Contemporary Art From the American Southwest

The Sichuan University-Arizona State University Center for American Culture is the first of the almost two dozen such centers in China. As such, it has been a leader in bringing these centers together in the American Centers for Cultural Exchange (ACCEX) network. This proposal represents another form of leadership through bringing works by contemporary Southwestern artists to China, reinforced with lectures by professors/curators from the ASU Art Museum. ASU Art Museum staff will collect 18-20 two-dimensional works (paintings, drawings, photographs and the like) from leading and emerging artists in the American Southwest. They will develop bilingual interpretive texts and an exhibit brochure to share with audiences at four American cultural centers (Sichuan University, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Xian International University, and Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications) during the spring semester 2015. An art professor/curator will go to each campus to oversee installation of the exhibition and to offer a series of lectures to students, faculty, and the general public. We anticipate at least 500 viewers of the exhibit at each American culture center, meaning a minimum of 2000 persons touched through this project. These viewers, and especially the audiences at the lectures, will gain a greater understanding of contemporary American art as well as an appreciation of the distinctiveness of the peoples and cultures of the Southwest.