Solace in Painting: Reflecting on a Tumultuous Century
Contemporary art discourse is often driven by an unspoken interest in trauma. But what of artists from underrepresented communities whose lives were altered by conflicts of the twentieth century, yet who chose to never directly represent their traumatic experiences? “Solace in Painting” explores how we characterize and raise awareness about artwork of conflicted artists of the Asian diaspora who never produced overt “conflict art.” This traveling exhibition features three little-researched diasporic painters—Chao Shao-an (1905-1998), Keisho Okayama (1934- 2018), and Ann Phong (1957-)—brought together through their unusual and oblique approaches to painting shared experiences of major conflicts in Asia.Curated by Dr. Fletcher Coleman, assistant professor of art history and museum studies, University of Texas at Arlington, with an exhibition catalogue produced by Scala Arts and Heritage Publishers Ltd., featuring contributions by Dr. Coleman and Dr. Yukio Lippit of Harvard University.