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November 22, 2024
 

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Jennifer Purvis
CULTURE / Art
Jan 13, 2001
New gallery seen as artist launchpad
Bleak economic times at the cusp of the millennium saw the closure of Tokyo's Sagacho Exhibit Space after 17 years due to lack of funding. But there is still hope for young exhibitors. Coinciding with Sagacho's demise was the opening of the showrooms and gallery for design agency H.A. Deux.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 24, 2000
MoT's 'Gift' gets every visitor involved
Eleven Japanese and foreign artists are featured in "The Gift of Hope," the third exhibition in the "MoT Annual" series, which previously only showcased emerging Japanese artists. It was decided to expand the format this year because of the transition from the 20th to the 21st century. The artists were...
CULTURE / Art
Dec 16, 2000
Op-ting out of the conventional frame
"Yellow-Green Spiral" by Jun Fujita, 2000, acrylic on board Op Art, pioneered by Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely in the '60s, creates the impression of swirling movement and tricks the eye into perceiving three dimensions. Optical discrepancy is achieved by placing the geometric shapes precisely onthe...
CULTURE / Art
Dec 3, 2000
The cutting edge of sound and vision
For some, myself included, the U.K. Sound Design exhibition, held Nov. 23-27 at the Ground in Harajuku, was a stroll down memory lane. Organized by the British Council in Japan, the show assembled record sleeves from seminal British designers of the last 30 years. Seeing many old records that had made...
CULTURE / Art
Nov 26, 2000
Evoking a sense of time and place in many-layered canvases
Graeme Todd makes landscapes, hidden and subverted under multiple layers of varnish. The paintings resemble a magical transparent pool, offering up subtle images that float toward the eye, carried forward by the separate varnished surfaces.
CULTURE / Art
Nov 19, 2000
Wake-up calls to the subconscious
Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978) is the great painter of the enigma in our era and his work is now on exhibit at Tokyo's Bunkamura in one of the most comprehensive shows seen yet in Japan.
CULTURE / Art
Nov 11, 2000
Capturing private moments of a gritty London
"Point and Shoot" -- an exhibition of gritty black-and-white photographs of nothing in particular, the work of the inimitable Henry Bond and his shots of the streets, people and places of London -- his home -- is now on show at the Taro Nasu Gallery.
CULTURE / Art
Nov 5, 2000
Making no bones about corporeality
Jeanne Dunning has made an object called the "blob" -- an amorphous, skin-colored sack filled with a viscous substance that: crushes, oozes out, takes a bath with or sleeps with the subject. She uses it in a wide body of work to investigate the nature of corporeality.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 29, 2000
Local boy makes good on his own
It is practically impossible to beat the odds and attain major recognition and success in Japan as an individual artist. When an artist does achieve success it is usually the result of a miracle -- or nepotism. It is not uncommon for gallerists who want to promote a particular artist to arrange a show...
CULTURE / Art
Oct 22, 2000
Young talent surfaces at Tokyo Designers Week
If you happened to be in the Aoyama, Shibuya or Daikanyama districts of Tokyo over the last week you may have noticed a brightly patterned bus zooming around. It was transporting whoever was interested in going to the many spots in this area that were exhibiting the work of Japanese and international...
CULTURE / Art
Oct 15, 2000
Dry, irreverent, Dutch design booms
The Dutch have been irreverent for years, but now the world is catching on to their specific kind of creative daring -- Rem Koolhaas has a stranglehold on architecture, Droog design leads in product design and nothing could be cooler than Victor and Rolf in fashion or the man who nurtured the scene,...
CULTURE / Art
Oct 8, 2000
Curator takes the J-way to Stockholm
"The J-Way" sounds like another example of Japanese-English, but if you thought so, like me, you would be mistaken. It is, in fact, the title of a high-octane exhibition of over 40 Japanese artists that was held Sept. 29-Oct. 1 at the Lydmar Hotel in Stockholm.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 1, 2000
Stringing a line through fashion and art
The 21st century in Tokyo is seeing a great migration of disciplines from one sphere into another. Fashion designers are collaborating with artists and exhibiting in galleries. Artists are collaborating with designers and exhibiting in shops.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 24, 2000
Impressions made in paper take form
When the semioticist Roland Barthes came to Japan, he decided to do what many foreigners do, which is to base his impressions of Japan on exactly that, his impressions. His book "The Empire of Signs" is ostensibly about Japan, but the author acknowledged (with no shame) that it actually was a collection...
CULTURE / Art
Sep 17, 2000
Sometimes a shower stall is just. . .
With his bathroom in a suitcase, MK Kahne has turned the most utilitarian dreams of wandering wayfarers into reality. Not just any old utility, this is a sexy, transportable washroom which could have been designed for Maxwell Smart, complete with dismountable plumbing that packs neatly away in the leather...
CULTURE / Art
Sep 10, 2000
A philosopher behind the video camera
Hitherto, people confronted by "video art" would mentally steel themselves to be bored by an alienating experience that excluded rather than included. This is the reason why an artist such as Pipilotta Rist, originally a rock-video director, has gained such enormous popularity for being the easy and...
CULTURE / Art
Sep 3, 2000
The making of alternative history
The xich lo (cyclo) is as ubiquitous in Vietnam as the tuk tuk is in Thailand, but completely man-powered: The driver peddles the vehicle behind the comfortably seated passenger. It is currently an important mode of transportation on Vietnam's streets, as well as a livelihood for countless drivers, and...
CULTURE / Art
Aug 27, 2000
Dogs at Saatchi and Saatchi Gallery
The philosophy that primes Jun Fukukawa's work, a combination of painting and sculpture, is a blast from the recent past. Fukukawa is inspired by the writings of Carlos Castaneda, particularly the book "The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge" whose hallucinatory Indian mystical experiences...
CULTURE / Art
Aug 20, 2000
Lessons in transforming space
Mukojima, two stops out from Asakusa, would appear on one's first visit to be the boondocks. Nonetheless, this suburban Tokyo backwater has been the location this year of two site-specific architecture and art projects.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 13, 2000
Getting interconnected at Kim's
Interconnectivity is a technology buzzword, but Kim Gordon -- rock star of Sonic Youth fame, originator of the X Girl label, and now artist and curator of "Kim's Bedroom," currently at Parco Gallery -- has presented it as the locus of her first curatorial foray. Gordon has assembled an eclectic group...
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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