PASADENA, Calif.― Banquet: A Feast for the Senses is a new multi-media, contemporary art exhibition that explores the Asian banquet and the link between food and culture as expressed in works of art. The exhibit is currently on display at the Pacific Asia Museum through February 4, 2007.
Banquet is an exploration of the role of food in society, and focuses on family, gender, and religion. It offers a deeper understanding of various Asian cultures through a 3,000 square-foot exhibition of paintings, prints, sculpture, video and photography.
The 14 Asian and Asian-American artists represented in this exhibition include Chiho Aoshima, Ambreen Butt, Patty Chang, Jiae Hwang, Sang-Bin Im, Takehito Koganezawa, Aragna Ker, Susan Lee-Chun, Li Jin, Kohei Nawa, Kaz Oshiro, Jung Eun Park, Zhang Huan, and Zhi Lin.
More than half of the artists participating in Banquet created new works especially for this show.
One of the larger works of art on display includes the Inkwash on Xuan paper called Harvest 1 by Li Jin. It is a little over 15 ft. long and almost 2 ft. high. Li Jin's work has been shown internationally and his work is in numerous institutions including the National Museum of Art in Beijing as well as museums in the United States.
Li Jin specializes in ink-wash paintings on paper that represent scenes of everyday life. Jin is influenced by depictions of food in Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1260-1368) dynasty Gongbi paintings—known for their detailed and graceful style. Jin combines this older style with his own technique in the banquet scenes on display. His simple but carefully constructed line drawings of the human figure are able to communicate an appreciation of the human condition in Chinese culture that is not normally seen in artwork in the Western world.
Depicting the intersection of food with gender issues, Chiho Aoshima's computer drawn, digital print Sublime Grave Dweller Shinko, portrays the deity Shinko in the act of consuming negative souls in a cemetery and exhaling their cleansed spirits in the form of moths. A young woman shown in the lower right-hand corner of the artwork appears to have lost all self-confidence. Aoshima makes a sharp contrast of this forlorn female figure with the vibrant goddess Shinko.
On display is a stunningly detailed, vertically large ( 144 x 84 inches) painting, "Starvation," by Zhi Lin that depicts a crowd of people enjoying a large banquet of food in front of caged prisoners as a form of punishment. The painting is one of a total of 5 paintings by Zhi Lin that depict the 5 capital punishments in China.
Zhang Huan is another featured artist who has gained international attention through the use of his own body to portray his version of the human condition. In the self-portrait Foam, he is shown with a small old family photo in his mouth while covered in soapy foam. This simulated act of cleansing his body while consuming the photo represents a desire to absorb and make his relatives a part of him.
Banquet offers a variety of Asian cultural flavors and textures to appreciate and enjoy. In addition, the Museum's varied collections of precious Asian-Pacific artwork is available for viewing during this special exhibit.
Museum Location and Information
Pacific Asia Museum is located at 46 North Los Robles Avenue, one half block north of Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. On Friday nights in November and December the museum is open until 8 p.m. The exhibition is included with regular museum admission: $7 general, $5 seniors/students.
The museum will offer a series of programming related to Banquet: A Feast for the Senses, including lectures, curator's tours and special events. The exhibition is curated by Chip Tom.
For more information check www.pacificasiamuseum.org or call the reservations line at (626) 449-2742, ext. 31.
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