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Asian Art—Both New and Old—Fascinates and EnlightensA funny thing happened to me on the way to the Whitney Biennial. I fully intended to write my May column on this always-controversial show, but decided to stop off first at the Asia Society. I'd heard that they had a sumptuous exhibition of Japanese folding screens. And since it was small, it shouldn't take too long.
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| Lisa Reihana, Native Portraits n.19897, 1997, multimedia installation, collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. (Photo courtesy of the Asia Society) |
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Upon walking into the museum's Park Avenue entrance, I was surprised by a bunch of security guards. But wait! These were only plaster casts: to be specific, 15 life-sized, identical portraits of the brother of the artist, Michael Parekowhai. I wanted to know more, and was informed that they made up part of a show called "Paradise Now? Contemporary Art from the Pacific." Now intrigued, I continued on.Upstairs, a formally dressed man, arms folded across his body, appeared not once, but several times, peering closely at works on the wall. He too, turned out to be a plaster cast, this time modeled on Parekowhai's father. A label on his jacket says, "Hello, I'm Hori." The artist explained in a published interview that non-Maoris use the name "Hori" (a variant of George) disparagingly for Maori people. The aim of both of these art installations is to comment on stereotyping of indigenous peoples. But in this case, the very objects of derision have become instead the stars; they are performers and objects of art, as well as the artists responsible for the art in this exhibition.
I couldn't leave now. The questions the participating artists asked and the issues they addressed were so thought-provoking and poignant that they forced me to examine my own assumptions, blind spots, and ignorance. Using irony and humor, they seriously confront European and American exploitation of the South Pacific and its population, long regarded as "Paradise." But paradise for whom?
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| Musashino at Sunset, Edo period, 17th century, ink, color, and gold on paper, Peggy and Richard M. Danziger Collection. (Photo by Schecter Lee) |
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This groundbreaking presentation of contemporary art from New Zealand and the Pacific islands offers diverse answers; it includes 45 works by 15 artists who are living or have lived in New Zealand (Maori or Samoa), the Strait Islands, New Caledonia, Hawaii, and Fiji. The artists make use of photography, video, assemblage, installation art, and sculpture to present their varying points of view.I was especially taken with Michel Tuffery's Povi Tau Vaga (1996), a bull made of corned-beef tins, and his barracuda, of fish tins. Both are ironic comments on the replacement of fresh meat and fish with imported, canned products, causing long-term health problems for Pacific Islanders. You can't help thinking of Gauguin and the Polynesian titles he used for the paintings he made in Tahiti. (Indeed, the Asia Society presented a multimedia performance on April 30, titled Gauguin Is Dead, There Is No Paradise.)
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| Michael Parekowhai, Poorman, Beggarman and Thief (detail), 1994, fiberglass mannequin with black tie, dinner suit, and name tag, collection of Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand. (Photo courtesy of the Asia Society) |
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Lisa Reihana's video installation, Ken Thaiday's dance masks, Denise Tiavouane's The Modern Dance (a 1998 installation), and others all appropriate images that combine post-colonial and traditional themes. They use these as metaphors, demonstrating through them the actual contemporary convergence of cultures in the islands of the Pacific. Run and see this show, since it ends May 9. You might even find your own metaphors for your own culture—whatever that may be."Golden Fantasies: Japanese Screens From New York Collections," a separate show on a different floor, will take you to a totally different world. Very much worth seeing, it is as gorgeous, sumptuous, and informative as I expected. The curator, Rosina Buckland, a doctoral student at N.Y.U., handpicked this small exhibition, which focuses on just a few Japanese screens from the 16th and 17th centuries, from the late Muromachi to the early Edo period. The show's title refers to the gold leaf artists lavishly applied to depict both earth and sky motifs. The screens, known as byôbu (literally "wind protection," as one of their functions was to prevent drafts), originally belonged to aristocratic Japanese families but have found their way into private New York collections. Many can be seen here in public for the first time.Both functional and decorative, they are beautiful, fragile, rare, and varied in both style and subject matter. The themes of the screens are divided into three sections: Narratives; Lives of the People; and Nature as Symbol. These and the sub-themes are well known, and taken from time-honored traditions. The complete exhibition comprises 11 pairs and two single screens, but, because of their sensitivity to light, most had to be rotated on April 6, halfway through the run. Two from the first half of the showing remain on view: The Four Seasons and Musashino at Sunset.
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| The Four Seasons, Muromachi or Momoyama period, mid- to late-16th century, ink and light color on paper, Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, Asia Society. (Photo by Susumu Wakisaka, Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo) |
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The first of these is a pair of six-panel screens, done in ink and light color on paper, dating from the mid- to late-16th century. They depict a kind of idealized mental escape for gentlemen-scholars who, in reality, lived in cities and probably had no time for the activities shown. Spring, on the right-hand side, is opposed to the wintry peaks of the far left. The intricately delineated rocks, mountains, trees, buildings, and tiny people derive from Chinese poetry and painting.Musashino at Sunset, made perhaps a century later, could not provide more of a contrast. A two-panel screen, it shows only an enormous red sun sinking in a strangely balanced though asymmetrical composition. Gold leaf dominates the background, while only an intimation of tall grasses moving in the wind balances the stillness. Appealing to the Western eye, it seems almost related to Adolph Gottlieb's Abstract Expressionist Bursts of the 1950s and '60s; it is a meditative, deceptively simple, unforgettable painting.Other utterly diverse screens contain subject matter ranging from horse racing to battles, and from narrative epics such as the Tale of Genji and Tales of Ise to cherry-blossom viewing. This is hardly surprising, as the functions of the screens varied just as widely, from serving as space dividers in houses to focusing attention on important individuals—even being used on occasions out-of-doors, such as flower-viewings and picnics.The third show, "Wrathful Deities in Buddhist Art," is small, but fascinating. Comprising both sculpture and painting, it is worth a quick visit, if only to correct our misperceptions of these fierce gods as demons. On the contrary, their purpose is a positive one: to help the faithful combat the many obstacles to enlightenment, certainly a necessary task in today's world.The Asia Society—located at Park Avenue and 70th Street—is a short, crosstown bus ride from Juilliard, just across Central Park. In nice weather, it's a pleasant walk. Either way, it's a trip worth taking. Hours are Tuesday to Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m."Paradise Now?" runs through May 9; "Golden Fantasies: Japanese Screens from New York Collections" runs through June 27; "Wrathful Deities in Buddhist Art" runs through August 22.Art historian Greta Berman has been on the liberal arts faculty since 1979.
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