黑料不打烊

Eric Firestone Gallery is pleased to announce a major exhibition exploring the history of Godzilla Asian American Arts Network, which was active in the 1990s. The exhibition will showcase the work of individual artists involved with the network at the time. Spanning two gallery spaces, the show includes established artists and also amplifies the voices of artists who have not been centered in the canon, and who made their careers showing in alternative spaces. 

Godzilla founders鈥�artists Bing Lee and Ken Chu, along with art historian Margo Machida鈥攚anted to negotiate the visibility and representation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the art world. Godzilla functioned as a support structure and source of collective action. 

As stated in Godzilla鈥檚 1991 mission statement: 鈥淕odzilla is a New York-based group of Asian American visual artists and art professionals whose goal is to establish a dynamic forum that will foster information exchange, mutual support, documentation and networking among our expanding numbers across the United States.鈥�

The original Godzilla movie was made in 1954 and reflects the devastation of atomic bombs launched at Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. The monster Godzilla rose from nuclear waste and its reptilian skin was intended to resemble keloid scars present on survivors of the atomic bombings. This 鈥渁narchistic lizard,鈥� as described by art historian Alice Yang, encapsulated the group鈥檚 simultaneous irreverence and serious reckoning with exclusionary policies and lack of representation in the art world. 

Godzilla sought to resist the homogenous category of 鈥淎sian American鈥� while also creating connections between Asian Americans of different backgrounds. The group鈥檚 first collective action was a letter to Whitney director David Ross protesting the lack of Asian American representation in the museum鈥檚 1991 biennial. Copied on the letter were several other museum professionals. Their message had an impact; they successfully established an ongoing dialogue influencing diversity in museum exhibitions and staff, and the 1993 Biennial was notably focused on identity.