Fellow Artists! – Art Groups in Southeast Asia

Is your image of an artist of a lonely genius? On the contrary, artists often realize their talent by reaching out to the others with similar thoughts and ideas to exchange ideas on artworks or collaborate on an exhibition. Especially in Asia, where necessary art infrastructures, such as a place for exhibiting the works without restrictions, were limited, such networks have played a very important role for the artists to continue their career. The Asian artists have faced difficulties, such as a shortage in material supply due to war or civil conflict, insufficient supports from public art institutions, and restriction on their freedom of expression by the government censorship.

Under such environment, various art groups have been founded in Asia, and have cultivated meaningful networks. The activities of these groups vary from running a physical space, to only organizing temporal events or performances. Some grow in response to a certain social movement, and others continue throughout the generations. Through the activities of the art groups, we can see the dynamic relationship between art and society, which is unique to Asia.

This exhibition introduces the works of six contemporary art groups and its members as listed below.

Art Groups Featured in the Exhibition: Gangaw Village Art Group (Myanmar), Indonesia New Art Movement (Indonesia), Black Artists in Asia (The Philippines), The Artists Village (Singapore), Nha San Studio (Vietnam), and Rumah Air Panas (Malaysia).