LVAM opts for variety with new exhibit

Friday, April 23, 2004 | 8:34 a.m.

There's a 63-foot dragon, a Buddha, lion dancers, a koto master and an ancient Hawaiian chant blessing.

And that's even before you get to the art.

Las Vegas Art Museum is planning a pan-Asian affair tonight to open its Asian ArtNOW 2004 exhibit.

The cultural mixer, complete with Asian foods and beverages, is a celebratory thank you to the Asian Cultural Exchange Association (ACEA) for its five-year contract with the Las Vegas Art Museum an annual series that highlights Asian artists.

"It's one of the museum's most popular exhibits." said Aurora Wong, event chair for "CelebrAsian" and board member of LVAM.

"Because it's the last, we really wanted to show how much we appreciate them." The exhibit opens to the public Sunday. Admission is free that day.

The Japanese-based Asian art organization promotes cultural understanding through art. This year's exhibit features artists from more than a dozen Asian countries, including artists who have never shown their work in the United States.

"What you have is an unusually cosmopolitan large group of artists who are conversive with the West, but they also have their own traditions to draw on," said James Mann, Las Vegas Art Museum's curator at large. "It's a very democratic exhibition. They try to have a mix of artists, young and old, and as many countries as they can. They have a very non-hierarchical attitude about it."

The artwork is contemporary and spans several mediums to include oil, acrylic, watercolor, printmaking, fibers, ceramics, sculpture and mixed media works.

Kamol Tassananchalee from Thailand, G.S. Kabir from Bangladesh and Japanese artists Hirofumi Ohkuma, Letsu Sugiyama, Koichi Terai and Kenji Tagima are a few of the participating artists.

Much of the work incorporates East and West techniques and styles. Some of the artists have been featured in past exhibits.

Mann became acquainted with ACEA after the group contacted the city of Las Vegas about showing the work of its artists. The city referred ACEA to the Las Vegas Art Museum.

"I thought it was a great opportunity to see a whole new area of contemporary art that's been very little exhibited in the United States," Mann said. "I was curious about art developments in the Pacific rim and how they might relate to American and European Art. American culture is exported worldwide. People all over the world, even in vastly different cultures, are familiar with Hollywood and American pop stars. But we don't know much about their culture.

"The result is that they're cosmopolitan in ways that we're not."

Part of LVAM's mission is to exhibit new art, as well as art from other countries. Earlier this year it showcased work from Latin American artists relatively unknown in the United States. Because most of the artists are not well known, the exhibits are less costly.

"The museum has styled itself for emerging artists and art in general as an opportunity to forge our own identity," Mann said.

"I think we'll try to do more Latin American and Asian art. We'll branch out worldwide as soon as our budget allows."

Though this is considered the last scheduled exhibit with ACEA, Mann said that it's not necessarily goodbye.

"It's the end of the current agreement," he said. "But I wouldn't say it's the living end."