Greg Antonelli – Asian Art Show Struggling

Every year in the Spring, New York host an asian art week. This year, Asia Week New York is aiming to kick off in March. This event combines museums associations like AADNY (Asian Art Dealers New York), and art auction houses to put together shows and sales highlighting eastern art. There is a slight struggle this year in getting the event together this year. While there is no one body that controls this week, in years past the Houghton International Asian Art Fair was the central event of the week. In 2009 this fair disbanded for ever and now leaves a vacancy in Asia Week New York that will be very hard to fill. Some are still hopeful that the show will be spectacular but with the collapse of the Houghton fair many other associations have, for one reason or another, been excluded form the festival. For example JADA (Japanese Art Dealers Association) has been excluded from the festivities. They plan to host there own festival but this lack of unity does not bode well for future Asia Week New York festivals. I think it’s a shame that there are “political” issues between the heads of these associations that may threaten this festival which has been running now for ten years. They’ve brought in consultants and kept spirits up but it’s hard to predict how this year’s event will go after some dealers and event guests were annoyed by the proceedings of the 2010 fair. I supposes only time will tell if this important cultural historic festival will survive.