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ASIAN
ART NEWS, Volume 14 Number 1, January/February 2004
Illustration
on the first page under the sculpture:
Zhu
Wei, CO0919 (China China
series), 2003, bronze, signed Zhu Wei #5/12, on left shoes, height 58
cm. Photograph: Courtesy of Plum Blossoms Gallery.
Illustrations
on the second page (upper one):
Zhu
Wei, Woodblock No.16 #1/8, 2003, woodblock print, signed Zhu Wei, 90 x
65 cm. Photograph: Courtesy of Plum Blossoms Gallery.
(below
one):
Hilda
Shen, RockLore I, 2003, paper, ink, wax, stone, 37" x 22" x
21". Photograph: Courtesy of Art Projects International.
Illustrations
on the third page (upper one):
Qin
Feng, Civilization Landscape No.30, 2003, ink on paper, 110 x 200 cm.
Photograph: Courtesy of Ethan Cohen Fine Arts.
(below
one):
Young
Sook Pahk, Large Buncheong Bowl with iron brush strokes, 2002, diameter
23 3/5 x height 13 4/5 in. Photograph: Courtesy of Gallery Pahk.
Illustrations
on the last page (upper one):
Il
Lee, Untitled #1203, 2003, acrylic, ballpoint per on canvas, 60 x 42
inches. Photograph: Courtesy of Art Projects International.
(below
one):
David
Diao, Lying 2, 2000, acrylic on canvas, 84 x 108 inches.
A
Week Of Surprises
By
Priya Malhotra
Regardless
of what the general press might say about the popularity of contemporary
Asian art, introducing it to a wider audience has always been a
difficult struggle. The Asian Contemporary Art Week (ACAW) in New York
City is testament to this. The second edition is this event, which
finished at the end of November 2003, exemplifies a few of the struggles
to place contemporary Asian art at the center of art activities in one
of the major art cities of the world. Breaking down preconceived notions
about Asian art will, however, never by easy, even in New York.
One
evening in November 2001, Jack and Susy Wadsworth, collectors of Asian
art and trustees of the Asia Society, were lamenting the difficulty of
profiling Asian art in New York with Stephen McGuinness, the managing
director of Plum Blossoms Gallery. During that conversation, they toyed
with the idea of a collaborative project to raise awareness about
contemporary Asian art. So, they decided to contact Vishakha Desai,
director of the galleries and cultural programs at the Asia Society.
Both responded favorably to the idea and got in touch with other people
they thought might be interested in the endeavor. The result was a
dinner at Macelleria Restaurant in New York on January 22, 2002, where
about 15 people, including gallery owners, curators, and representatives
of non-profit organizations, wholeheartedly agreed on the need for a
collective effort to expand the audience for contemporary Asian art.
They scribbled their support all over the menu, turning it into a sort
of manifesto, and Asian Contemporary Art Consortium came into being.
The
goal of the alliance was to develop a weeklong event every year to raise
the profile of contemporary Asian art circles, museum curators, and the
general public. The consortium consists of 16 individuals, mostly
galleries, and a variety of other groups and people are affiliated with
it. "Our stated mission is to create a weighted foundation where
instead of having just one leaf blowing in the wind, we have a tree that
has roots," said Stephen McGuinness.
Now
in its second year running Asian
Contemporary Art Week (ACAW), which ended on November 22, 2003, is a
noteworthy milestone in increasing awareness about Asian art in New
York. While a fair number of people in New York are familiar with Asian
antiques, less is known about contemporary Asian art and ACAW makes a
valuable contribution by exposing people to it. "It is a critical
moment in time since there is an intense curiosity in Asian art,
especially about Chinese and Korean artists," said Richard Vine,
the managing editor of Art In
America magazine, adding that events like ACAW had "some
effect" in raising the profile of contemporary Asian art galleries
and the field in general. Vine, who attended several of the events,
pointed out that the turnout was very good. "People were voting
with their feet," he said.
The
presence of contemporary Asian art in New York has steadily been rising
over the past few years and the birth of ACAW is a testament to that
trend. In 2001, the number of Asian artists exhibited in New York
galleries increased by 317% to 993 compared with 238 in 1992, according
to an Asia Society report. In museums and non-profit organizations, the
number of Asian and Asian-American artists included in exhibitions only
increased by 78% in 2002 compared to 1992.
Despite
these significant strides, there is still a pressing need to expand
people’s notion of Asian art and ACAW’s aim is to address that need.
So far, the event has had some success, but is still, as the consortium
members themselves acknowledge, in the embryonic stages of achieving the
lofty goals that they set out. "We’re still building
audiences," said Asia Society’s Melissa Chiu. Consortium member
Jung Lee Sanders of Art Projects
International remarked that it was "too early to tell how
successful it is," while collector David Solo, also a consortium
member, said more progress needed to be made in attracting collectors of
Western contemporary art.
Still,
ACAW’s role in promoting contemporary Asian art does deserve credit.
During a tightly packed week in November 2003 you could get a fairly
good dose of contemporary Asian art by both established and emerging
artists included in Chinese artists Zhu Wei, Cai Jin, Qin Feng, David
Diao, Yu Zhang, and Yi Chen, Korean artist Young Sook Pahk, and Indian
artist Sunoj D.
Since
one of ACAW’s key goals is to lure collectors of contemporary art to
see the rich and interesting work being done by Asian artists today, it
has deliberately been planned in the middle of November to coincide with
the timing of the sales of Western contemporary art at auction houses
such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s. "We wanted to de-link it from
the world of Asian auctions and expand the audience," said
McGuinness.
"My
sense is that they want to ally themselves with the contemporary world
rather than the world of Asian antiques," said Mee-Seen Loong, head
of international Asian business development and client services art
Sotheby’s.
And,
ACAW has made some inroads into creating awareness amongst collectors of
Western art. "We’re starting to see results," said
McGuinness, noting that he sold some sculptures of Zhu Wei to a big
collector of Modern Western Masters. The sculptures have been exhibited
in the lobby of the IBM building in Manhattan.
Michael
Goedhuis of Goedhuis Contemporary, also a consortium member, said his
gallery was able to attract people who were in New York for the auctions
and sold some paintings to collectors who were buying Asian contemporary
art for the first time.
At
ACAW 2003, about 20 events, most of which were receptions of new
exhibitions, were crammed into a span of five days. Though the Week was
centered around these new exhibitions, there were a couple of lectures,
a discussion on contemporary art, some performance art, and studio
visits as well. About four to five events took place on average between
six and nine every evening with people scrambling from place to place to
make sure they saw as much as possible.
While
the explicit aim of the consortium is to reflect the diversity of Asian
art, the entire event felt overwhelmingly Chinese with a smattering of
Japan and Korea. Bose Pacia Gallery added some cultural variety to the
event with its exhibition of emerging Indian artists Sunoj D., Justin
Ponmany, and Sumitro Basak, who won the 2003 Bose Pacia Prize for
Contemporary Art.
Painting,
both abstract and representational, dominated the Week while video art
had hardly any presence except for one new-media project at Art in
General which showed Angie Eng’s interesting exploration of the
nomadic aspects of both ancient and contemporary cultures. Photography
made a brief appearance at Sepia International Inc., which showed the
work of 50 international photographers, including some from Asia.
Overall,
the work exhibited was solid and represented a fairly good cross-section
of the Asian contemporary art generally shown in New York. However, Vine
of Art In America said that
some of the work coming out of Asia was far more cutting-edge than what
was exhibited at ACAW and, in that sense, not very different from the
avant-garde work being done in the West. But, the galleries here were
familiar with the tastes of the New York audience, he said, nothing that
they reflected that knowledge in their exhibitions. "Frankly,
there’s not a vast market for cutting-edge work anywhere," he
said.
Compared
to the previous year, there was little critical discussion this year
except for one conversation between Asia Society’s Vishakha Desai and
Francesco Bonami, a former director of the Venice
Biennale which focused more on the international exhibition than on
contemporary Asian art. Last year, however, there was a day-long
symposium on issues related to contemporary Asian art and featured
curators, writers, and collectors from all over the world including
notable personalities such as Okwui Enwezor, the artistic director of Documenta
2002, Dan Cameron, senior curator at the New Museum of Contemporary
Art in New York, and Apinan Poshyanada, a leading scholar of
contemporary Asian art.
But,
consortium members said that the plan was to have a grand affair every
two years. "This year was much more modest," said Ethan Cohen
of Ethan Cohen Fine Arts. "We’re saving our energy for next
year."
The
lush, hot pink paintings of Cai Jin, whose work was exhibited at a solo
show at Goedhuis Contemporary and included in a group show at Chambers
Fine Art, were extremely alluring and recalled the work of the American
artist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887 - 1986). The imaginative renderings of a
banana plant Cai first encountered in China in 1990 are richly textural
and bursting with sensuality. She gave up art for two years when she
became pregnant in 1999 and created these paintings soon after she
returned to art. While there are no obvious references to pregnancy, the
work reflects a keen understanding and love of the physical world, be it
banana leaves or a body pregnant with child.
At
Plum Blossoms Gallery were powerful satirical commentaries on the
suppression of individuality in China in Zhu Wei’s paintings,
sculptures, and woodblock prints. His colorful ink paintings show bald
men with oversized, almost cartoonish heads sardonically making the
point about the importance of the individual in a society that generally
values the collective over the individual. The faces look vacant and
disoriented, almost as if they are past the point of cynicism. The
contrast between the bright colors of the paintings and the emptiness on
the faces creates an interesting sense of unease in the work. This theme
of the collective versus the individual continues into Zhu’s
sculptural series China China where
imposing figures in Mao suits stand at a slightly tilted angle,
signifying obedience to a higher authority. Particularly impressive were
his woodblock prints, which showed off both his creativity and
craftsmanship. Woodblock printing is an ancient Chinese art and Zhu
revitalizes it with his modern, incisive compositions of iconic images
of political figures and common people.
The
fiery ink paintings of Qin Feng exhibited at Ethan Cohen Fine Arts were
another standout. Qin wonderfully merges Abstract-Expressionist language
with Chinese ink traditions and making stunning art that blazes with
images of fire, blood, and light. In his monumental works, unbridled
expressions of turmoil, ecstasy, agitation, sexual desire - every
feeling that makes a human being human - are passionately and
energetically depicted. Bold and powerful, Qin’s paintings stir a deep
and primal sense of life in the viewer.
At
a group show at Art Projects International, the works of Korean artist
Il Lee and Chinese artist Hilda Shen were of note. Lee’s ballpoint pen
drawing of a dense tangle of lines and fluid, amorphous shapes was
captivating and looked more like a beautiful painting than a drawing.
Shen’s intriguing twisted and metamorphic sculpture made of paper, ink
and wax referenced the long tradition of Chinese scholars’ rocks,
which are collected and treasured as objects of contemplation. Covered
with the fingerprint marks of different people, her work is an
interesting meditation of the nature of transformation and the
historical impact of people or cultures.
In
a more traditional vein were the ceramic works of Young Sook Pahk at
Pahk Gallery. Pahk makes exquisitely crafted forms that draw upon the
traditional wares of the Chosun dynasty (14th to 20th
century) and then infuses there with a contemporary fell by boldly
painting many of her Buncheong works with iron, copper, or cobalt
glazes. The contrast between the cool perfection of the ceramic objects
and the free spirited crushstrokes make for striking work.
Particularly
engaging was Qin Feng’s performance art piece at the Asia Society
where he painted Chinese characters and other motifs on a naked woman
with ink and a large brush. The work also had added significance since
it was the first piece involving nudity to be shown at the Asia Society.
"This shows that the Asia Society is very open to challenging
artists," said Ethan Cohen. "They have the wisdom to have a
contemporary Asian art curator and, I think, are taking the lead in
America."
Like
a lot of Asian contemporary art, most of the work exhibited during the
Week attempted to marry Asian traditions and themes with modernist,
Western mores. For example, Qin Feng used the traditional medium of ink
and brush to express himself in the modern language of Abstract
Expressionism. Cai Jin, on the other hand, drew inspiration from a
Chinese plant but used the Western medium of oil on canvas to express
her creativity. However, given that cultural specificity is getting
increasingly eroded in a globalized world and the fact that
Asian-American artists might not necessarily have strong connections to
Asian culture, events like ACAW beg the question of how Asian
contemporary art is defined.
"I
think the boundaries and definitions are less than rigid," said
Asia Society’s Chiu, adding that at this point in time, where
contemporary Asian art is still in the progress of gaining greater
recognition, one had to be more forthright in one’s definitions to
achieve larger goals. "Of course, in an ideal world, it would all
just be contemporary art," she said.
Vine
said that contemporary Asian art was a "useful" term because
there were some real cultural differences between Asia and the West and
excising the term from one’s vocabulary would mean dancing around it.
According to Stephen McGuinness the definition and appeal of Asian art
lay in its "link to a culture." "I think art coming out
of very old cultures and artists who are dealing with this long
tradition," he said.
As
far as the allure of the exotic is concerned, Vine said people in the
West often leaned towards art that was in a "recognizable
avant-garde form but had some ‘exotic’ content." "While I
don’t think artists should exoticize to play to Western spectators,
but, at the same time, I don’t think they should completely give up
their cultural specificity either because part of what makes them
interesting is that they come from different cultures," he added.
While
most galleries and institutions dealing with Asian or Asian-American
artists in New York seem content with the term "Asian contemporary
art," others seem more ambivalent but do not necessarily resist it.
However, cone gallery owner openly said he did not believe in labels and
was not part of ACAW. Deepak Talwar of Talwar Gallery, which almost
exclusively shows the work of South Asian artists, said the work he
shows is simply contemporary art with no qualifiers attached. "I do
not represent Indian artists," said Talwar, "I represent
artists. I do not show Indian art. I show art. Art is about transcending
boundaries…art ethnic label based on the origin of the artist while
defining is restrictive in engaging a wider audience and dialogue."
Although
events like ACAW do play an important role in exposing people to the
vast richness of contemporary Asian art, the event has the potential to
be much more meaningful by having well-curated exhibitions around
provocative and topical themes and greater discussion about conceptual
issues.
"In
theory, I like the idea, but there was hardly context to view the art
in," said Shelly Bahl, a New York-based artist, about ACAW,
"There was no cohesive curatorial focus, it was more of an umbrella
project. It was a loose grouping of artists from different countries
linked by national identity. Somebody needs to put the stuff together to
tell a story. The only story I got was that there was a lot of art out
there."
Emily
Cheng, another New York based artist, also echoed a similar sentiment,
saying that the event should have had greater significance if it had
addressed important issues like the effects of mass media, the use of
digital images, or preserving ancient techniques or traditions.
ACAW,
however, consortium members say, is still a work in progress, with plans
to improve continuously and to add to the event. Next year, the goal is
to involve other galleries that show contemporary Asian artists and to
publish a book. "We hope we can build a bigger and bigger base and
possibly even hand it to professional organizers in the future,"
said Stephen McGuinness. "This year, we were surfing the wave we
created last year."
---Priya
Malhotra is the New York based contributing editor for Asian Art
News and World
Sculpture News.
香港《亚洲艺术新闻》2004年1月/ 2月号
图片1说明文字：
朱伟，CO0919（中国×中国系列），2003，铸铜，左脚鞋上签有“朱伟
#5/12”，高58cm。照片由万玉堂画廊提供。
图片2说明文字：
朱伟，木刻版画
No.16 #1/8，2003，木刻版画，签字“朱伟”，90′65cm。照片由万玉堂画廊提供。
图片3说明文字：
希尔达-沈，石爱1，2003，纸、墨、蜡、石，37”′22”′21”。照片由“国际艺术项目”提供。
图片4说明文字：
秦风，文明风景之30，2003，纸墨，110′200cm。照片由“伊森-科恩工艺美术”提供
图片5说明文字：
Young
Sook Pahk，粗笔画大腕，2002，直径23.6 ′高13.8英寸。照片由Pahk画廊提供。
图片6说明文字：
李日，无题#1203，2003，丙烯、圆珠笔在油画布上，60′42英寸。照片由“国际艺术项目”提供。
图片7说明文字：
大卫-刁，躺着之二，2000，丙烯在油画布上，84′108英寸。
一星期的惊喜
作者：普赖亚-马尔赫特拉
不管一般媒体怎样评论亚洲当代美术的声望，把它介绍给更广泛的观众一直是一项艰苦努力。在纽约举办的亚洲当代美术周就是证明。于2003年11月结束的第二期活动，就显示了要把当代亚洲美术，作为艺术活动的中心内容，置于世界文化之都的若干努力。然而要想打破对亚洲美术的成见，即使在纽约，也向非易事。
在2001年11月的一个晚上，杰克和苏西-沃德斯沃斯夫妇，两人都是亚洲美术收藏家和亚洲学会的受托人，和斯蒂芬-麦柯吉尼斯，万玉堂画廊的老板，正在为在纽约推介亚洲美术的艰难而失望。在那次谈话中，他们半开玩笑地想出一个主意，搞一个合作项目以提高人们对当代亚洲美术的认识。然后，他们决定跟亚洲学会画廊和文化活动的负责人维夏卡-德赛，以及亚洲学会当代亚洲美术的保管人梅里萨-朱联系。他们两位都对这想法给予了肯定，并联系了其他一些他们认为也会对这尝试感兴趣的人。结果就是2002年1月22日在纽约马塞莱里雅餐厅举行的晚宴，大约有15人莅临，包括画廊老板，艺术保管人，和非营利组织的代表，他们全心全意地同意确有必要精诚合作以扩大当代亚洲美术的受众。他们在菜单上写满了各种支持意向，把它变成了一份宣言，于是亚洲当代美术联盟诞生了。
联盟的目标就是举办一个一年一度的为期一周的活动，以在纽约的当代美术界，美术馆馆长，和普罗大众中提高对当代亚洲美术的认知度。联盟包括16个个人，主要是画廊老板，和其他形形色色的组织，以及从属于这些组织的人。“我们公布的任务就是创造一个有分量的基石，这样我们就不是一片风中的树叶而是一颗有根的大树，”斯蒂芬-麦柯吉尼斯说。
现在已做到了第二期，于2003年11月22日结束的亚洲当代美术周（以下简称美术周）已成为在纽约提高亚洲美术知名度的一个重要里程碑。在纽约相当一部分人对亚洲文物很熟悉，但很少人了解当代亚洲美术，而美术周的宝贵贡献在于让人们有机会体验它。“这是个很关键的时机，因为现在存在着对亚洲美术的高度好奇，尤其是对中国和韩国的美术家，”“美国美术”杂志执行主编理查德-韦恩说，象美术周这样的活动对于提高经营当代亚洲美术的画廊的知名度和整个领域都“有些效果”。参加了美术周若干活动的韦恩指出到场的人非常多。“人们在用脚投票，”他说。
过去几年当代亚洲美术在纽约出现的频率不断增加，美术周的出现就是对这一趋势的证明。根据亚洲学会的报告，2001年在纽约的画廊举办展览的亚洲美术家达到993人，比1992年的238人增长了317%。而在美术馆和非营利机构参加过展览的亚洲及亚裔美国美术家2002年只比1992年增加了78%。
尽管有了这些显著的进步，还是有扩大人们对亚洲美术的认识的紧迫需要，而美术周的目的正是满足这种需要。目前活动取得了一定的成功，但联盟成员自己也知道，要实现他们制定的崇高目标，现在还只是萌芽阶段。“我们还在培养受众，”亚洲学会的梅里萨-朱说。联盟成员，“国际艺术项目”的军-李-桑德斯说现在谈论“它有多成功还为时尚早，”而同是联盟成员的收藏家大卫-索洛则认为还要在吸引更多当代西方美术收藏家上下功夫。
不管怎么说美术周在推广当代亚洲艺术上的作用应该得到肯定。在日程紧密的2003年11月这一周里，你有很好的机会一览亚洲已成名的和刚崭露头角的美术家的作品，包括有中国美术家朱伟，蔡瑾，秦风，大卫-刁，于张，义辰，韩国美术家Young
Sook Pahk，和印度美术家Sunoj
D。
由于美术周的主要目的之一是吸引当代美术收藏者观看现今亚洲美术家创作的丰富多彩的有趣的作品，它特意选在11月中旬，因为这正好是苏氏比和克里斯蒂等拍卖行拍卖西方当代美术作品的时候。“我们故意把它和亚洲拍卖会分开以扩大观众面，”麦柯吉尼斯说。
“我觉得他们是想把自己归与当代美术的世界而不是亚洲文物的范畴，”苏氏比拍卖行国际亚洲商业发展和顾客服务部经理龙美仙说。
美术周已经在唤醒西方美术收藏者上取得了进展。“我们开始看到结果了，”麦柯吉尼斯说，并提到他成功出售了一些朱伟的雕塑给一个专门收藏现代西方大师作品的收藏家。那些雕塑在曼哈顿IBM大厦的大堂中展出。
麦克尔-古德修斯，“古德修斯当代”画廊的老板，也是联盟成员之一，说他的画廊吸引了一些前来纽约参加拍卖的收藏家，并成功出售了一些画作给第一次购买亚洲当代美术的收藏家。
在2003年的美术周上，大约有20个活动，多半是展览开幕式，挤满了五天的时间。虽然一周以新展览为中心，也安排了几次讲演，一次关于当代美术的讨论，一些行为艺术，和参观工作室等内容。每晚六时到九时都有四到五个活动，观众象赶场似的从一个地方赶往另一个地方，尽可能多地观看。
尽管联盟的本意是展现亚洲美术的多样性，但整个活动中国美术占了绝大多数，只有少数日本和韩国的美术点缀。伯斯-帕奇亚画廊给活动带来了点文化多样性，展出了印度正崭露头角的几个美术家，Sunoj
D.，Justin
Ponmany，和赢得2003年伯斯-帕奇亚当代美术奖的Sumitro Basak。
绘画，不论是抽象的还是具象的，在美术周占了主导地位，几乎没有什么录影艺术，除了在“总体艺术”画廊放映了安吉-恩的新媒体作品，对古代和现代文化的游牧层面作了有趣的探索。摄影作品则仅出现于塞皮亚国际公司的世界50名摄影师展览，包括一些来自亚洲的摄影师。
总体来说，参展作品还是相当不错的，能够代表通常在纽约展出的亚洲当代美术。但是“美国美术”的韦恩说有些来自亚洲的美术作品远比美术周上展出的更前沿，几乎和西方前卫作品不相上下。不过韦恩特别提到，这里的画廊熟悉纽约观众的品味，他们在他们的展览中反映出了这点。“说实话，哪儿的前沿作品都不太有市场。”
比之前一年，这一期活动中没有什么重要的讨论，只有一次亚洲学会的维夏卡-德赛和前威尼斯双年展负责人弗朗西斯科-伯纳米之间的对话，但对话主题也集中于国际性展览会而非当代美术。去年则不同，开了一个持续了一整天的关于亚洲当代美术研讨会，与会者包括来自全世界的艺术保管者、作家、收藏家，其中不乏行内大腕如2002年德国卡塞尔“纪录”展览会艺术总监欧克威-恩威斯尔，纽约当代艺术新博物馆馆长丹-喀麦隆，和著名当代亚洲美术学者阿丕南-颇夏那达。
然而联盟成员们则说他们的计划是每两年搞一次大活动。“今年是小规模的，”“伊森-科恩工艺美术”的伊森-科恩说，“我们要为明年储备能量。”
蔡瑾的作品在“古德修斯当代”画廊举办了个展，并参加了“钱伯斯工艺美术”画廊的群展，她的华丽的暖粉色调的画极其迷人，并让人回想起美国画家乔治亚-欧奇夫（1887-1986）的作品。蔡瑾对一株她在1990年第一次遇到的香蕉树极富想象力的描画味道浓重又充斥感官刺激。她1999年怀孕后暂别了艺术两年，回来后就创作了这些作品。尽管作品没有和怀孕的明显关联，但它们仍反映了对肉体世界的敏锐观察和热爱，不管是香蕉叶还是怀胎的肚子。
在万玉堂画廊则展出了朱伟的强有力的，具讽刺意味的，批评对个性的压抑的绘画，雕塑，和木刻版画。他的色彩丰富的水墨画展现出一个个硕大的卡通化的光头形象，用讽刺的手法阐释在一个强调集体主义的社会里个人的重要性。人物的表情是空洞且迷惑的，几乎好像连愤世嫉俗的理由都没了。鲜艳的色彩和空洞的表情形成的鲜明对比使他的作品里有一种耐人寻味的忧虑意识。这种个人与集体的对抗也体现在他的雕塑作品“中国×中国”里，壮观的穿着中山装的人物略微向前倾斜，象征对更高权威的惟命是从。他的木刻版画尤其令人印象深刻，不仅展现了他的创造性而且体现了他的精湛工艺。木刻版画是一种中国古代美术形式，而朱伟通过现代手法对偶像政治人物和普通人的深刻塑造使它获得了新生。
“伊森-科恩工艺美术”画廊展示的秦风的充满激情的水墨画也是一个闪光点。秦风很好地把抽象表现主义语言和中国水墨传统结合起来，创作出惊人的爆发出火、血、和光的图像。在他意义深远的作品里，对躁动，迷幻，煽情，性欲-
所有人之所以为人的感觉- 等感情表达都有热情的充满活力的描绘。大胆而有力，秦风的绘画激发起观众对生命深刻的原始的意识。
在“国际艺术项目”举办的群展中，来自韩国的美术家李日和中国的希尔达-沈特别引人注目。李日的圆珠笔线描构成的细密的线团和流体的不规则形状非常迷人，看上去更像是一幅图画而非线描。希尔达-沈用纸、墨、蜡塑造的神秘的扭曲变形的雕塑，让人想起石头，因其引人遐思而成为中国文人喜爱的收藏品。表面印满了不同人的指纹，她的作品是对自然的变迁以及人和文化之历史撞击有趣的冥想。
Pahk画廊展出的Young Sook
Pahk的陶艺作品则更具传统风格。她精巧的工艺源自朝鲜王朝（14世纪至20世纪），但又通过在表面涂绘铁、铜、钴釉而赋予作品当代感。陶器的澹泊和随心所欲的涂画形成的鲜明对比使作品非常震撼。
尤其动人的是秦风在亚洲学会所作的行为艺术，他用一支大毛笔沾了墨在一个裸体女人身上画出各种字符和图案。这作品还有一个特别意义在于这是亚洲学会第一次展出裸体。“这说明亚洲学会对富有争议的美术家是开放的，”伊森-科恩说，“我觉得他们有足够智慧找到好的亚洲当代美术品保管人，在这方面他们在美国是领先的。”
就像大多数亚洲当代美术一样，在美术周期间展出的大多数作品都试图把亚洲传统和现代主义以及西方风俗相结合。秦风以传统的毛笔和墨水为媒介，但运用于抽象表现主义的语言来表达他自己。蔡瑾则把来自中国一棵植物的灵感表现于油画布这一西方传统媒介上。然而在全球化进程中文化特异性被逐渐销蚀，事实上很多亚裔美国美术家已跟亚洲没什么关系，美术周面临的问题是如何定义亚洲当代美术。
“我觉得界限和定义不是很严格，”亚洲学会的梅里萨-朱说，在目前当代亚洲美术还仅在争取认同的阶段，对其定义必须直接才能达到更远的目标。“当然最终的理想是它们全都是当代美术。”
韦恩说当代亚洲美术是一个“有用”的名词，因为亚洲和西方文化确有区别，删除这个名词意味着你不承认这种差异。对斯蒂芬-麦柯吉尼斯来说亚洲美术的定义和吸引力在于它与文化的关联。“我喜欢托生于古老文化的美术，和继承悠长传统的美术家，”他说。
至于说到异国情调的吸引，韦恩说，西方人倾向于“可辨认的前卫艺术形式，又带点异国风味”的美术。“我不认为美术家们应该故意以异国情调来吸引西方观众，但同时我也不认为他们应该放弃他们的文化特异性，因为他们之所以有意思的部分原因即在于他们来自不同的文化，”他补充道。
大多数从事亚洲或亚裔美国美术家的画廊和机构似乎不得不用“亚洲当代美术”这一术语，而其他人则似乎还有些犹豫，但也不一定抗拒这一术语。然而，有一家画廊的老板公开宣称他不相信标签，也不参加美术周。专门展出南亚美术家作品的淘沃画廊老板迪派克-淘沃说，他展出的作品就是当代美术，而不加任何副词。“我代理的不是印度美术家，而是美术家。我展出的是美术，美术是超越国界的…根据美术家的籍贯而插上民族标签只会限制你吸引更广泛的观众和对话。”
尽管美术州这样的活动在展现丰富多彩的当代亚洲美术上起到了重要作用，但如果活动能够围绕更撩人和更热门的主题，组织有良好解说的展览，并就观念性的问题展开更广泛的讨论，它将具有更深刻的意义。
“在理论上我喜欢这个创意，但缺乏对背景的介绍使你很难了解这些艺术的内涵，”纽约画家雪莉-巴赫在谈到美术周时说，“活动缺乏整体的主题，它更像一个综合性项目。它只是聚集了一帮来自不同国家的美术家，因为种族身份而被牵强地联系在一起。得有人把素材结合起来做点文章出来。我看到的只是有一大堆美术作品在那儿。”
另一位纽约美术家埃米利-郑也有同感，她说如果这项活动能触及到更重要的议题，诸如大众传媒的作用，数码影像的应用，或者对古老的技法和传统的保护等，它将变得更有意义。
但是联盟成员们却说，美术周还仅是一项未完成的工作，还有待不断地提高，补充新的内容。明年的目标将是发动更多从事当代亚洲美术的画廊加入，并出版一部书。“我们希望可以越做越大，甚至在未来交给专业的组织者来做，”斯蒂芬-麦柯吉尼斯说道，“今年我们就是在去年创造的潮流上冲浪。”
普赖亚-马尔赫特拉是居住于纽约的《亚洲美术新闻》和《世界雕塑新闻》特约编辑
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