Noah Smith
· Noahpinion
· August 30, 2026 at 00:15
· ⏱ 16 min read
| Read on Substack ↗
Summary
Asian American art gets a bad rap mainly because the label is reserved for a narrow slice of work—art by and about Asian Americans—which is inherently small and transient; broadening the definition to all art by Asian Americans reveals a rich, diverse field. This is cultural commentary with no explicit market or trade content, so it carries no direct trading implications.
•Smith argues 'Asian American art' is usually labeled only when a work is both made by and about Asian Americans, which excludes crossover art and non-identity-themed work by Asian American creators.
•Excluding South Asians, Asian Americans are only about 5.5% of the U.S. population, making the traditional 'Asian American narrative' pool small.
•About two-thirds of Asian Americans report having close friends of another race, and over 40% of U.S.-born Asian Americans marry outside their race, supporting the article's assimilation argument.
•Smith says assimilation means second-generation immigrant narratives rarely survive beyond the second generation; he expects fourth-generation Asian Americans may find Fresh Off the Boat as foreign as he finds early 20th-century Jewish New York culture.
•Avatar: The Last Airbender is cited as major Asian-influenced art typically excluded from the 'Asian American' label because its creators are white, despite heavy Asian cultural borrowing and Asian American involvement.
•Smith praises many specific Asian American works, including Adrian Tomine's comics, Monstress, BEEF season 1, Atlanta via Hiro Murai, Japanese Breakfast, Wisp, Ninefox Gambit, Ted Chiang's stories, Jade City, and Wesley Wang's film.
•The article defends even clichéd Asian American media as having opened doors for creators, allowing them to eventually make art beyond the traditional identity-focused paradigm.