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Photo: a brightly colored mural of geometric shapes and textures is pictured on a grey wall

Pattern Recognition, 2020, by Jenifer K Wofford. Commissioned by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Photograph courtesy of the artist.

artist spotlight
For nearly eight decades, Montalvo has supported artists and their creative work—we believe the arts elevate the human spirit, unite people of diverse backgrounds, facilitate challenging conversations, and enrich our community. Every month, we spotlight the important work our Lucas Artists Fellows are accomplishing in this moment. In recognition of Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, and the unacceptable increase in hate crimes targeting the community, we celebrate the creative voices and recent successes of LAP AAPI alumni—including new exhibitions, public art projects, books, and albums.
michael arcega || Michael Arcega is an interdisciplinary artist whose investigations of cultural markers are embedded in objects, food, architecture, visual lexicons, and vernacular language. His latest project is a mobile social sculpture that operates as a cultural marker for the SOMA Pilipinas Cultural Heritage District in San Francisco. Entitled TNT Traysikel, it uses a familiar mode of Filipino transportation—the motorized tricycle—as a metaphor for immigration, an aesthetic object, a protest tool, a symbol of solidarity, and as an actual delivery vehicle. It is also the means for collecting stories of Filipinx diaspora for a forthcoming documentary. TNT Traysikel is a collaboration between Arcega and Paolo Asuncion, featuring the hand-painted designs of Meng Ngyuen. Learn more about the project here.
patrick rosal || Recognized with some of poetry’s highest honors, Patrick Rosal has released a new book, Atang: an altar for listening to the beginning of the world. This book-length essay is composed in fragments—prayers, collage, photos, songs, spells, offerings, and memories. The book is completely free, and has no ISBN or copyright. According to Rosal, it is an “experiment in the tradition of Filipinos and other folks’ cultures who are inclined to give things away, especially things that are dear to them.” Download the eBook for free here. Rosal's new book of poetry, The Last Thing: New and Selected Poems, will be available for purchase this September.
jen shyu || Groundbreaking composer and multi-instrumentalist Jen Shyu released her latest album Zero Grasses: Ritual for the Losses through Pi Recordings on April 12 to glowing reviews in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere. Shyu and her jazzy quintet Jade Tongue take us on a sonic journey that weaves Shyu’s experiences of personal loss and her reflections on the racism and sexism she has experienced in her life with the events of 2020: navigating a global pandemic and a deep reckoning with ongoing racism in society. Watch the music video of “Life as You Envision” from the album here.
mariko tamaki || This month, DC’s latest anthology commemorated its rich roster of Asian and Asian American characters, presenting new tales by some of the most lauded storytellers in comics. Titled DC FESTIVAL OF HEROES: The Asian Super Hero Celebration, this 96-page issue features LAP guest artist and Eisner Award-winning author Mariko Tamaki, who continues her work on the Batman mythos and presents an original Cassandra Cain story, marking the author’s first time taking on DC’s iconic Asian Batgirl. DC FESTIVAL OF HEROES: The Asian Superhero Celebration was released on May 11 and can be found everywhere comics are sold. Find out more about Mariko and her work here.
jenifer k. wofford || Jenifer K. Wofford’s Pattern Recognition, commissioned by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, is on view at the Lawrence and Gorretti Lui Hyde Street Art Wall, a 7-by-30-foot site on the exterior of the Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Pavilion. This is the first commission for the Lui Art Wall, a new space in the city for the presentation of public art which will host an ongoing series of commissioned works primarily by Bay Area Asian American artists. Wofford’s vibrant Pattern Recognition is a mural inspired by traditional Asian decorative motifs and the bold, colorful graphics of the 1980s, celebrating Asian American artists and immigrant communities. Learn more about Wofford's latest work.
kristina wong || Acclaimed performance artist Kristina Wong’s new book The Auntie Sewing Squad Guide to Mask Making, Radical Care, and Racial Justice is available for pre-order at the University of California Press. Releasing October 2021, the book chronicles how Wong’s massive mutual-aid network of volunteers worked to provide free masks in the wake of the US government’s early failures to provide personal protective gear during the pandemic. Written and edited by the aunties themselves, the book tells the story of their bold social justice mission to protect the most vulnerable and most neglected, funneling masks to asylum seekers, indigenous communities, incarcerated people, and farmworkers, as well as Black Lives Matter protesters and organizations serving Black communities. Learn more about the book and pre-order here.
imin yeh || 300 non-instagrams by Imin Yeh, an interdisciplinary project-based artist and Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University School of Art, is featured in the San José Museum of Art’s exhibition South East North West: New Works from the Collection, on view through September. The work is comprised of 200 small collages inserted into film slides; each collage is composed of found images and texts salvaged from the dump during her residency at Recology San Francisco. South East North West celebrates SJMA's 50th anniversary with a dynamic presentation of paintings, sculptures, photographs, works on paper, and new media recently acquired by the Museum. Find out more about the exhibition and Imin’s work here.
You can also revisit episodes of our virtual conversation series Scratch Space featuring AAPI voices: Episodes 4, 9, 10, 12, 15, and 18
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Montalvo Arts Center (R)