Whew! Over the past month, museum exhibition staff have concentrated all their effort on getting the exhibition Maharaja installed and ready for your admiring eyes. And I have to tell you, this exhibition is full of fabulous objects with incredible stories. Be prepared for the promised bling, and for some unexpected surprises.
Thanks to all who participated in this little word game. Actually, you guys are right on the mark! The characters read:
Take out the hairpin,
See the reflection of the stream.
Lie in bed with books around,
Wake up to comb hair, half drunk.
– Xu Bing
These lines are adapted from a Tang-dynasty poem by Yu Xuanji 魚玄機 (842-72) titled, “Curing Yourself of Lovesickness” 遣懷.
Contemporary art and high fashion have long been partners-in-crime. Browsing the September 2011 issue of Vogue, I was delighted to come upon contemporary artist Xu Bing 徐冰 in one of the editorials! Xu is pictured here with a modeled Calvin Klein Collection shift, which, in my opinion, is a perfect pairing of a master of line and form in fashion (Klein) with a master of line and form in calligraphy (Xu). In fact, we are hoping to have Xu participate in our upcoming Chinese calligraphy exhibition (so, fingers crossed!).
Vogue Magazine (September 2011)
If you’ve been on the museum’s second floor lately to enjoy our new installation of contemporary Korean art, you may have noticed a corresponding sudden lack of traditional Korean art in the adjacent galleries. Where did it all go?
In preparation for the exhibition Poetry in Clay: Korean Buncheong Ceramics from Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, museum staff have removed all of the permanent collection artwork from the Korean galleries and tucked them away in storage.
“When will you be done installing?”
Over the past two days I’ve heard this question from several staff and visitors who have encountered a spread of crates and precariously placed ceramics outside the doors of the Korean galleries.
"Translation Series" by Meekyoung Shin. Soap, pigment, varnish, mirrored steel plate, wooden crate. Lent by the Artist.
The answer: We’re done!
And a clarification: That’s not clay!
Meekyoung Shin’s Translation Series plays with many things: material, process, place. Those elegant vases are made of humble soap. Perched on their travel crates, they look to me like they have just arrived at the museum— or alternatively are just leaving.
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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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The number two best seller at Asia Books in Bangkok’s international airport is the Asian Art Museum’s Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam and Burma 1775-1950. We’ll keep working to get the top spot!
Dubbed “one of Southeast Asia’s leading contemporary artists,” Jakkai Siributr is noted for his detailed tapestries and installations that comment on the religious, social and political issues facing Thailand today. Asian Art Museum Art Speak interns sat down with Jakkai to discuss his three works in the exhibition Here/Not Here: Buddha Presence in Eight Recent Works (on view at the Asian Art Museum from April 1–October 23, 3011) and his perspectives on politics, art school, free time, and much more:
Jakkai on His Recent Works
In Bali, good and evil, or “good guys” and “bad guys,” take on a different meaning from the usage with which some people may be familiar. Good guys are at times bad; bad guys are at times good. These counterparts are equally valued, as both must exist to maintain balance in the universe. Hear Asian Art Museum Storyteller illuminate this duality in her telling of the story of Rangda, the Balinese witch, from the perspective of Rangda herself. View representations of Rangda in the Bali: Art, Ritual, Performance exhibition, and hear this story and more, first-hand, on a storytelling tour for all ages at the Asian Art Museum.
The Story of Rama (the Ramayana), about a prince and his long hero’s journey, is one of the world’s great epics. It began in India and spread among many countries throughout Asia. Its text is a major thread in the culture, religion, history, and literature of millions. The people of Bali have long practiced rituals, music, dance, and storytelling; made crafts; and used artifacts to tell this ancient story. They also combined Hinduism with their local beliefs about the spiritual powers of animals, creating Balinese Hinduism and their own interpretations of the Story of Rama.
The series of events depicted in the scroll (left) comes from a northeastern Indian version of the Story of Rama (the Ramayana). As is typical of scrolls from Bengal, in northeastern India, the scenes unfold in a linear fashion. This painted scroll would have been carried from village to village by a storyteller-priest who who would narrate the stories in public performances. The scroll was unrolled scene by scene as the storyteller’s narrative unfolded. Such paintings not only served as visual aids but simultaneously affirmed the existence of the mythic world they represented. Moreover, the recitation of religious stories and the audience’s participation through listening and viewing were means by which worshipers could demonstrate their piety and accrue religious merit.
Especially for Teachers: Through the study of The Story of Rama (The Ramayana) as well as a broader view of the arts and culture of Bali, students can experience how the literary, visual, and performing arts can provide a lens through which to understand the world—and to reflect on their own identities and world views. Prompt your students to explore how artists communicate events and characters with the use of the Lesson: Epic Story Scrolls (Grades 5-8). In this lesson, students will work in groups to observe and describe scenes in the scroll, then compare the context of the scroll’s use with those of scrolls illustrating other epics. They will then create a biographical scroll from the perspective of a character in The Story of Rama (The Ramayana). View The Abduction of Sita (an Excerpt from the Ramayana) video with your students to provide additional context for this lesson.
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