Word: asianness
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...commercial value, so it's become just another object to sell." The Beijing government, for instance, is hyping a factory district turned contemporary-arts enclave called Dashanzi as a must-see destination for Olympics tourists. But with so much foreign - and even some local - cash being injected into the Asian art world, it can be difficult for an artist to deviate from a successful formula. "When I started painting landscapes, people would say, 'But those might not sell as well as your mask series,'" recalls Zeng, whose latest works, part of a recent solo exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum...
...international interest worries some guardians of Asian culture. True, a handful of newly rich Chinese businessmen have invested in contemporary art, while members of the Indian diaspora snap up artwork with local themes to decorate their overseas homes. Nevertheless, it is foreigners - particularly European, American, Japanese and Singaporean collectors - who are driving the modern Asian art boom. The result has been a massive flight of contemporary art from the region. Exacerbating the trend is a dearth of quality modern-art museums in India, China and Vietnam. In August, the central Chinese city of Dujiangyan announced it was lavishing some...
...meantime, some best-selling Asian artists are content to poke fun at their foreign patrons. Shanghai artist Zhou Tiehai, who has exhibited at the Whitney Museum in New York City and the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, gained international attention in the 1990s with his playful renditions of cigarette icon Joe Camel dressed as the Mona Lisa and other Western art figures. At the 1999 Venice Biennale, he exhibited fake magazine covers adorned with his face - a cheeky commentary on the overseas fame so many Asian artists crave. Now he produces soft-focus landscapes and chinoiserie portraits. Yet even though...
...Asia does have a gambling problem - and because the industry is expanding rapidly throughout the region, mental-health workers and researchers fear pathological gambling could reach epidemic proportions in coming years. Macau's success has inspired other Asian cities and countries to allow new casinos. In Vietnam, a $4 billion luxury gaming resort will open near Ho Chi Minh City in 2009. Ground has already been broken for a pair of casino complexes in Singapore. The Philippine government is planning to open a 100-acre (405,000-square-meter) gaming complex that will employ 40,000 Filipinos in Manila...
...Leaders in at least one Asian city that's poised for a gambling boom appear to recognize the need to take at least a few measures to protect the vulnerable few. In July, Singapore's National Council on Problem Gambling introduced a responsible-gambling code of practice, urging casinos to display numbers for gambling hotlines and to train staff on how to help problem gamblers. In an effort to keep Singaporeans who can't afford the vice away from the tables when the city's two planned casinos open in 2009, locals will be required to pay a $68 cover...