For the latest episode of “Interpretations,” Artforum contributing editor Joan Kee proposes an art history with Afro Asia at its center. Less a place than a provocation, Afro Asia, for Kee, can be prefigured in the rock sculptures of David Hammons and Lee Ufan, in Howardena Pindell’s response to Hokusai’s shapeshifting views of Mount Fuji, in Simone Leigh’s Black Buddha, and in myriad other real and speculative encounters between artists counted among the global majority. Kee’s The Geometries of Afro Asia: Art Beyond Solidarity (2023) is available now from University of California Press.
“Interpretations,” Artforum’s new video series, features celebrated critics, writers, and artists offering brief reflections on art and life. Contributors may set the record straight on their desired subjects, pose new questions about them, or simply find humor in the long-standing artistic and cultural tropes they inhabit.
