SuperRare Debuts Exhibition Highlighting AAPI Month

To honour AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage) Month, the curated NFT marketplace, SuperRare has announced an NFT exhibition focusing on works by Asian American artists. Tilted #TheGoldStandard, the exhibition is curated by Asian-American artist, activist, and technologist, Drue Kataoka. Indeed, it will run throughout May and highlight the contributions of Asian American artists in the digital art world.

#TheGoldStandard: How SuperRare is celebrating AAPI month

SuperRare’s NFT exhibition comes as the US celebrates this year’s AAPI month, which falls in May. On this occasion, the #TheGoldStandard collection celebrates some of the most renowned Asian-American artists, including both emerging NFT artists and scientists and researchers. All in all, nine artworks are part of the exhibition. 

“Asian Americans have played a critical role in turning the best-known digital franchises into household names, all the while toiling in the shadows,” said Kataoka. “Now, as crypto art and NFTs liberate artists, armies of incredible talent are claiming their sovereign artistic identities along with their Asian heritage.”  

“So, for this first of its kind show, I came up with the name #TheGoldStandard in reference to Asian skin, but also to excellence, and of course– to the roots of cryptocurrencies (and crypto art) as the ‘new gold,’” she added.

To kick start the exhibition, SuperRare and Kataoka hosted an opening day Twitter Space on Monday, May 2, 2022. Thereafter, the two will host Twitter Spaces discussions every Thursday at 7:00 PM ET during the month of May.

Who are the participating artists?

Acclaimed research-based artist Ani Liu, photographer Billy Dinh, and filmmaker Curry Sicong Tian are some of the participating artists. 40-year National Geographic photographic artist and Sony Ambassador, Mike Yamashita is also exhibiting their work. Called ‘Healing Waters of Takaragawa’, Yamashita’s work features “vibrant autumn foliage reflected in the waters of Takaragawa onsen”.

Besides, Kataoka too is exhibiting her piece, Vitruvian Woman during the SuperRare exhibition. The stunning animated piece was created in collaboration with the internationally acclaimed global studio, Concept Art House. Already, the 1/1 artwork has received a bid of 1 ETH or about $2,800. 

Multidisciplinary artist Reuben Wu and award-winning CG Artist Te Hu are the others on the list. In addition, new media artist/designer/researcher Weidi Zhang, and artist and engineer Xin Liu are participating.

“SuperRare is thrilled to be the first NFT platform to highlight the work of Asian American artists in this way,” said SuperRare CEO, John Crain. “We…saw a big wave coming with Asian American talent in the NFT ecosystem. It’s a pleasure to collaborate with Drue Kataoka who leveraged her art to raise over $750,000 USD for social justice causes in 2021 alone.” 

All the works in the SuperRare exhibition will be up on the website and available throughout this AAPI month.