Dear Readers    

Happy New Year! We start off 2015 with a survey of Asian art. I’ve been wanting to cover contemporary Asian art for quite some time but never had the confidence that we could represent that culture. It’s the largest and most populated continent on the planet, and capturing all that was just too daunting a prospect.

But there’s no question that Asia has emerged as the source of a vast amount of interesting and compelling new work. It’s a vital destination on the contemporary art map. I felt we had to address it or we would be remiss.

Then I ran into LA artist Kio Griffith. Kio was raised in Tokyo by a Japanese mother and American father. He speaks fluent Japanese and has an understanding of both Chinese and Korean. And he works with Asian artists from all over, curating shows here in the States and arranging exchange exhibits across the Pacific. He comes with credentials.

I asked Kio if he’d like to guest edit an Asian issue and he was enthusiastic. With him onboard, I felt that we could pull this off.
This is the result. We feature only artists who live in Asia—some may show in America, but their work comes from their studios in their home country. That’s where it gets interesting. The art that Kio and our writers focused on was strong, but not all of it was pretty. Almost all the work is political, inviting discussion and dialogue.

While I don’t feel that all art must be political, it can be powerful enough to make a difference, so why not use that vehicle if it’s what concerns you? I’d trust an artist’s interpretation of what’s happening in the world before I would trust a politician or a television newscast. And that’s exactly why art is suppressed in some of these countries we feature. Truth is not always welcome.
Now that we’ve taken the plunge, we’re making it a New Year’s resolution to keep our new Eastern accent, and continue focusing on Asian art.

Change is good! And we’re changing all the time. Last year brought our brand new design with beautiful glossy pictures and a cleaner streamlined look. And two new columnists have joined our team: Stephen Goldberg writes about art and law in Art Brief. Stephen has a love for the arts, but also recognizes the machinations of a relatively new industry; he tackles subjects in today’s litigious art world. And for fun, we’re introducing Ask Babs, a new advice column by Babs Rappleye. Babs has learned from long experience how proper etiquette can help you handle the cold harsh realities of the art world. She can be snarky, but she’s sincere and eventually gets to the heart of the matter.

So it’s back to fun, pretty things to look at, hard things to look at, ugly things to look at, and very interesting things to read. It’s a new year for Artillery, and we’re looking forward to it, for better or worse. Happy New Year art lovers!