"This lavishly illustrated and authoritative volume introduces the works and ideas of the most promising artists of the region. Steeped in a rich heritage of religious and secular art and crafts, painters and sculptors have begun to explore forms and functions borrowed from Western cultural traditions."--BOOK JACKET.

This anthology explores artistic practices and works from a diverse and vibrant region. Scholars, critics, and curators offer their perspectives on Southeast Asian art and artists, aiming not to define the field but to Illuminate its changing nature and Its Interactions with creative endeavors and histories originating elsewhere. These essays examine a range of new and modern work, from sculptures that Invoke post-conflict trauma In Cambodia to Thai art Installations that Invite audience participation and thereby challenge traditional definitions of the "art obJect." In this way, the authors not only provide a lively stUdy of regional art, but challenge and expand broad debates about international and transnational art.

This foundational anthology maps the emergence of a dynamic new global phenomenon: contemporary Asian art. In 2008, Asia stormed the citadel of the New York art world when two major museums presented retrospectives of Asian contemporary artists: Cai Guo-Qiang at the Guggenheim Museum and Takashi Murakami at the Brooklyn Museum. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, a painting by Zeng Fanzhi sold for $9.5 million, setting a new world auction record for Chinese contemporary art. The Western art world is still coming to grips with the challenge: it is all about Asia now. This book is the first anthology of critical writings to map the shift in both the nature and the reception of Asian art over the past twenty years. Offering texts by leading figures in the field (mostly Asian), and including more than fifty illustrations in color and black and white, it covers developments in East Asia (including China, Korea, and Japan), South Asia (including India and Pakistan), and Southeast Asia (including Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand). Together, the twenty-three texts posit an historical and pan-Asian response to the question, "What is Asian contemporary art?" Considering such topics as Asian modernism ("productive mistranslation" of the European original), Asian cubism, and the curating, collecting, and criticism of Asian contemporary art, this book promises to be a foundational reference for many years to come.

Maritime travelers and tillers of the soil: reading the landscape(s) of Batur / Kaja McGowan -- More than a picture: the instrumental quality of the shadow puppet / Jan Mrz̀ek -- Modern Indonesian ceramic art / Hilda Soemantri -- Memories of a ceramic expert / Barbara Harrisson -- Lucia Hartini, Javanese painter: against the grain, towards herself / Astri Wright -- In the image of the king: two photographs from nineteenth-century Siam / Caverlee Cary -- Whose art are we studying? writing Vietnamese art history from colonialism to the present / Nora A. Taylor -- Telling lives: narrative allegory on a Burmese silver bowl / Robert S. Wicks -- Development of Buddhist traditions in peninsular Thailand: a study based on votive tablets (seventh to eleventh centuries) / M.L. Pattaratorn Chirapravati -- Chinese ceramics and local cultural statements in fourteenth-century southeast Asia / John N. Miksic -- Buddhism and the Pre-Islamic archaeology of Kutei in the Mahakam Valley of east Kalimantan / E. Edwards McKinnon.

Who spoke of the modern in Southeast Asia? When and where was the modern written? How was it written? How was it received? This collection brings together nearly 300 texts that were originally published between the late 19th to late 20th centuries, selected by a group of scholars as responses to questions such as these. The texts were produced chiefly in various locations in the region, by artists, critics, historians and curators in 11 languages, many of which had never before been translated into the English language. Years in the making, this publication is the first to present such breadth and depth of art writing in the region of Southeast Asia, and will be a valuable resource to students, teachers, scholars and those interested in Southeast Asian studies and art history. Looking from inside the region, the rich fecundity of art discourses becomes clear if for example we compare the 1843 text by Raden Saleh from what is now Indonesia with the 1946 text of S. Sudjojono, allowing a historical grasp of modernity from two of its original texts, or across the region to the 1971 text on Malaysia by Piyadasa. The tyranny of physical, cultural, and temporal separation are thus overcome. It is to the great credit of the editors that they have enabled this for us, and this work will be a basic art historical reference both inside and beyond the region for some time to come. —John Clark, Emeritus Professor of Art History, University of Sydney Needed now more than ever, this collection opens up new worlds in the guise of a region called Southeast Asia. Each carefully selected text offers a new point of access to thinking through, across, beyond and with the elusive idea of the “modern.” A signal achievement, this volume is both a rich introduction to the region as well as a vital resource for anyone genuinely committed to art histories that generate new spaces rather than settle for existing realms. —Joan Kee, Professor, History of Art, University of Michigan

Reworlding Art History highlights the significance of contemporary Southeast Asian art and artists, and their place in the globalized art world and the internationalizing field of 'contemporary art'. In the light of the region's modern art history, the book surveys this relatively under-examined area of contemporary art which first found broad international recognition in the 1990s.Traced here are significant exhibitions that featured contemporary Southeast Asian art and brought it to regional and international attention. Examined are seminal foundational art histories, and dominant methods and thematic frameworks for engaging with Southeast Asian art. Key artists, exhibitions, collections, scholarship, ideologies, and discourses shaping its developing history are discussed, as are major works by artists associated with Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore.Far from being peripheral, Southeast Asian art has helped create the very conditions of international contemporary art, compelling us to examine the Euro-American biases of art history. The book stresses local creative contexts and cultural histories of the rich modern and contemporary art of the region and its diaspora, revealing its plurality and diversity. The concept 'Southeast Asia' is treated as a crucial entry-point for examining art and artists associated with this unique region and for extending debate on the local/global constitution of contemporary art.Of central importance is the aesthetic agency of contemporary Southeast Asian art - its invitation to sensory and affective response - and its capacity for dialogue and diverse significations across borders. Also considered is the effect of shifting art-historical frameworks on engagement with this stimulating art.Richly illustrated and incorporating cross-cultural and interdisciplinary methods, Reworlding Art History is a foundational reference work for those interested in Southeast Asia's contemporary art, in¬cluding scholars of art history, Asian studies, curatorship, museology, visual culture, and anthropology, as well as pro¬fessionals working in art and museum contexts.Michelle Antoinette is a researcher of modern and contemporary Asian art affiliated with the Australian National University. She recently concluded an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant project on contemporary Asian art and museum networks. Author of numerous art-historical studies, she is also co-editor of Contemporary Asian Art and Exhibitions: Connectivities and World-Making.

Modern Art of Southeast Asia: Introductions from A to Z features 60 concise and accessibly written accounts of the key ideas and currents underlying modern art in the region. These are accompanied by over 250 beautifully reproduced artworks from the collection of National Gallery Singapore, and other public and private collections in Southeast Asia and beyond. The book offers an informative first encounter with art as well as refreshing perspectives, and is a rewarding resource for students.