Spirit House

Through January 26, 2025

This exhibition foregrounds how contemporary artists of the Asian diaspora challenge the boundary between life and death through engagement with ancestral presences, haunted histories, and ghostly futures. Features nearly 50 works of art by 33 artists, including large-scale paintings, digital media, ceramic sculpture, and photography, the show includes several significant new acquisitions to the museum’s permanent collection. Spirit House is the largest of three major exhibitions in 2024 of the Asian American Art Initiative (AAAI)—a cross-disciplinary, institutional commitment at Stanford University dedicated to the study of artists and makers of Asian descent. It will be accompanied by the AAAI’s first publication, an extensive exhibition catalogue.

Livien Yin: Thirsty

Through February 23, 2025

This exhibition is the first museum solo exhibition of the work of Brooklyn-based artist Livien Yin, a 2019 Stanford MFA. This single-gallery exhibition showcases new and recent paintings by Yin and their sensitive, research-based approach to creating scenes of contemporary subjects alongside historical Asian Americans and their environments. In their paintings, Yin often casts their friends as models, collapsing the distance between the past and present to create new connective threads between Asian Americans across generations.

Dwelling: New Acquisitions

This exhibition showcases recent acquisitions to the Cantor Arts Center’s collection and explores how these works expand our understanding of home. This exhibition highlights that home can be more than just a physical space; it can also be a familial tradition, a challenging reality, or the inner world of one’s own mind and body. By offering diverse perspectives and experiences, this grouping of works suggests that art itself can serve as a meaningful dwelling place. Titled after artist Marie Watt’s blanket sculpture, this presentation illustrates the Cantor’s continual dedication to growing a more inclusive collection that better represents the makers and varied artistic traditions of our past and present. Featured artists include Rose B. Simpson, Sasha Gordon, Ben Sakoguchi, Nina Katchadourian, Mike Henderson, and Pacita Abad.

The Faces of Ruth Asawa

This focused exhibition showcases 233 ceramic masks made by San Francisco artist Ruth Asawa. Originally hung on the exterior of Asawa’s family home, this presentation marks the first time this body of work has been shown in its entirety at any museum. The Faces of Ruth Asawa explores the artist’s intimate relationship with clay and offers a new context with which to understand her diverse artistic practice.

Serving the Stanford campus, the Bay Area community, and visitors from around the world, the Cantor Arts Center provides an outstanding cultural experience for visitors of all ages. Founded when the university opened in 1891, the historic museum was expanded and renamed in 1999 for lead donors Iris and B. Gerald Cantor. The Cantor’s collection spans 5,000 years and includes more than 41,000 works of art from around the globe. The Cantor is an established resource for teaching and research on campus. Free admission, tours, lectures, and family activities make the Cantor one of the most visited university art museums in the country.

The Cantor Arts Center has free admission. Hours are W&F: 11AM-6PM, Th: 11AM-8PM, Sat&Sun: 10AM-5PM. Parking on the weekend is free.