Ken Chu
b. 1953, Hong Kong
Identified: Asian American Male (Ken Doll), 1991
Screenprint on glass
Printed and published by Lower East Side Printshop
Courtesy the artist and Lower East Side Printshop

Ken Chu is an artist whose mixed-media practice tackles critical social issues, including anti-Asian violence, internalized racism, stereotyping, homophobia, and the impact of AIDS on Asian diasporic communities. Drawing from his personal experience as a gay Asian male in the United States, Chu’s artwork intervenes using visual tropes derived from film and comics to problematize stereotypes of Asian Americans perpetuated by mass media. Identified: Asian American Male (Ken Doll), a screenprint on glass that can be viewed as a self-portrait, depicts a muscular Asian American figure as Barbie’s escort, mounting his critique of dominant representations of race and sexuality on references to popular culture while referencing his own experience as a “Ken.”

Chu is also known for his activism in ACT UP and curatorial work, including co-founding Godzilla: Asian American Art Network in 1990 and organizing the exhibition Dismantling Invisibility: Asian & Pacific Islander Artists Respond to the AIDS Crisis in 1991.