“It’s kind of weird to be here,” said Sanjay Patel, a Pixar animator, standing on a stage Tuesday inside the Asian Art Museum. “Normally you would see Buzz or Woody or Incredible or Sulley or Carl from ‘Up.’”

Indeed, it was not apparent why the excitable Patel was reciting the names of his employer’s famous movie characters at a news conference held by the Asian Art Museum to promote its new artistic mission.

But nonconformity was just the impression the museum hoped to convey.

After 45 years of presenting mostly ancient art in understated settings, the museum, which teetered on the brink of bankruptcy less than a year ago, is now determined to “stand out by being bold,” said Jay Xu, 48, who became director three years ago and is the creative force behind the new direction.

The museum now welcomes contemporary art into its galleries, said Xu (pronounced shu) — and not merely modern interpretations of classic ceramics, like those currently on display in its “Poetry in Clay” exhibition.

To hype its exhibition “Maharaja,” which opens Oct. 21 and explores the realm of India’s legendary kings, the museum hired Patel to cover the museum’s exterior with his effervescent Pop Art, transforming the stodgy gray neo-Classical-style building into a bright tableau of color and Hindu whimsy.

In November, the museum will hand Patel the keys to an interior gallery, where it will present his Disneyesque illustrations, a magical kingdom of mythic Indian characters, in a show called “Deities, Demons and Dudes With ’Staches.”

“It’s about time,” said Marjorie Schwarzer, alluding to the museum’s new embrace of pop culture. Schwarzer, from Oakland and the author of “Riches, Rivals and Radicals: 100 Years of Museums in America,” praised the Asian Art Museum for its “exquisite collection” but lamented its “scholar-curator model.”

That it is now taking chances with contemporary art is “great news” for the museum, both artistically and financially, she said.

At the news conference, Xu and his young staff of curators, along with Mayor Ed Lee of San Francisco, unveiled the museum’s new logo, an inverted A, modeled on the mathematic symbol “for all.” It represents “Asian art for all,” Xu said.

Nick O’Flaherty, strategy director for Wolff Olins, the brand consulting firm that created the logo, said the museum, with its new modern brand, was “throwing out lifelines to visitors.”