This page introduces a few of the many thousands of artists of Asian ancestry who worked in the United States. Most of these are citizens of the United States, but many are not. But in this cluster, all of the artists maintained a principal residence in the United States for at least a decade. This issue of residency versus citizenship reflects both the shifting American naturalization policies of various historical periods, as well as the artists personal choice, thus serving to underscore the long history of transnational identity that is a hallmark of much Asian American art.

This cluster also reflects artists who worked in INK as one of their primary painting media. For some, this practice represents an extension of the East Asian ink traditions in which they may have been trained, either in Asia or the United States. Others artists are grounded in an aesthetic history tied to Europe. But because ink has an especially long association with the artistic legacy of East Asia, these works in ink painted in the United States suggest an internationally complex artistic lineage and identity.