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    ‘Wonder Women’ Celebrates the Dazzling Figurative Work of Asian Diasporic Artists

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    Dominique Fung, “Bone Holding Fan” (2021). All images courtesy of the artists and Rizzoli, shared with permission

    ‘Wonder Women’ Celebrates the Dazzling Figurative Work of Asian Diasporic Artists

    May 15, 2025

    ArtBooksSocial Issues

    Kate Mothes

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    In February 2020, curator and gallery director Kathy Huang met artist Dominique Fung—a month before the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down. Their conversations, which continued throughout quarantine, served as an impetus for what would become Huang’s Wonder Women exhibitions at Jeffrey Deitch.

    During their chats, Huang and Fung lamented “the uptick in violence against Asian American communities, particularly against women and the elderly,” Huang says in the introduction to her forthcoming book, Wonder Women: Art of the Asian Diaspora.

    Mai Ta, “mirror image” (2022)

    The two also found it difficult to pinpoint when the last major exhibition had been staged that thoughtfully presented Asian artists, and neither could think of an instance where women and nonbinary artists had been the focus. Both of Huang’s exhibitions and her new book are the fruit of that desire to highlight the remarkable spectrum of figurative work being produced within the Asian diasporic community today.

    A response to racism against Asians exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Huang conceived of the shows that went on view in 2022 in New York and Los Angeles as a means to highlight the incredible, groundbreaking work made especially by women and nonbinary artists.

    Forthcoming from Rizzoli, Wonder Women shares a similar title to a poem by Genny Lim, which follows experiences of Asian women through the lens of a narrator who observes their everyday routines and considers how their lives relate to hers.

    Huang expands on this view in her approach to showcasing the work of forty artists, each represented through at least four pieces and a personal statement. These artists “subvert stereotypes and assert their identities in places where they have historically been marginalized,” Rizzoli says.

    Sally J. Han, “At Lupe’s” (2022)

    Artists like Sasha Gordon or Nadia Waheed explore identity through sometimes fantastical self-portraiture, while others highlight family, community, and colonial or patriarchal systems in the West. Some address Asian myths, legends, and visual culture, like Fung’s exploration of antique objects or Shyama Golden’s otherworldly scenes in which hybrid human-animals interact with nature or urban spaces.

    Wonder Women will be released on May 20. Order your copy from the Colossal Shop.

    Shyama Golden, “The Passage” (2022)

    Chelsea Ryoko Wong, “It’s Mah Jong Time!” (2022)

    Nadia Waheed, “Bolides/ 852” (2022)

    Cover featuring a painting by Sasha Gordon

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      In Hyperrealistic Oil Paintings, Chloe West Summons Magical Realism in the American West

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      “Gored Cowboy” (2024-25), oil on linen, 84 x 68 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and HARPER’S, New York, shared with permission

      In Hyperrealistic Oil Paintings, Chloe West Summons Magical Realism in the American West

      April 10, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      Set against mountains, desert plains, and the cobalt blue skies one finds at high elevations, Chloe West’s striking oil paintings merge Dutch Golden Age iconographies with both mythic and everyday motifs of the American West.

      West was born and raised in Wyoming, the peaks and pastures of which continue to influence her hyperrealistic figurative works. In her current solo exhibition, Games of Chance at HARPER’S, the artist draws on European portraiture and still life traditions in a series of self-portraits and tableaux challenging stereotypes of the West as a frontier molded by machismo.

      “Cowboy Philosopher” (2024-25), oil on linen, 84 x 68 inches

      “Cowboy Philosopher,” for example, portrays the artist in direct confrontation with the viewer, seated beside a mountain lion skull at a table covered with a celestial tapestry. The painting evokes Salomon Koninck’s “A Philosopher” (1635) and works by other Flemish artists of the 17th and 18th centuries, who often depicted alchemists and scholars in their studies accompanied by skulls, devices, and documents.

      West subverts our understanding of cowboy culture as predominantly masculine, juxtaposing her own body with bones, small weapons, and fabric backdrops that establish a tension between life and death, folklore and daily life, and the sacred and the profane. Animal bones, thorns, and knives nod to memento mori, a reminder of the impermanence of life, while also invoking the supernatural and a sense of cyclical time. Casting deep, dark shadows, the glaring sun reveals all.

      Portraying herself in western wear, West bonds to the continuum of the landscape and its customs and narratives while considering the way European attitudes and actions like Manifest Destiny shaped our understanding of the region. The artist taps into legend, history, and magical realism to blur distinctions between the past and contemporary experience. “Ultimately, throughout Games of Chance, West confronts the idealization of frontier heroism, dismantling its pre-established boundaries and expanding upon the legacy it left behind,” the gallery says.

      Games of Chance opens today and continues through May 10 in New York City. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      “Hand with Opossum Skull” (2024-25), oil on linen, 24 x 20 inches

      Detail of “Gored Cowboy”

      “Trapper’s Still Life” (2024-5), oil on linen, 48 x 38 inches

      “Pearled Back” (2024-25), oil on linen, 58 x 46 inches

      “Portrait with Capped Skull” (2024-25), oil on linen, 58 x 48 inches

      “Pocketknife” (2024), oil on linen, 16 x 12 inches

      “St. Veronica at the Geyser Basin” (2024-25, oil on linen, 48 x 38 inches

      “Hand with Thorn” (2024-25), oil on linen, 24h x 20w in

      Detail of “Cowboy Philosopher”

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    • 163 Shares99 Views

      in Art

      Collaged Portraits by Emma Odumade Draw on the Past to Face the Future

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      “Call of Duty (A New Anthem)” (2024), charcoal, acrylic, ink, vintage photos, and black tea on canvas, 101.6 x 101.6 centimeters. All images courtesy of the artist and Unit London, shared with permission

      Collaged Portraits by Emma Odumade Draw on the Past to Face the Future

      October 8, 2024

      ArtPhotography

      Kate Mothes

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      Growing up in Lagos, Emma Odumade always drew cartoons and created collages on paper. As he continued to make work, his interest grew in highlighting the world around him, especially young people in his community.

      Odumade’s vibrant portraits and self-portraits, the latter of which he makes toward the end of every year, reflect a sense of unity, a search for self, love, and anticipation of the future. These particular works arose as “an attempt to have a diary—I never had one,” he says. “I needed to rediscover myself; see myself from an angle—from a third eye. My art became a mirror, through which I was a reflection.”

      “Mister Fly” (2024), charcoal, acrylic, vintage photos, ink, graphite, colored pencil, and black tea on canvas, 147.32 x 119.38 centimeters

      Portraits serve as records of activities and experiences, documenting the artist’s observations and referencing history and culture to tell personal stories. He combines images with other mediums like charcoal, acrylic, ink, and repurposed earlier sketches, invoking what he calls “stamps of moments”—a collection of memories viewed through the spectrum of past, present, and future.

      “I love that I can reference historical events, stolen African artifacts, and my humble beginnings through a photo,” Odumade tells Colossal. He collages the backgrounds of many compositions with numerous black-and-white images dyed with tea to give an antique appearance. “The vintage brown look of the old photos is to remind viewers about [the] past and to give a ‘test of time’ feeling.”

      Five new works will be presented by Unit London at 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London, which runs from October 10 to 13. Explore more of Odumade’s practice on Instagram.

      “My Favorite Albert’s Theory” (2020-2021), charcoal, acrylic, ink, black tea, and sketch paper on canvas, 163 x 148 centimeters. Additional credit to Lekan Abatan

      “Seth; Why Run Away From Light Equals Infin9s” (2021-2022), charcoal, graphite, acrylic, ink, sketches, old photos, and black tea on paper. Additional credit to Ken Nwadiogbu

      “A Wave to Remember” (2024), charcoal, acrylic, black tea, and vintage photos on canvas, 146.05 x 119.38 centimeters

      “Three Sequences” (2021), charcoal, acrylic, black tea, ink, and old photos on canvas, 124 x 97 centimeters. Additional credit to Eshinlokun Wasiu

      “First Motion to Fly (Mr. Professor)” (2024), charcoal, acrylic, ink, vintage photos, feather, and black tea on canvas, 147.32 x 119.38 centimeters

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

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