Hung Hsien
Between Worlds
Asia Society Texas
Houston

Nonagenarian artist Hung Hsien’s exhibition at Asia Society Texas exuded the rarefied air of a long-hidden local treasure finally being unearthed. Having resided in Houston for over 40 years, she had lived, unbeknownst to the curators, merely a block away from the museum now hosting her first retrospective at the age of 91.

Arranged chronologically, the show brimmed with ink scrolls, oil paintings, sketches, and studies accumulated over decades, highlighting the artistic evolutions tied to the geographical and cultural parameters of Hung’s peripatetic life; over the years, the artist lived in various locations in China, Taiwan, the US, Hong Kong, and Canada. The earliest work in the exhibition was created in 1950, when Hung was just 17 years old, while the most recent dates from 1999. At the beginning of our walkthrough, curator Owen Duffy urged Hung on multiple occasions to return to her practice, with Hung demurring each time.