author

 
Menu
Search
 
November 22, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

Monty Dipietro
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jan 16, 2002
Tales of innocence and odd experience
Through the opening party crowd ran Sam Taylor-Wood's adorable little daughter, Angelica, done up in a fairy costume with a papier-ma^che star floating above her head and a magic wand in her hand. It was a delightful moment that sent a ripple of good old warm-hearted smiles through the well-attended...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jan 9, 2002
The next best thing
Happy New Year to one and all. I'm just back in Tokyo after spending the holidays in Bangkok, where, you might be interested to know, Project 304, About Art Space and the city's four or five other contemporary-art players got together to celebrate the finale of a successful video and film program that...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Dec 26, 2001
Best of times, worst of times
The ominous statistics had been news for some time, but, being a slippery freelancer, I never thought Japan's worsening economic situation would affect me directly. The year 2001, however, proved this assumption wrong, as the mean old cutback beast reared up and hit me where it hurt the most -- right...
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Dec 19, 2001
Great coffee with some art on the side
I took a visiting young German painter to Ben's Cafe in Takadanobaba the other day. We met to have a beer and a chat -- and because Jorn was eager to show me a book of his new work, with an eye to me maybe helping arrange a show for him.
COMMUNITY
Dec 16, 2001
Photography provides new angles on art
Maybe the world of painting seemed too old-school, too much turpentine-and-sweat -- or maybe the impatient daughters of the bubble era simply wanted a quick, easy expressive medium. Whatever triggered the phenomenon, there was an unprecedented surge in the number of young women entering the photography...
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Dec 5, 2001
Handcrafted art to turn your head
There are more than a few Japanese artists these days who use what might be termed "obsessional" techniques to realize their work. Among the better known are Yayoi Kusama, who once glued thousands of postal airmail stickers to a canvas and who is best known for the ceaseless repetition in her "Infinity...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Nov 28, 2001
A new world order revealed
Start with a simple idea, add a slide projector and a turntable, and you have the pleasantly surprising Nicolas Moulin installation, "Pole."
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Nov 21, 2001
It's bewildering and bewitching
Someone should tell Karen Kilimnik that when she changes the date of birth on her resume, she should also tweak the other dates listed there, lest she end up appearing to have graduated from university at age 14. This is the case with the bio provided by Gallery Side 2, where the enigmatic painter and...
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Nov 14, 2001
Art triumphs over vain landfill protest
It didn't matter much to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government that residents of Ome City in western Tokyo opposed the destruction of a large area of forest in the nearby town of Hinode to create a landfill site.
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Nov 7, 2001
Art in the midst of 'iniquity'
I live in Kabukicho -- the infamous tangle of sex clubs and mahjongg parlors located just north of Shinjuku Station's East Exit. There are a number of reasons why I live where I do: the hundreds of wonderful all-night Asian restaurants and supermarkets; the fact that I can walk from my apartment to the...
CULTURE / Art
Oct 31, 2001
Cute art: clued-up or clueless?
I used to dismiss cuteness as kid stuff. But I found such a sophisticated aesthetic of cuteness here in Japan that I was forced to reconsider.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 24, 2001
Life's odd journey and the wonder of Y
With the press conference and vernissage just hours away, workers were hurriedly making final adjustments to the Hara Museum's big new Tadanori Yokoo show when one of them turned to me and said, "You know, many curators were trying for this exhibition." At least that's what I thought she said. As Yokoo,...
CULTURE / Art
Oct 17, 2001
Defining Style
In the 10,000 years since the Arctic icecap receded sufficiently to enable human inhabitation of the land we now know as Sweden, the curiously creative nation has gifted the world with the likes of Beowulf, Strindberg, Bergman and, well, Abba.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 10, 2001
Something got lost along the way from Istanbul
When stood up beside the glamorous grand old lady of international art fairs, the Venice Biennale, Turkey's roughly concurrent Istanbul Biennale comes across as a country cousin -- a little ragged, to be sure, but not without its own particular charms. Now in its seventh incarnation, the Istanbul Biennale...
CULTURE / Art
Oct 3, 2001
Can-do creators fill in city 'gaps'
One of the biggest problems with Tokyo's avant-garde art scene is finding it.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 26, 2001
A kiss in the darkroom
When I spoke with curator Michiko Kasahara about the Tokyo Museum of Photography's new exhibition, "A Kiss in the Dark," the first thing she wanted to explain was the show's intriguing title. Her catalog essay expands:
CULTURE / Art
Sep 19, 2001
Art with some things to say
When the Yokohama Triennale opened a couple of weeks ago, several people asked which of the pieces I particularly liked. When pressed, from the works of more than 100 artists on show, I singled out Yoko Ono's "Freight Train" and Casagrande & Rintala's "Bird Cage," two large outdoor installations located...
CULTURE / Art
Sep 12, 2001
Artist sees hospital life through a glass darkly
From Parisian alcoholic Maurice Utrillo to Japan's own polka-dot diva Yayoi Kusama, I would guess that the list of artists who have actually lived in mental institutions is just about as long as the list of painters (Picasso, Dubuffet) who regularly hung around them looking for inspiration, searching...
CULTURE / Art
Sep 5, 2001
Welcome to wonderland
The Yokohama Triennale, a grand-scale international art exhibition four years in the making, debuted last weekend with a gala party attended by the everyone who is anyone on the Japanese art scene, a sparkle of the global art illuminati, and even Prince Takamado. The 10-week-long exhibition, running...
CULTURE / Art
Aug 29, 2001
Is self-promotion the deep need of his soul?
It's hard not to be impressed with all the things Takashi Murakami has done. Still shy of 40, he enjoys a level of international recognition shared by perhaps no more than a dozen of the world's leading contemporary artists.
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.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’
SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER