Just Between Us: From the Archives of Arlan Huang

In partnership with Think!Chinatown, we're so proud to present "Just Between Us: From the Archives of Arlan Huang."

For nearly six decades as a practicing artist, Huang has quietly collected art. While some of the pieces were purchased, much has been amassed through “art swaps,” or friendly exchanges between fellow artists.

Like a confidence between friends, intel given off the record, or a shared history or experience, this exhibition is “just between us.” The phrase evokes the major principles that form the bedrock of Huang’s collecting ethics: that art should circulate outside the nefarious concerns of the market, that it should not seek approval from heteropatriarchal white institutions, and that a secret language in the form of gossip and complaint forges the most precious and intimate of friendships.

The works on view narrate both historic and deeply personal moments. His collection traces his time in the Asian American arts network, Godzilla, and the Chinatown-based collective Basement Workshop. Featured artists include Tomie Arai, Ken Chu, Corky Lee, Alex Paik, Hoyt Soohoo, Bob Hsiang and Martin Wong. As the owner of the frame shop Squid Frames, Huang kept longtime correspondence with conceptual artist Sol Lewitt.

Curated by Howie Chen and Danielle Wu, “Just Between Us” is on view in the Pearl River Mart Gallery at 452 Broadway from May 4 through August 27, 2023. Free and open to the public during business hours (11 a.m. to 7 pm.).

A catalog published by Pearl River Mart and Think!Chinatown with an essay by Danielle Wu and an interview between Howie Chen and Arlan will accompany the exhibition. The exhibition is made possible thanks to support of the State of New York and New York State Council on the Arts. It is also supported, in part, by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

• On view May 4 through August 27
• Pearl River Mart SoHo Gallery at 452 Broadway
• Free and open to the public every day between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Accompanying materials

• Exhibition catalog
• The Amp: Arlan Huang and Howie Chen on Art and Activism
• Press release

Press

• South China Morning Press: 50 years of Asian-American art, community and protest celebrated in archive exhibition by New York artist and activist Arlan Huang
• WNYC's All of It: Interview with Arlan Huang and Danielle Wu