This week on State of the Arts NYC, we examine the exploding, contemporary art scene. During the fall, there will be several international exhibitions, performances and talks on how history, culture and everyday life has impacted modern works. Joining us is Leeza Ahmady, Director of Asian Contemporary Art Week and we have Jason Busch the new Director of the Jason Jacques Galley on the Upper East Side in Manhattan.

Leeza Ahmady was born in Afghanistan, where she lived until her family relocated to New York when she was teen. She is an independent art curator, educator and noted specialist in art from Central Asia. As the director of Asian Contemporary Art Week (ACAW) at Asia Society, Ahmady brings together leading New York City museums and galleries to participate in special exhibitions, receptions, lectures, and performances citywide.

As part of her ongoing curatorial project, Ahmady has traveled widely in Central Asia, promoting the largely unknown artists of the region in various international art forums including: Venice Biennale; Istanbul Biennale and Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong. She curated past exhibitions: The Taste of Others at Apexart (2005); The Paradox of Polarity: Contemporary Art from Central Asia at Bose Pacia (2007); Parable of the Garden: New Media Art from Iran and Central Asia at The College of New Jersey Art Gallery (2008); I Dream of the Stans at Winkleman Gallery, which traveled to MARTE Museo de Arte de El Salvador (2008); Tarjama/Translation at the Queens Museum of Art (2009); and Truly Truthful at Art Asia Miami (2009). 

Jason Busch brings to his new role two decades of experience in the arts, serving as curator of decorative arts at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and Minneapolis Institute of Art, chief curator at Carnegie Museum of Art, deputy director at the Saint Louis Art Museum, and division director for decorative arts at Sotheby’s. He has fostered relationships with collectors across the country and secured significant gifts of art for museum collections, particularly in decorative arts, contemporary craft, and design. 

Busch received a Master of Arts degree from the Winterthur Program at the University of Delaware and a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from Miami University. He was a 2013 Fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership in New York.

A contributor of articles on collections and exhibitions in The Magazine Antiques and Antiques and Fine Art, Busch has also curated several groundbreaking exhibitions on decorative arts and design and authored the associated publications, including: Carnegie Museum of Art Decorative Arts and Design Collection Highlights; Currents of Change: Art and Life Along the Mississippi River, 1850-1861; and Inventing the Modern World: Decorative Arts at the World’s Fairs, 1851-1939. 

And we end our program with another Museum Edge review from our contributor Irene Javors on the Metropolitan Museum of Art and their exhibition WWI and the Visual Arts.

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