originated here, we don’t keep the fun for ourselves. Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, Okinawa, Seoul–even Manama, Bahrain–all host their very own versions of Santarchy. Hopefully no one got run over by any reindeer or naughty elves last Saturday. Did anyone spot the Santas in the Museum on Saturday?
Willie Mays & Joe DiMaggio at the Asian Art Museum in Golden Gate Park
Every morning on my way to work, I cast a glance at City Hall to remind myself that I’m not dreaming. The Giants flags still fly, the banners proclaiming victory remain, and the Lone Star flag that once flew above Civic Center Plaza has yet to be replaced, an irresistible target for fans.
The air has been a little sweeter, the populace friendlier. Upon the heels of history, reminiscing is in order.
“The year 1871 was not particularly important in the development of Shanghai as a physical place, but was noteworthy when it comes to historiography…the Oxford English Dictionary singles it out as the year during which “to shanghai” began to appear in newspapers.”
Global Shanghai, 1850-2010: A History in Fragments
Currently enthralled with all manner of 19th Century appurtenances, San Francisco is home to a second golden age of handlebar mustaches and historic cocktails served in period-specific bars. Luckily for 21st century patrons, the fascination is all surface: absent are the trapdoors and opium-laced cocktails that made the city’s storied drinking holes famous for shanghaiing. Precious little romance was involved in the process, as quite a number of men died while being taken, and unseasoned civilians were just as likely to fall to a drugged drink or truncheon. Once aboard, a man dared not tell how he came to be there–his hope lay in being able to jump ship or find his fortune at the end of the line in Shanghai.
Also called “crimping,” the system was essential to early San Francisco’s maritime trade for the simple reason that more money could be made from the land than from the sea. A sailor shipping out of San Francisco could earn many times more than at any other port of call, yet very few chose seagoing toil when a potential fortune was to be found on land. The shortfall was made up the hard way.
The practice was hardly unusual or mysterious–the British impressed enough American sailors into their navy so as to cause ill feelings between the two countries. But in its inimitable way, San Francisco found a way to put its own mark on this ignominious history.
By Saturday, August 28th, the city’s sweltering summer heat will yield to a more accustomed winter chill, so we recommend warming up with the Asian Art Museum’s Celebration of India.
Get moving with the Chitresh Das Dance Company, flex your mind and body with yoga gallery tours, sample Indian desserts and spices, and create your own works of art.
And since no fewer than five people have asked about it today, yes, Sanjay Patel will be presenting his new book, Ramayana: Divine Loophole. Check out his Gheehappy.com, or learn about his influences (he has excellent taste) and read an interview on Pixar’s site.
A huge new shipment of South Asian books just arrived in the Museum Store, so if the docents pique your curiosity, you can take some of the museum home with you. Namaste!
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