Sometimes you don’t have to throw the baby out with the bath water in order to make a fresh, even radical, statement. At the Asian Art Museum, recent acquisitions by 14 contemporary artists infuse newness into familiar narratives and techniques. The artists ask how to embrace traditions from the perspective of overlooked groups? In answer, the Indian painter Rupy C. Tut reimagines scenes from a Punjabi folktale, while the Taiwanese artist Wu Chi-Tsung creates what appears to be a traditional Chinese landscape painting, but made from layers of crumpled photosensitive paper. The art in this exhibition “aims to change the model of male-dominated art history,” says Naz Cuguoglu, the assistant curator of contemporary art and programs. “By demanding a new agency from familiar narratives, these artists of color are writing their own futures.” —Clara Molot