TEMPE, AZ.- The Arizona State University Art Museum presents Gardening With Oscar Oiwa: New Paintings, on view October 14, 2006 - February 13, 2007. This exhibition of Oscar Oiwa's paintings, the first in a U.S. art museum, is another installment in the ASU Art Museum's expanded initiatives for exhibiting and interpreting Latin-American art. Oiwa, a Brazilian artist of Japanese heritage, studied in Japan and the United Kingdom. He currently lives in New York.

With considerable technical expertise, Oiwa records the impact of globalization with beautiful paintings about cultural collision, environmental degradation, dehumanizing slums and violence through attrition. His vision portrays a world on the precarious edge of oblivion. Influences in his work come from Japanese art - both the byobu screen with multiple panels and contemporary manga, and from the West in varied forms, including Anselm Kiefer, Claude Monet and science fiction film.

Organized by the ASU Art Museum and made possible, in part, by the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation and the Friends of the ASU Art Museum. 2005-2006 curatorial research and development is made possible in part by in-kind sponsorship support from TAM Brazilian Airlines.