ArtAsiaPacific no. 52 sets out to explore painting in Asia today. With the prevalence of new media art practices such as digital photography, video and installation, which have provided a catalyst for artists in Asia to express their ideas in pace with the rapid development of globalization, painting in ink and oil has been relegated to secondary status in the eyes of many curators and critics eager to validate a narrative of contemporary art in opposition to academic and local traditions. But such a narrative overlooks many of the exciting ways that artists in Asia are innovating painting through technical, thematic and conceptual approaches.

Features include Australian National University professor Geremie Barmé’s reflection on the global reach of Chinese art, complemented by senior editor Don J. Cohn’s return to US-based painter Wei Dong, about whom he first wrote 10 years ago. From Paris, Deepak Ananth, curator of 2005’s “Indian Summer” at the École Nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, focuses on mixed media artist Atul Dodiya, now in the prime of his career. Yukie Kamiya, associate curator at the New Museum in New York, travels to Japan’s Aomori prefecture to visit with Yoshitomo Nara on the site of his massive installation “A to Z” at the 4,000 square-meter Yoshii Brick Brew House.

New Philippines desk editor Gina Fairley introduces Manila’s thriving alternative scene through the work of Australian painter David Griggs, who paints collaboratively with local artists, incorporating street and tattoo subcultures into his large-scale canvases, and AAP’s editors wrap up the world tour by recognizing leading stars such as Bharti Kher and Liu Xiaodong alongside emerging talents Teppei Kaneuji and Suejin Chung.
In profiles, Jason Steuber interprets Los Angeles-based artist Gajin Fujita’s eye-catching mix of Japanese ukiyo-e imagery and graffiti style, while Xenia Piëch admires Yu Hong’s ephemeral figurative work on silk. This issue also recognizes some of Asia’s pioneering visions. Maymanah Farhat revisits Baghdad’s former life as a Middle East cultural center in her discussion of Iraqi painter Dia Azzawi, and Shireen Naziree gains exclusive access to reticent Malaysian master Latiff Mohidin. Pamela Rosi reports on Papua New Guinea’s guiding force Michael Mel, honored for his work in arts and cultural education by the Netherlands’ Prince Claus Fund in late 2006. And for One on One, Alex Ulam interviews architect Wang Shu, whose installation for the inaugural China Pavilion wowed visitors to the Venice Architecture Biennale 2006.

The Point critiques the recent historical survey “Cubism in Asia: Unbounded Dialogues,” which toured from Tokyo to Seoul and Singapore, and State of the Art unpacks painting’s cultural baggage by looking at the Museum of Modern Art’s retrospective of American icon Brice Marden. Film Review covers Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s sumptuous, elegiac meditation Syndromes and a Century (2006). Book Review delves into Karen Smith’s essential Nine Lives (Scalo), and Projects in the Making promotes Ben Quilty, a member of Australia’s exciting new wave. Finally, exhibition reviews traverse an enviable itinerary, with stops in Canberra, Tokyo, Manila, Bangkok, New Delhi, Berlin, Hamburg, Paris, London, New York and Philadelphia.

For this issue's Table of Contents click here.