neighborhood love

The way I see it, there are two ways to go: either wear yourself out hitting every event, every screening, and every talk for the SFIAAFF (um, cloning option, please?), or, just deal and hope that the shorts program isn’t as good as it looks.  I may be reasonably motivated as far as film goes, but give me one night to see something and chances are I’ll keep my fingers crossed for good distribution luck.

Perhaps for this reason I am grateful for longer-running exhibitions, not the least because I’m lazy, but because I’m a glutton for return visits–especially if they involve something that can be done during my lunch hour.

This afternoon I was watching the final touches being put on the Main Library’s Korean Comics exhibition.  U.C. Berkeley’s Dr. Sung Lim Kim curated the show in the Jewett Gallery, which runs through June 13.  Trina Robbins–who will be at the Asian Art Museum for an exciting lecture this June–will be part of an esteemed panel on Manwha for girls on April 8th.

While you’re at the museum, take the elevator up to the third floor to visit the Chinese Center, a drool-worthy collection of books rivaled only by the excellent Shanghai embroideries on view there until May 31st.
It’s no mystery why I rarely leave the neighborhood.

Visiting Balinese Dancer

I will never forget seeing Balinese dance teacher Ni Ketut Arini in action in her home dance studio in Denpasar in Bali, Indonesia. She was teaching nearly 40 young girls to do Balinese dance with gentle, yet firm hands, and a huge smile. It was like her voice could control this 3D orchestra–the small hands, hips, and eyes moving together in the tight studio. She will be artist in residence with Gamelan Sekar Jaya this spring. Her dance workshop is already fully subscribed but she will be in a performance on April 24 at the School of the Arts.

Incidentally, I’m not sure if you can see it but she is wearing an Obama campaign t-shirt. When I visited Indonesia in the summer of 2008, many people were excited about the prospect of an Obama presidency. Sadly, it appears from this article in The Hill that the warm feelings have worn away a bit since then.

We hope somehow to get word to President Obama about our Bali exhibition so that he may in turn tell Indonesian President Yudhoyono about the exhibition when Obama visits there later this month.

Your Weekend Plans

And because this is San Francisco, your weekend starts now.

You have just Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to catch the Swinging Chinatown exhibit at The Old Mint.   A colleague and I took a walk through the beautiful decrepitude of the old building last Monday and were enthralled by the stories of the performers and artists responsible for changing the way Asian Americans were perceived.

A group from Creativity Explored was in the museum today, probably in part because of this great show at the 16th Street gallery.  The opening is tonight, but I can almost guarantee there won’t be Shaolin monks in the Mission, because they’re all at tonight’s MATCHA!.

What else is going on this weekend that I’m going to miss?

Meanwhile, in the frozen North

We’re all swept up in Shanghai’s opening weekend, but I didn’t want to wait another moment to congratulate the fantastic design team that is Meomi (aka, Vicki Wong and Michael Murphy).  When I first got word that they were responsible for the Vancouver Olympics mascots, I was doubly happy.  Firstly, because I’m a huge fan of them as illustrators, and secondly because this represents a savvy design move on the part of the Olympics.  Click over to Meomi’s Olympics flickr set and you’ll see what I mean.

We try to keep their Octonauts series in the museum store, but I’m expecting their books to sell out as quickly as Oliver Chin’s Year of the Tiger books did for our Lunar New Year celebration last weekend.  Obviously, I am powerless when confronted by the charms of a cartoon Sasquatch.

Call for Artists!

(From left): AHSC  poster winners Imani Chapman and Dave San Pedro. You could be the next winner!

Call for Artists for the Asian Heritage Street Celebration POSTER CONTEST!
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Poll: Your favorite Shanghai era

The museum’s Shanghai exhibition is organized into four main time periods. One of the themes that runs through the show concerns the attitudes to women expressed in Shanghai art. These four images of women will give a taste — but only a taste, since in each period the range of artistic activity is of course much wider than these images suggest — of the various phases in Shanghai’s artistic development. Asking you to name a favorite is a little silly, like asking what’s your favorite color, as if you would want everything in the world to be green or whatever; still, suppose you only had a few minutes to catch the show — which section would you head for?

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a new neighbor?

Public art: love it or hate it, you can’t deny that it provokes a lively public debate (and a lot of name-calling on SFist or Craigslist).

Personally, I’m looking forward to the possibility of seeing this in our front yard.

You may remember Zhang Huan as the cover boy for Britta Erickson’s exhibition and catalog of the same name, On the Edge: Contemporary Chinese Artists Encounter the West.

Zhang Huan, My New York

Splitting his time between New York and Shanghai, Zhang’s work is dynamic and physically demanding.  Although trained as a painter, his oeuvre is largely comprised of rigorous performances and monumental sculpture, the latter of which is no less challenging.  In this instance, the artwork may prove too heavy for the Civic Center Garage, which is housed beneath the expanse of the plaza.

Whether the piece will make it remains to be seen; however, there’s no denying that the Buddha would be a nice addition to the roster of exhibition-and-expo-related events that are taking over the city for the rest of the year.

What’s going on here?

Looking outside my window I noticed this garden taking shape in the Fulton Mall between the museum and the public library. If this is some type of beautification project, I like what I’m seeing. It’s kind of similar to the herb garden they installed in Civic Center during the Slow Food festival. If it were up to me, I would just fill the whole mall area with plants and install some meandering walkways. I don’t know, sometimes I have dreams of being a landscape architect.

Fulton Mall

A little holiday travel cheer

The holidays are upon us and that means one thing — many hours spent braving the timeless monotony of airport terminals. But for those of you flying through San Francisco International Airport this season, we’ve got a special treat for your weary eyes. You see, there is a little project that we’ve been working on behind-the-scenes.

Jades await condition checking at the San Francisco Airport Museums

Beginning the week of Christmas, the San Francisco Airport Museums (yes, the airport has a fully-accredited museum) will host The Resplendent Stone: Chinese Jades from the 18th-20th Centuries. Drawn from the Asian Art Museum’s extensive jade collection, this is the first of several exhibitions to be produced by the San Francisco Airport Museums with loans from the Asian Art Museum.
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Shanghai, closer than you think

Excitement is building for Shanghai: Art of the City.

DurianDave, who runs the excellent vintage Chinese cinema blog, Soft Film, spotted us in the old Diesel site downtown.

So nice to be noticed, isn’t it?