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The large paintings by Toby Barnes are certainly stunning. Surrealist piles of oddly shaped objects, precisely delineated on repeated batik designs, make for joyous and probably nonsensical fictional settings, sometimes with a kind of tribal face or mask worked into the design. I don\u2019t know how these relate to Barnes\u2019s Thai background\u00a0\u2014 maybe the batik itself, associated with Asian art\u00a0\u2014 but like much of the show, the works function independently of that theme.<\/p>\n
There are several essential handmade mulberry paper works by Ruby Silvious, using a Korean technique called Joomchi, which builds up several layers to make a strong and highly textural sheet. Silvious devises holes and further textures throughout the surfaces to reveal the colors given to separate layers, which appear and disappear and create clever visual interplay.<\/p>\n
Among the more intriguing works are a series of photographs scattered throughout the gallery. They are small, very tungsten-yellow, and fairly incidental views of domestic interiors, lifted as a group by their apparent inconsequence. The artist, Gabrielle Lau, explains that these are scenes taken during her visits to \u201cYa-Ya and Ying Ying\u2019s house\u201d in Queens, and they form a love letter to her grandparents there.<\/p>\n
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There is still much more in this show, like the wild, swooshy abstractions of Yeachin Tsai, the detailed works in deceptive traditional veins by Mengde Shi, some small watercolor and ink works of spontaneous slices of ordinary life by Ottavia Huang, and two photographs by Siwei Song, all wrapped in subjects or styles that fit the curators\u2019 theme, embracing mostly Asian and Asian-American art.<\/p>\n
What might the show say about that theme? Are there identifiable strands and effects, influences and histories, that identify with Asia and the Pacific Islands? I think the answer is a qualified yes, in individual cases. The show does well to bring some of these to our attention. Is there an overarching feeling for a movement or trend, or even some common intentions and feelings overall? Probably not.<\/p>\n
But maybe that\u2019s not important, that\u2019s not the point. What matters is the disparate individual voices within this broader diaspora, which, to me, is too often neglected in our search for diversity and inclusion\u00a0\u2014 and in our search for good art.<\/p>\n
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