Berkeley Art Museum

I went to the Berkeley Art Museum with a few of my friends to see the “One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now” exhibition. The giant poster of a person in a shrimp costume had caught my attention, and we decided to check it out. Unfortunately, I think the pieces were too modern for me because I didn’t understand the concepts behind most of them. The works that I remember the most were “Human Advertisement Series” by Xavier Cha and “Elemental” by Ala Ebtekar. “Human Advertisement Series” is a media piece in which Cha dances in front of different stereotypical Asian American business, a sushi restaurant, a nail salon, and a fortune teller, while is costumes representing each one. She is dressed as a shrimp, a giant fingernail, and a crystal ball. This piece had a humorous tone, but also addressed how Asian Americans are viewed by popular society. Ebtekar’s piece was a white room with many pairs of Adidas and Nike shoes and hookahs. The shoes were beautifully decorated with beads and colorful, patterned laces, and I totally would have rocked any of them.