Artists in the Exhibition | Michael Arcega | Xavier Cha | Patty Chang | Binh Danh | Mari Eastman | Ala Ebtekar | Chitra Ganesh | Glenn Kaino | Geraldine Lau | Jiha Moon | Laurel Nakadate | Kaz Oshiro | Anna Sew Hoy | Jean Shin | Indigo Som | Mika Tajima | Saira Wasim | Co-Curators | Melissa Chiu | Karin Higa | Susette S. Min

One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now brings together 17 artists from across the country who challenge and extend the category of Asian American art. The title of the exhibition, inspired by the 1970s Blondie hit, suggests that there has never been a formulaic way of making or seeing art, either back then or now. Instead, these artists initiate a new set of conversations that highlight the multidimensional ways of conceptualizing and producing art today.

The selected artists came of age in various parts of the United States during the late 1970s and 1980s. They have at their disposal a wide array of art historical practices, popular culture references, and local influences. What characterizes much of their art, as distinguished from the work of previous generations, is a freedom to choose, manipulate, and reinvent different kinds of languages and issues, whether formal, conceptual, or political. The works in the exhibition, many of them made especially for this show, reflect this energy. Together, the artists and their work defy a definitive conception of Asian American art.