Ruth Asawa

Three of Asawa’s looped-wire sculptures are on view alongside work by 20 other international artists as part of the When Forms Come Alive exhibition at the Hayward Gallery (@hayward.gallery ) in London through May 6, 2024! Spanning over 60 years of contemporary sculpture, the exhibition highlights ways in which artists draw on familiar experiences of movement, flux and organic growth. Pictured: Installation views, When Forms Come Alive, Hayward Gallery, London, UK. February 7-May 6, 2024. Photographs by Jo Underhill, © Hayward Gallery. Artwork © 2024 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc./DACS, London. Courtesy David Zwirner

Happy Ruth Asawa Day!   In 1982, San Francisco declared February 12 to be Ruth Asawa Day in honor of her work as an artist and advocate for arts education in the City.    In this 1964 picture, Asawa and five of her children gather in the sunroom of their Noe Valley home, a space Asawa would regularly bring schoolchildren to when demonstrating her art practice. The tied-wire sculpture she is creating in the photograph, Untitled (S.780), will be on view in Ruth Asawa Through Line at the Menil Drawing Institute starting March 22, 2024.   Photo by Ernst Beadle. Artwork © 2024 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

In 2010, the state of California passed the Fred Korematsu Day bill, naming January 30th of every year after Korematsu who, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and issuance of Executive Order 9066 in 1942, refused to be incarcerated along with 120,000 other people of Japanese ancestry living in the United States. Korematsu was arrested and convicted of defying the government’s order, taking his case all the way to the United States Supreme Court which ruled against him in 1944. Korematsu remained an activist for the rest of his life while continuing to fight his conviction that was ultimately overturned in 1983. In 1998, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Ruth Asawa chose to include Korematsu in the Japanese American Internment Memorial (1990-94) in San Jose, CA as a way of honoring his contributions to try to rectify the injustices brought upon people of Japanese ancestry in the United States during and after World War II. Said Korematsu of Asawa’s Memorial, “For those who don’t want to talk about it, well, this will talk for them.” Learn more about Asawa’s Japanese American Internment Memorial through stories told by close friends and family members who worked with Asawa on the project at the link in bio. Photos by James Jue. Artwork © 2024 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy David Zwirner

Celebrating what would’ve been Ruth Asawa’s 98th birthday today with a portrait of the artist by her son-in-law, photographer Laurence Cuneo, at her Completing the Circle exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California (@oaklandmuseumca ) in 2002. A selection of Cuneo’s photographs were included alongside Asawa’s artworks and those by her husband, architect Albert Lanier, her six children and their spouses, and her ten grandchildren as part of the Fresno Art Museum’s (@fresnoartmuseum ) Completing the Circle presentation the year before. Said Asawa at the time, “As a mother and grandmother, I expected my six children and ten grandchildren to participate in the making of art as well as washing the dishes, taking the garbage out, weeding the garden, and building things. They have helped me on commissions and continue today to work with me on projects. Although most of them do not earn their living as artists, their lives have been made far richer because of this involvement.” Many of Asawa’s children, grandchildren and great grandchildren remain involved in the arts and arts education to this day. Photograph © 2024 Laurence Cuneo. Artwork © 2024 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy David Zwirner

In the Bay Area for FOG Design+Art Fair (@fogfair )? Many of Ruth Asawa’s public commissions including the “Andrea” mermaid fountain at Ghirardelli Square (@ghirardellisquare ) and “Origami Fountains” on Japantown’s Osaka Way are a short distance from Fort Mason Center. You can learn more about these fountains and Asawa’s other public artworks around the Bay Area through interviews with Asawa’s friends and family as part of the Ruth Asawa Public Art Tour, available for free at ruthasawa.com. Link in bio. Pictured in Order: Ruth Asawa’s “Andrea” fountain in Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco, 2015. Photo by Aiko Cuneo. Ruth Asawa’s “Origami Fountains” in Japantown, San Francisco, 2023. Photo by Henry Weverka. Artwork and Photo © 2024 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy David Zwirner

A selection of early, significant, and never-before-seen sculptures, paintings, and drawings will be part of @davidzwirner ’s presentation this week in Asawa’s hometown* @fogfair at San Francisco’s Fort Mason from January 18-21, 2024! Pictured in Order: Untitled (S.196, Hanging Fifteen Horn-Like Forms which Partially Interlock), c. 1950s, Mid Untitled (PT.050, Green Plane Tree), c. 1960s, Early, Detail Untitled (PT.080, Three Plane Trees), n.d., Detail Untitled (MI.092, Chair with Seven Bars), c. 1958. Untitled (PF.1070, Roses), 11/19/1975 Artwork © 2024 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy David Zwirner #asawa #ruthasawa #fogfair #davidzwirner

There’s just one week left to see Ruth Asawa Through Line at the Whitney Museum of American Art (@whitneymuseum ) before the exhibition travels to the Menil Drawing Institute (@menilcollection ), opening March 22! Curated by Kim Conaty (@kimconaty ) and Edouard Kopp, the exhibition is the first of its kind to focus on Asawa’s daily drawing practice, one she described as her “greatest pleasure and the most difficult.” Pictured in Order: Ruth Asawa, Untitled (BMC.56, Dancers), Detail, c. 1948-49; Untitled (SF.030, Blue Triangles on Brown), Detail, c. 1950s, Late; Untitled (WC.100, Nasturtiums), Detail, c. 1970s-1980s; Untitled (ZP.16B, Twelve Looped-Wire Sculptural Forms), Detail, c. 1950s, Mid-Late. Artwork © 2024 Ruth Asawa Lanier Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy David Zwirner

Now on view at the @asianartmuseum through February 2025! Pictured: Untitled (S.272, Hanging Seven-Lobed Continuous Interlocking Form with Spheres in Two Lobes), approx. 1954, by Ruth Asawa (American, 1926–2013). Copper and iron wire. Installation view at Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA. © 2024 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photograph by Kevin Candland. Photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

Excited to share the upcoming release of Ruth Asawa: An Artist Takes Shape, coming March 19, 2024! This graphic biography by Sam Nakahira, developed in consultation with Ruth Asawa’s youngest daughter, Addie Lanier, chronicles the genesis of Asawa as an artist—from the horror of Pearl Harbor to her transformative education at Black Mountain College to building her life in San Francisco, where she would further develop and refine her groundbreaking wire sculptures. Recommended for ages 13+ 📖. A very special thank you to the Getty Museum and Getty Publications (@GettyMuseum ), writer/illustrator Sam Nakahira (@samnakahira ) and editor Ruth Lane (@rrrruuutth ) for their tremendous efforts to make this project a reality! © 2024 J. Paul Getty Trust / Text and Illustrations © Sam Nakahira. Artwork © 2023 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy David Zwirner

Three Ruth Asawa sculptures are on view as part of "Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), an exhibition exploring the intersection of abstract art and woven textiles over the past century. Pictured (L to R): Untitled (S.310, Hanging Five-Lobed Continuous Form Within a Form with Spheres in the Second, Third, and Bottom Lobes), Untitled (S.089, Hanging Asymmetrical Twelve Interlocking Bubbles), and Untitled (S.027, Hanging Six-and-a-Half Open Hyperbolic Shapes that Penetrate Each Other) Installation photo of the exhibition Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Sep 17, 2023 - Jan 21, 2024), Artwork @ 2023 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy David Zwirner, photo @ Museum Associates/LACMA

Ruth Asawa is one of six artists featured in new posters illustrated by artist Minnie Phan (@minnie_phan ), now on view on Market Street in San Francisco at SFMTA Transit Shelters. "This project is a profound journey through the rich tapestry of Asian American history and culture in San Francisco. It's an honor to pay tribute to the remarkable artists who have contributed to the city's artistic legacy,” shared artist Minnie Phan in a statement. The posters will be on view along Market Street between 7th and Steuart streets at 15 SFMTA transit shelters through January 2024. @sf_arts_commission #RuthAsawa

In a 1952 letter, friend and fellow artist Ray Johnson described the composition of Ruth Asawa's looped-wire works as “forms within forms within forms.” In the "Forms within Forms" section of "Ruth Asawa Through Line" at the Whitney Museum, examples of Asawa's exploration of biomorphic shapes, positive and negative space, transparency, and figure-ground relationships can be seen rendered in watercolor, stippled ink dots, relief drawings on copper sheets, and in the pictured looped-wire sculpture and screentone collages. Installation view of Ruth Asawa Through Line (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, September 16, 2023–January 15, 2024). From left to right: Untitled (S.270, Hanging Six-Lobed, Complex Interlocking Continuous Form within a Form with Two Interior Spheres), 1955 (refabricated 1957–58); Untitled (ZP.04, Four Looped-Wire Sculptural Forms), c. mid-to-late 1950s; Untitled (ZP.05, Four Looped-Wire Sculptural Forms), c. mid-late 1950s. Photograph by Filip Wolak. Artwork © 2023 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy David Zwirner #RuthAsawa #RuthAsawaThroughLine #Whitney #WhitneyMuseumofAmericanArt