While Deborah and I were hanging out that the SF Asian Art Musuem yesterday, she asked me why I had chosen to become a member of the museum. Since I don't remember anyone ever asking me that question and because I hadn't completely thought through the reasons myself, I struggled to come up with a satisfactory answer. Certainly, the museum has an excellent collection of Asian art, perhaps the best place to get an overview. And I do have a thing for museums and for sharing the experience with others. (I invested in a contributing membership level, allowing me to bring up to 3 adults with me.) But why this museum and why now?
My hope is that over the course of this next year (or couple of years), I'll be able to immerse myself in the study of Asian, particularly Chinese, art. Quite honestly, I don't know the best way to do so, especially with the contraints I have of time, energy, knowledge, and motivation. I pictured reading about Chinese art and then going to the musuem to view real-life examples. I know that it takes discipline and planning to get beyond the dilettante level of engagement that I can easily settle into. So one or two visits ain't going to cut it for any serious study -- and hence the membership. Beyond the vague notion of studying Chinese art through visiting the SFAAM a number of times and attempting to read books like Art in China (Oxford History of Art) (which I never did get through, alas), I had no plan.
Now I do have the good fortunate to work with Chris who is passionate and knowledgeable about the visual arts (among other things!). In his recounting of a visit he made to the museum, Chris wrote about an exercise I'd love to do -- if only the musuem could be designed to facilitate it:
I have a suggestion, just one example, to bring objects alive, to encourage closer looking, to breakdown a bit the experience of discrete cultural sampling. Because, as the many wall labels keep pointing out, these many cultures did have various influences on each over over the years, especially through Buddhism, I would've loved, for example, to see a display of Buddhas from many regions and periods. What if one could explore Buddhas from India, Thailand, and Japan in the same room, and to note the similiarities and differences, rather than reading and trying to remember wall labels and history from galleries on different floors? How about comparative studies of pottery or textiles? How about some way of stimulating some critical thinking and close looking by not treating objects that they have only one context - the specific culture in which they're created - and then treating each object that within that specific culture the object stands on its own, too? I had this feeling during some very difficult parts of the museum, for example in the Tibetan galleries.
Chris mentioned the museum's website, which I hope will grow in depth. What one might not be able to do in a physical gallery might be possible with a virtual one. I'd love to be able to pull up an electronic catalog of the works in the museum, make my own theme collection, annotate the pieces....(Oops, that's the Raymond, IU Technology Architect talking about the Scholar's Box...)
Now that I've told you more about how I plan to use the Museum, I need to get to the question that I had set out to answer originally: why Asian Art? Becoming a member of the SFAAM is one (perhaps misguided) strategy in "finding my roots", a goal to which I've alluded but have never written at great length. I look back at my childhood or my teen years -- or even to the events of yesterday -- and I see so often how I don't really understand the "whys" or the context of my family, why we behave the way we do, and more fundamentally who we are or who I am. Clearly, there must be more direct ways to learn about my heritage than looking at a bunch of scrolls or musing on the origin of a particular Ming vase. There are --and I'm pursuing some of those avenues too (the subject of future posts, I'm sure....) But still, as a Chinese-Canadian man highly educated in North American countries, I feel this gaping hole in my background. I can tell you about the intricacies of Christian theology, quantum mechanics, human rights issues, how to dress for a wedding, what forks to use at a formal dinner -- but am hard-pressed to tell you the significance of red in a Chinese restaurant, why my family loved orange trees, and why Chinese calligraphy is such a big deal. It's not unusual for me to think back on my childhood days and wonder why did we do the things we did. When I was a kid, I just thought it was odd behavior, probably particular to my own family. Now I think why I didn't ask more questions to figure out why.
The Art Musuem seems to be more than any other institution in the area friendly to people like me: educated (according to North American standards), but more or less ignorant of the traditions that are represented in the musuem. The rigid pedagogy of the Musuem to which Chris refers is probably a reflection of the low level of knowledge of the musuem's typical visitors. Yet the SFAAm also has depths to be plumbed, with opportunities for serious group study as well as fun outings with hip young people (will definitely unhip people like me fit?). Somehow, I imagine that as I learn about the art of China, I'll start drawing in other threads --history, language, cultural customs -- that will in concert fill in some of the gaps in my own background, bringing wholeness and balance and wellness to my being.
Posted by rdhyee at July 20, 2003 05:01 PM