ArtAsiaPacific Magazine - July - August 2015

In this issue

In this issue, we look at Japanese illustrator-turned-artist Tomoo Gokita, a boho-geek and hero on the zine and indie-music scenes, and delve into the life and artistic methods of Zhao Zhao, the young self-proclaimed hooligan-style artist who shot Ai Weiwei’s politically sensitive documentaries when serving as his amanuensis. We also examine the provocative practice of 36-year-old Lebanese artist Raed Yassin, whose medley of media encompasses music, sound, text, installation and film. For our special column Inside the Burger Collection, artist, critic and educator Quddus Mirza interviews Mumbai-based artist Reena Kallat.

In Profiles, AAP sits down with Neha Choksi in Mumbai to discuss her existentialist performances and installations. We also look at the practice of Patricia Perez Eustaquio, a Filipino fashion designer-turned-artist, and Japan’s Yoshitomo Nara, who elaborates on how the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake impacted his work. We also meet the entrepreneurial David Chau, a young Shanghai-based art enthusiast with an affinity for buying art and backing commercial art projects.

The Essays section features the second installment of our three-part exploration of the United Arab Emirates’ developing cultural landscape, and an in-depth study of Hong Kong ink painter Wai Pongyu’s recent ballpoint-pen sketches based on visits to Japanese Buddhist temples.

For the Point, longtime gallerist Dorsey Waxter confronts the growing trend of online art consumption, arguing in favor of the need to keep looking at art offline and in real time. Independent curator and critic Feng Boyi files a Dispatch report from Beijing, and in One on One, conceptual Korean-American sculptor Michael Joo reminisces about his unfolding encounters over two decades with the absurdist works of Seoul-based artist Kim Beom. For Where I Work, AAP visits the Jeddah studio of Ahmed Mater—a surgeon, artist and curator, who has helped build a homegrown arts community in Saudi Arabia.