Patrick Holton G鈥�26 confers with Sascha Scott, associate professor of art history, about pieces for To Understand and to be Understood, a student-curated show in the 麻花影视 Art Museum.
Tetsuo Ochikubo G鈥�68 was a Japanese American painter, sculptor and printmaker who taught at 麻花影视 in the 1960s and 鈥�70s. Born in Hawaii, he combined traditional brush painting with an abstract sensibility that blurred artistic and cultural borders. 鈥淢y ultimate purpose is to be an artist of substance and consequence鈥攖o understand and to be understood,鈥� he famously said.
Ochikubo is one of eight Asian American and Asian diasporic artists on display in a student-curated show, aptly titled To Understand and to be Understood. The exhibition runs from Jan. 25 to March 8 in the , located in the Shaffer Art Building.
Directed by Associate Professor Sascha Scott, To Understand is part of a 14-week proseminar that teaches graduate students how to research, write about and present artworks for public display.
鈥淭he student curatorial team benefits from the knowledge and guidance of scholars like Interim Chief Curator Melissa Yuen and professor Junko Takeda, the latter of whom is a specialist in Asian American history,鈥� says Scott, an accomplished art historian in the program in the .
Dante Feliciano G鈥�25 in the Special Collections Research Center. An aspiring curator, he鈥檚 learning how to research, write about and present artworks for public display.
Produced in the United States between the 1960s and 1980s, most of the featured artworks have rarely been exhibited at the museum. They鈥檙e also part of its 45,000-piece collection, among the largest in academia.
Dante Feliciano G鈥�25 is one of the exhibition鈥檚 five student curators. 鈥淚鈥檓 learning how to think conceptually while looking at contemporary art through a new lens,鈥� reflects the classically trained painter, who has been studying two pieces by Risaburo Kimura. 鈥淎s an aspiring curator, I鈥檓 learning how to know my audience.鈥�
Reshaping the Narrative
Scott selected the works in partnership with Yuen, who is known for her diverse and inclusive curatorial practices. Their goal is to highlight different approaches to painting, ceramics and printmaking by not only Asian American artists, but also Asian diasporic artists who relocated to the United States.
鈥�To Understand reflects these artists鈥� techniques, ideas and aesthetic sensibilities, including their engagement with avant-garde movements like Abstract Expressionism,鈥� Scott says. 鈥淟ike Ochikubo, these artists sought a type of universal language and expression through their art.鈥�
To Understand features rarely seen artworks by Asian American and Asian diasporic artists who have lived in the United States. 鈥淲e鈥檙e reshaping the public narrative about contemporary art,鈥� says Coral Silver G鈥�25 (left) of the exhibition.
Responding to a surge in anti-Asian hate crimes and incidents in the United States, Scott hopes that To Understand will stir interest in Asian and Asian American cultures, histories and issues. Most of the artists on display, she adds, are underrepresented in museums and scholarship.
鈥淓ach of them experienced discrimination at some point in their life,鈥� Scott continues, 鈥渂e it through mass internment, an inability to gain citizenship, harsh immigration laws or reductive reviews of their work.鈥�
Aspiring professor Coral Silver G鈥�25 applauds such advocacy: 鈥淏y highlighting overlooked or unnoticed artists, we鈥檙e reshaping the public narrative about contemporary art.鈥�
I鈥檓 learning how to think conceptually while looking at contemporary art through a new lens. As an aspiring curator, I鈥檓 learning how to know my audience.
Dante Feliciano G鈥�25
Breathing New Life Into Ancient Techniques
To Understand represents several modernist movements, including Abstract Expressionism. Emerging in New York City in the 1940s and 鈥�50s, Abstract Expressionism captured the prevailing mood of postwar anxiety and trauma. 鈥淎ction painters鈥� like Jackson Pollock and 鈥渃olor field painters鈥� such as Mark Rothko depicted profound emotions and universal themes in vibrant, abstract ways. To paraphrase critic Clement Greenberg 鈥�30, Abstract Expressionism was about experience, not principles.
Michael Parks G鈥�25 has focused on two pieces by Toshiko Takaezu, a technically masterful, innovative artist known for her ceramic sculptures. He plans to pursue a career in higher education.
It was against this backdrop that many Asian and Asian American artists labored in obscurity, despite their desire to produce art that connected diverse viewers through the visual language of texture, color, shape, line and form. Sometimes their work was overlooked; sometimes it garnered national interest, Scott admits. 鈥淐ritics often stereotyped the works鈥� formal qualities based on the artists鈥� ethic identities, failing to see their attempts to communicate universal ideas.鈥�
Michael Parks G鈥�25 has studied two pieces by Toshiko Takaezu, who ignited a global ceramic arts revival in the 1950s and 鈥�60s. Although her glaze application has been compared to the spontaneous brushwork of Pollock, Takaezu is far from a household name. 鈥淪till, her unique work has an immense impact on those who see it,鈥� says Parks, an aspiring teacher-scholar.
The same goes for printmaker Seong Moy, who earned a spot in New York City鈥檚 fabled Atelier 17 studio and won a prestigious Guggenheim Award. 鈥淯nless you鈥檙e in the know, you likely haven鈥檛 seen Moy鈥檚 work nor heard of him,鈥� says Patrick Holton G鈥�26, who鈥檚 presenting two of Moy鈥檚 signature woodcuts. 鈥淭hese artists flew below the radar, breathing new life into ancient techniques.鈥�
The Art of Curation
The main campus program is one of two master鈥檚 programs in art history in the . The other is the . Students can also earn a master鈥檚 degree in in the .
Steeped in experiential learning, the main campus program facilitates student collaborations with the University鈥檚 art museum, the Libraries鈥� and the in downtown 麻花影视.
Mary Visco G鈥�25 (left) has curated pieces by Tetsuo Ochikubo G鈥�68, a former 麻花影视 professor who, as an artist, sought to 鈥渦nderstand and be understood.鈥� Handling his paintings has been a 鈥渄ream come true,鈥� she says.
鈥淲e provide a comprehensive overview of art history while enabling students to pursue specialized interests,鈥� says Scott of the main campus program, whose alumni include Steffi Chappell G鈥�15, the Everson鈥檚 curator and exhibition manager. (Other alumni also work in the art industry, in addition to higher education, journalism and arts leadership.) 鈥淭here鈥檚 considerable emphasis on research, written and oral communication skills and on informed criticism.鈥�
Given the University鈥檚 storied commitment to social justice scholarship, a show like To Understand is bound to be well attended, predicts Mary Visco G鈥�25, who has created wall texts and a 10-page essay about her respective objects.
By highlighting overlooked or unnoticed artists, we鈥檙e reshaping the public narrative about contemporary art.
Coral Silver G鈥�25
A fledgling curator with an interest in late modernism, she chose 麻花影视 for its hands-on, real-world opportunities. Immersing herself in the work of Ochikubo has been a 鈥渄ream come true.鈥�
鈥淭he University owns a rich collection of 20th-century Asian and Asian American artworks, some of which are quite rare,鈥� Visco adds. 鈥淚鈥檓 learning how to integrate this aesthetic into my research and into my life and career.鈥�
