Wonder Women: Figurative Art of the Asian Diaspora

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Genny Lim s poem Wonder Woman ,first published in 1981, follows a narrator who observes the everyday lives of Asian women across generations, countries, and socioeconomic backgrounds wondering if their experiences reflect her own. The poem centers Asian women as its protagonists and asks what commonalities exist between these women. Often underrepresented in museum collections and important exhibitions, Asian American women and non-binary artists are now receiving recognition: This book expands on two landmark shows, curated by Kathy Huang, at Jeffrey Deitch in New York in May 2022 and Los Angeles in September 2022, organized in response to increasing anti-Asian racism and violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. The forty featured artists, each represented with five paintings and a personal statement, subvert stereotypes and assert their identities in places where they have historically been marginalized. While some featured artists explore identity through self-portraiture, others depict the heroines in their lives, offering works that highlight family, community, and history. Several of the works address colonial and patriarchal structures in the West, legends, and myths. With newly-commissioned essays and paintings created within the last four years, this book is a current, open-ended collection of contemporary Asian American experiences.

Author Bio

Kathy Huang is Managing Director, Art Advisory and Special Projects at Jeffrey Deitch. She has organized exhibitions such as Ai Weiwei: Zodiac (2018), Judy Chicago: Los Angeles (2019), Dominique Fung: It's Not Polite To Stare (2021), Sasha Gordon: Hands Of Others (2022), and Wonder Women (2022). Aleesa Alexander is the Robert M. and Ruth L. Halperin Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. Alexander is a founding co-director of the Asian American Art Initiative which seeks to make the Cantor and Stanford a leading academic and curatorial center for the study of Asian American and Asian diaspora artists.