How this woman’s Venice Beach gallery is empowering Asian American, local artists

A female curator is empowering both Asian American artists and local artists in her Venice Beach gallery.

Yiwei Lu, 28, is the owner of Yiwei Gallery, a local art space in Venice Beach that was transformed from a garage. Since 2019, her gallery has successfully presented dozens of artists, particularly those of Asian descent and from the local Venice Beach community.

“We are a gallery all about inclusivity. We showcase artists from diverse backgrounds and strive to present something different and new,” Lu told “Good Morning America.”

After graduating from the University of Southern California, Lu developed a deep interest in the LA art scene and began curating artworks for underrepresented artists. Lu said she recognized a lack of representation for Asian artists on the West Coast and decided to open her own platform.

However, Lu said being an Asian female curator has presented challenges.

Lu said she has faced sexism and discrimination, which she says prompted her to become a gallerist to raise awareness of diverse artists herself. Lu said she found a sense of achievement in raising awareness for artists the public might not know. She developed a unique method to showcase both Asian American artists and local ones simultaneously.

Lu pairs artists with different backgrounds through unexpected connections in their artworks. In one instance, she curated a combination of local artist Catherine Ruane’s large-scale charcoal drawing of Southern California plants and Chinese photographer Ye Wenlong’s black and white winter snow scenes. Despite using completely different mediums and content, their works shared a consistent black and white realism, creating a fascinating cross-geographical and cultural connection.

“They create a very interesting chemistry together,” Lu said.

This May, Lu has been busy presenting Asian American and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) artworks and traveling the world to bring more underrepresented artists to the global stage.

Yiwei Gallery’s special AANHPI month exhibition will be on display through the end of June.