Asia Week 2013 Press Walk

It's a rare event that will have me gladly wake up at 6am without pressing the snooze button.   But at 8am yesterday, I was at China 2000 Fine Art, eager to partake in the Asia Week New York's Press Walk.  Asia Week's PR maven, Marilyn White led a group to preview some of the galleries participating in Asia Week New York, the annual collaboration of international Asian art specialists, major auction houses, museums and Asian cultural institutions.  We visited around 30 galleries in the span of 12 hours and had a fascinating, eye-opening and education experience.

At its fifth year, the Asia Week takes place in metropolitan New York with a diverse group of galleries showing antiques, traditional and contemporary artwork from Asia inluding China, Japan, Korea, Tibet, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, India, and is open to the public from March 15 - March 23, 2013.

Here are a few highlights of my day.

Dai Ichi Arts 
Contemporary Chinese and Japanese
100 Central Park South 11C,
Newy York, NY 10019

Dai Ichi Art's exhibit, The Best of the Two Contemporary Asian Countries:  Chinese Shuimo (水墨 water ink) Paintings and Japanese Ceramics, truly was a representation of the perfect melding of Western and Eastern techniques in Chinese Shuimo Paintings and Japanese Ceramics.

Kato Tsubusa (b. 1962) Square Bowl, 2008.  Pale blue glazed porcelain

Hayashi Yasuo 林康夫, Kawabata Kentaro  小原康裕,  Miwa Kazuhiko 三輪和彥, Nagae Shigekazu 長江重和, Wada Morihiro 和田守卑良 and Wakao Toshisada 若尾利貞 represent the golden age and the modern renaissance of ceramic making in Japan.  Their  work is traditional yet curretn, architectural yet abstract; disciplined yet free spirited.

Li Huisheng 李惠生, Camels in Tian Shen Mountain (2002)

Li Huisheng 李惠生, rediscovers the essence of traditional Shuimo paintings in his unique, expressive and vigourous style.

New York Wine Expo 2013

I attended the sixth annual New York Wine Expo recently at the Javitz Center.  It was a fantastic event with over 500 wines from around the globe, including Europe, the Mediterranean, South American and South Africa.  It can be a little overwhelming with all the different regions and varieties.  However, the sections nicely labeled by region.  One of the wines from South Africa that I tried was produced by The House of Mandela, the family of Nelson Mandela.  It had a pleasant fruity flavor which was not overpowering, which I enjoyed.  See below for more wines that I tasted.  

Everyone knows cheese and wine go together.  The rich and creamy Cambozola Black Label cheeses were a perfect match with the wines that we drank.  My favorite was the truffle flavored cheese.

A pleasant, soft and sweet Riesling by Hosmer.

A regional New York favorite: Ice Wine