Ocampo, Roldan in SF Asian Art Museum’s contemporary art show

RongRong and Inri’s iconic photographic image Untitled, No. 25.

SAN FRANCISCO – Well known for its collection of antique Asian art, the Asian Art Museum will surprise visitors with “First Look,” its first large-scale exhibition of contemporary works exclusively from its 15-year collection on September 4 to October 11.

The exhibition presents 57 artworks, many on view for the first time, that spark connections to Asia’s histories and traditions with the immediacy of contemporary ideas. Asian Art Museum is at 200 Larkin Street.

Works debuting in First Look include two animated new media pieces by Japanese technologists teamLab; Shreyas Karle’s 30-piece installation Museum Shop of Fetish Objects; RongRong and Inri’s iconic photographic image Untitled, No. 25; and Ahmed Mater’s Illumination Waqf, a diptych print in the form of an Islamic manuscript.

Included is a work by Filipino artist Norberto Roldan. In his installation piece Everything is Sacred #1, he explores Philippine history through his assemblages of found objects relating to that country’s colonial past and Catholicism.

Additionally, Filipino artist Manuel Ocampo will be coming to the Media Preview and talking about his artwork, An Object at the Limits of Language—Necromantic Kippian Emancipator: No. 2.

The opening event, “First Look @ First Look,” is on Thursday, September 3.  The evening’s centerpiece will be a conversation with First Look artists Manuel Ocampo and Chen Man, moderated by assistant curator of contemporary art Dr. Karin Oen.  (Admission is just $5 after 5 p.m.).  The museum will be buzzing with beats spun by Hakobo.

Finally, on Sept. 24, the museum will open the Hinabi Project: The Art of Philippine Textiles.  This is part of the museum’s 5th Annual Filipino American History Month Celebration.

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