Asian art now

Contemporary Asian art is too significant to be overlooked or underestimated in a globalised art world. In exhibitions across East and Souheast Asia, every artist showcases their own unique form of expression which links to their cultural identity and way of doing things. Typical themes in Asian art include nature and the natural world, as well as the impact of one’s social position. There are also recurring themes such as figures wearing masks. Contemporary visual arts in Asia, however, extend beyond traditional practices such as printmaking, silk painting and stone carvings to include forms of visual arts such as film-making, photography, performance art, fashion design, industrial design, and architecture. Asia Art Platform 2022, for example, is a cooperative project that presents five pieces of art through their theme of the animistic practices underlying Asian culture. The pieces, by artists from Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan and Thailand, bring light to the style of life based on value for the invisible, natural, sacred, and bring a fresh perspective on the social and political conditions faced by each region, as well as the problems caused by globalisation and modernisation.

Complexities and contradictions

For a country obsessed with the new, the word 'history' crops up frequently in contemporary Chinese art. But not only in China. All of Asia has become the most diverse and fast-changing continent in the world. This can be seen in the new directions in 21st century art, from Korea and Indonesia to India and Vietnam. But while the artists' approaches are largely universal, in the midst of commercialisation and ever-growing range of media, there is also resistance to globalisation as artists seek to balance their individual identity, and local culture, with universal narratives.