Alt.Comics: Asian American Artists Reinvent the Comic Book

Alt.Comics: Asian American Artists Reinvent the Comic Book will explore how Asian Americans have used the comic book medium to both critique old representations and relate their stories to a wide audience, featuring new and early original artwork from artists Gene Luen Yang, Derek Kirk Kim, Thien Pham, Lark Pien, Jason Shiga, GB Tran, Jerry Ma, Larry Hama, Alex Joon Kim, and Christine Norrie.

In Fall 2012, the Museum of Chinese in America will launch two connected exhibitions on the relationship between Asian Americans and comics: Marvels and Monsters examines stereotypical and politically charged depictions of Asians and Asian Americans, while Alt.Comics presents Asian Americans using the medium to craft and present their own narratives.
 
Alt.Comics extends the conversation of Marvels & Monsters into the present, when sequential art has become a dominant cultural force and communications medium, driven in no small part by Asian American creators. The exhibition will explore how Asian Americans have used the comic book medium to both critique old representations and relate their stories to a wide audience, featuring new and early original artwork from artists Gene Luen Yang, Derek Kirk Kim, Thien Pham, Lark Pien, Jason Shiga, GB Tran, Jerry Ma, Larry Hama, Alex Joon Kim, and Christine Norrie.
 
The exhibition focuses on alternative and independent comics spaces, showing the work and relationships between different creators from this community. A specific focus will be the San Francisco Bay Area’s and New York City’s Asian American alternative comic scenes, which fostered some of the most talented and high-profile artists working today.
 
A library of notable works from all represented artists will be available for the visitor to browse. The exhibition will coincide with the launch of Secret Identities Volume 2: Shattered, a follow up to the groundbreaking original compilation using the comic format “to upend, re-envision, reimagine — to shatter — the distorted and negative images that have shadowed Asian Americans since the earliest days of our arrival in this country.” Secret Identities features many of the same artists in the exhibition.

Alt.Comics is curated by Jeff Yang for the Museum of Chinese in America. Jeff Yang is a cultural studies scholar and the editor of Secret Identities; he writes a column for the Wall Street Journal online called Tao Jones.