A overhead light shines above a trombone player in a band uniform.
The Living Need Light, the Dead Need Music, 2014, Propeller Group, Gift of funds from Nivin MacMillan

Asian American and Pacific Islander Artists

Asian American and Pacific Islander Artists

Celebrate the exceptional historical and contemporary creative cultural contributions made by Asian American and Pacific Islander artists with videos, stories, and more. With one of the nation’s most comprehensive collections of the arts of Asia, Mia is a vibrant resource for the appreciation of Asian cultural heritage, both past and present.

Asian American and Pacific Islander Artists

Celebrate the exceptional historical and contemporary creative cultural contributions made by Asian American and Pacific Islander artists with videos, stories, and more. With one of the nation’s most comprehensive collections of the arts of Asia, Mia is a vibrant resource for the appreciation of Asian cultural heritage, both past and present.

Current Special Exhibitions

The Shape of Time: Korean Art after 1989

March 23, 2024 – June 23, 2024
This exhibition features the first generation of artists of Korean descent to experience the new freedoms and rapid changes ushered in by democracy. Born between 1960 and 1986, they came of age in a time of transition, their work filtered through the collective memory of authoritarian rule in South Korea.

Explore the Exhibition

Download the Teachers Guide

Listen to the Audio Guide

Free Exhibition Tours

Free public exhibition tours for “The Shape of Time: Korean Art after 1989” take place at 2 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, and 7 p.m. on Thursday. An exhibition ticket is required. Tours are not offered on Member Days and during Art in Bloom.

Join an In-person Tour

Virtual tours take place on April 7 at 2 p.m., May 8 at 2 p.m., and June 6 at 7 p.m. An exhibition ticket is not necessary. Registration is required.

Join a Virtual Tour

Current Exhibitions

The Root Collection: Living with Japanese Ceramics

August 19, 2023 – May 12, 2024
This exhibition, in the Japanese galleries, presents a selection of tea bowls and other tea ware, standing and hanging vases, as well as sculpture. The Roots did not venture into Japanese ceramics until 2001, when they acquired the first of almost 50 tea bowls. The collection eventually encompassed 168 works, dominated by functional ware.

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Explore the Art

Explore

Explore artwork by Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander artists in Mia’s collection.

Explore the Art

Podcasts

“The Object” podcast explores the surprising, true stories behind museum objects with wit and curiosity. An object’s view of us. Hosted by Tim Gihring, produced by the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Ghost Ships Of Xu Fu

King of Hills: The Mountain That Came to Dinner

Lord of the Dance: An Indian Icon Goes Global

Past Exhibitions

Eternal Offerings: Chinese Ritual Bronzes

March 4, 2023 – May 21, 2023

Featuring some 150 Chinese bronze objects from Mia’s collection, “Eternal Offerings” offers an immersive experience designed to evoke the mystery of heavenly and ancestral worship. Each gallery will embody a facet of the rituals enacted to honor the divinities, from the solemnity of the temple, to the intoxication of lavish banquets.

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The Art of Literacy in Early Modern Japan

March 25, 2023 – August 6, 2023

Reading and writing were popular pastimes in early modern Japan. From the 1600s to the 1800s, the printing industry developed rapidly, making printed materials available to readers in urban and rural areas alike. This exhibition considers two forms of literacy, textual and visual, that enabled people to participate in a burgeoning public life.

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Azechi Umetarō: Call of the Mountains

April 22, 2023 – January 21, 2024

Azechi Umetarō (1902–1999) loved the mountains. As he grew older, he often hiked mid-sized mountains alone; they gave him an opportunity to meditate on life. The simplified figures of the bearded mountain men (yama-otoko), who reappear throughout his work, embody his love and appreciation for the environment.

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Fukuda Kodōjin: Japan’s Great Poet and Landscape Artist

April 22, 2023 – July 23, 2023

Fukuda Kodōjin (1865–1944) was one of a handful of scholar-artists who continued the tradition of Japanese literati painting (nanga) after 1900. Kodōjin’s painting style is characterized by bizarrely shaped mountain forms rendered in vivid color or monochromatic ink that often include a solitary scholar enjoying the expansive beauty of nature.

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Chaos: Ken Matsubara’s Buddhist Masterwork

September 2, 2023 – April 14, 2024

Two paintings, 600 years apart: the 14th century Taima Mandala and the 20th century Chaos by Ken Matsubara. Despite the chronological distance between them, these two pieces are connected by Buddhist threads. In this installation, accompanied by the echoes of singing bowls, the visitor acts as the bridge between Matsubara’s depiction of human struggle and the Taima Mandala’s immaculate Pure Land.

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Teo Nguyen: Việt Nam Peace Project

July 30, 2022 – June 18, 2023

Teo Nguyen’s work invites contemplation and reflection on the Vietnamese people’s struggles toward peace and what the artist calls “the politics of worthiness.” In an act of reclamation that shines a light on Vietnam beyond the war, Nguyen’s photorealist paintings reference historic images by photojournalists documenting the war in Vietnam, but reimagine them without violence.

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Amano Kazumi: Prints from the Kimm-Grufferman Collection

May 29, 2021 – May 29, 2022

From black and white figural designs to colorful, abstract forms, the work of Japanese print artist Amano Kazumi shows a constant metamorphosis.

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Yee I-Lann: Picturing Power

April 23, 2022 – November 13, 2022

In this striking series of images, Yee I-Lann creates graphically distinctive photographic assemblages to address the legacies of Dutch colonialism in Indonesia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. By appropriating historical photographs sourced from colonial archives in the Netherlands and arranging them with her own photography, the artist provides new grounds for interpreting imperialism in Southeast Asia.

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Program Videos

Watch videos about Asian American and Pacific Islander artists, including Tiffany Chung, Noriko Furunishi, Pao Her, Sieng Lee, Wing Young Huie, Chamindika Wanduragala, and Marcus Young

 

Self-Care through Art

Close Looking and Drawing Exercise

During these challenging and uncertain times, empathy and compassion are crucial as we care for others. And self-care is just as important. Art can be a powerful tool for helping us connect with and mediate our own emotions and feelings. Here you can engage in close looking and a drawing exercise inspired by a painting from Mia’s collection by Yayoi Kusama. Also, be inspired by optimistic words of hope from the artist herself about the Covid19 pandemic and resilience.

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Arts of Asia

Whether you’re teaching in a new virtual environment or from your classroom, we’ve got you covered with resources designed to support the integration of Asian art and voices into your curriculum.

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Virtual Care Package

Send this digital “Care Package” to someone in need of support, inspiration, healing, or creativity. Co-curated with members of the local Asian American Pacific Islander community, this virtual care package includes poetry, films, workshop, and more.

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This project was inspired by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Care Package.

The Living Need Light, the Dead Need Music, 2014, Propeller Group, Gift of funds from Nivin MacMillan