I think it's funny to think of a time when white Americans were, across the board, afraid of Asians (of the Chinese and Japanese variety in particular)--I know I can be a bit intimidating, but seriously? What is now seen as the model minority, with our stereotypically superior math skills and general submissiveness, was once feared by Americans (of European descent, of course) when the Yellow Peril swept the nation. The Chinese got their very own federal exclusion act more than a century ago, and Japanese-Americans got to revel in internment camps in the '40s, but hey, you know how menacing those Asians can be. Take, for example, Roger Shimomura. The Seattle-born Japanese-American artist, who uses pop art and traditional ukiyo-e to portray the "terror" of Asians, offers up his artistic social commentary in The Return to the Yellow Peril: A Survey of the Work of Roger Shimomura 1969-2007. The exhibit is on display at the Crow Collection of Asian Art (2010 Flora St.) now through August 9. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays with extended hours on Thursdays until 9 p.m. Call 214-979-6430 or crowcollection.org.
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: June 19. Continues through Aug. 9, 2009