San Francisco's first Asian Contemporary Art Week (ACAW-SF) is officially wrapped up now, but I managed to squeeze in another of its many events Tuesday night when I went to go hear art critic Holland Cotter speak at the Asian Art Museum in conjunction with their opening-week celebrations for Phantoms of Asia. Cotter has long been committed to covering art from other countries, especially from those outside the so-called western world, and his criticism in the New York Times is exactly the sort of engaged and unpretentious writing I strive to accomplish even in my short pieces. His talk at the Asian inspired me all over again, especially when he spoke of bringing passion and an attitude of generosity to the acts of art-viewing and art-writing. As for ACAW-SF, even if you missed the fun this week there's still the most excellent Phantoms show to see as well as exhibitions at Frey Norris, Haines, the Art Institute, and Yerba Buena (to name just a few). We are never lacking in options 'round these here parts.
See also:
- Holland Cotter's An Art Critic in Africa series
- Phantoms of Asia at the Asian Art Museum
- Tomokazu Matsuyama and Jagannath Panda at Frey Norris Contemporary and Modern
- Zhan Wang, Ai Weiwei, Yoshitomo Saito, Tokihiro Sato, Xing Danwen, and Rong Rong at Haines Gallery
- Lin Yilin at SFAI
- John-Mark Ikeda and Wang Qingsong at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
