The Woes of the Asian American Artist

...for the most part, I should be more specific and focus on one big woe.

If you are Asian American with an artistic slant, or are very familiar and/or good friends with one, you would know that Woe Number One would be what our parents think about it.

I'm sure with more time, I could think of something else that could be more heartbreaking than having your child want to be an artist that wouldn't be very racist to write. Stripper/porn star isn't worse - they make pretty good money, and that would, at the very least, mean that your child is marginally good-looking and/or well-endowed enough to make the cut, and if you want to play the stereotype card, that would also entail the fact that your child has broken the norm.

Think about it - how many films are based on the wildly successful and/or colorful life of an Asian or Asian American artist? Do we have our own Caravaggio that we can be talk about? Okay, I'm sure there was some homosexual artist somewhere in Asia that went around fightin' and stabbin' people, but again, but with not enough acclaim and notoriety with which to make a film.

No, I'm not writing this entry to look for pity. In fact, since Asian American artist folk by nature will have a pretty thick skin from facing his/her parents and telling them that you want to be an artist (I'm sure that Sean Lennon didn't have such a problem, but I don't know if I'd want Yoko Ono as a mom, myself), there are several resilient and talented Asian-Am artists that have done well for themselves and have lived to tell the tale. Prince Gomolvilas has survived the ULTIMATE GUILT and has made a pretty nice career as a writer/performer, and has written an article on how to deftly follow your dreams while escaping the parental guilt (preview: yes, it involves lies and hiding stuff).

Now I'm not saying that secrets and lies are the way to go (though I'm also not not saying that that's not the way to go), but from my point of view, taking those measures aren't really that hard to achieve, especially when sometimes, your parents may not just "get it." That's not to say that my parents are inept to interpretation, but they just don't have the same sort of aesthetic as the things I've created, and I guess we'd have to agree to disagree.

...and behind my back, they may be talking about my wasting my life away on very confusing things...