FAIR TRADE Dagvasambuu, who integrates Mongolian and Buddhist motifs with contemporary themes as she chronicles the lives of everyday women in her post-nomadic homeland; Saule Dyussenbina, a Kazakh multimedia artist who mixes traditional Kazakh motifs with contemporary objects that touch on themes of human alternations of environment and urbanization; Brooklyn-based artist Heeseop Yoon, born and raised in Seoul, Korea, is known for her large-scale line drawing installations and intricate black-and-white drawings that deal with memory and perception within cluttered spaces. Malaysian artist Ahmad Zakii Anwar’s paintings of fruits engaged in intimate acts express his interests in portraying the psychological and cosmological inquiries of the human spirit and body within one’s environment. As a curator of Asian art, I was excited to work with you on this project because of your interest in Asian artists in lesser-known regions. Can you speak more to your gallery’s projects and involvements in Asia and with Asian artists? NL: As a gallery we have a very particular interest and investment in Asia, especially the lesser-known regions of Asia. Raushan Sapar, the gallery’s co-founder, is from Kazakhstan, so we have been exploring Central Asia, Mongolia, and Southeast Asia for many years. I have traveled widely in Asia for research and studio visits. Our Incubator program is focused on the greater Central Asian region. This is how we ended up representing important artists from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and other countries in the region. This year all of my travel plans were canceled, but we stayed close to our artists in the region. JC: I am thrilled that this show is in Dallas, especially during these unprecedented times, as it brings hope and positivity as we step into 2021. NL: We have been showing in Dallas for as long as the gallery has existed. My annual trip to the Dallas Art Fair has become a ritual I look forward to. Over the years we have shown many of our Asian artists, who in turn have developed a steady following among Dallas collectors. Shinji-Turner Yamamoto, a Japanese American artist whose work we have brought to Dallas almost every year, has been included in a number of important collections in Texas. Heeseop Yoon, a Korean American artist, has drawn groups of local art students to our booth for the last few years—art professors from the University of North Texas brought students to discuss Heeseop’s astonishing mark-making and drawing skills. I was saddened like everyone that I could not come to Dallas in 2020, so this exhibition is really a way for us to be more creative and to collaborate with the Dallas Art Fair. We proposed something more thoughtful and ambitious than an art fair booth—we wanted to work on a curated show that is focused on one region but also shows unexpected, fresh, and exciting work from lesser-known regions of Asia. I hope that at a time when we cannot travel, this exhibition will offer an exciting and refreshing alternative. P
Mulyana, Bety 1 2020, yarn, Dacron, cable wire, plastic, net, 73.62 x 37.37 x 20.12.
Uuriintuya Dagvasambuu, Protected IV, acrylic on canvas, 56.25 x 21.75 in.
Jacqueline Chao, Ph.D. is Senior Curator of Asian Art at the Crow Museum of Asian Art of the University of Texas at Dallas. Since joining the museum in 2016, she has curated and organized over 20 exhibitions at the museum featuring works ranging from the historical to the contemporary in all media from artists from across the globe. A specialist in Chinese and Buddhist art, she is a widely published author and frequent lecturer on Asian Art. Nina Levent, Ph.D. is an art historian, a museum expert, and the founding director of SAPAR Contemporary Gallery + Incubator. Dr. Levent’s curatorial and research interests include multisensory art, figurative representations in Western and Eastern cultures, crossdisciplinary research on creativity and perception, and cultural inclusion in contemporary art. She is deeply interested in the rich sensory heritage of Central Asia and Caucasus.
FEBRUARY / MARCH 2021
31