One Way or Another Asian American Art Now

That’s Kaz Oshiro, who used to work for Anime Jungle in Little Tokyo. He’s standing next to some cabinets, and they look like the place where you’d put your dishes and cups, but alas, they aren’t real. They’re paintings. How is that you ask? Easy. They’re layer upon layer of geso, so thick that they’ve smoothed out the canvas and have become thick and shiny like a formica surface. He’s part of the One Way or Another Asian American Art Now at the Japanese American National Museum which just opened up this weekend in LA. Using upstairs and down, this show features work from an array of artists who are the up and comers of fine art, sometimes weird art across the country. This is the second stop of a touring art exhibition.

No don’t dump trash in there! It doesn’t work, but it looks real.

Here too. See the back? It’s a canvas, but from the front, it looks like a mini fridge.

Won’t be makin’ bacon no more.

Glenn Kaino’s taxidermy takes pieces of stuffed flesh and is put back together like patchwork.

Ala Ebtekar mixes hip hop and sneaker culture with an Iranian Coffee joint.

Even the sketchbooks have traditional patterns.

Michael Arcega’s ark. Inside were different kinds of meat.

Xavier Cha as featured in a past GR issue, way back for her topiary tagging.

Weezer had a song about sweaters. These are sweaters all over the walls and the string linking them together.

ceo Akemi and curator Karen H. Karen did a talk and said you should feel challenged. I did at some points, and I guess that means I’m on the right track.