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Andrew Maerkle
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 25, 2009
On the pleasure of self-deception
William Kentridge is known for his hand-drawn animations that evoke the quaint charms of the silent film era while unflinchingly observing the brutality of contemporary society, with many of his works drawing from the context of his native South Africa.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 11, 2009
Hiroshima city tracks down elusive artist
Upon entering his current exhibition at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), it is clear that although what he does can be described as making art, Tsuyoshi Ozawa is not an artist.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 2009
Dipping into modern art at Naoshima's bathhouse
At 2 p.m. on July 26, operations commenced at the first public bathhouse on the island of Naoshima in the Seto Inland Sea between the mainland of Honshu and Shikoku. Titled Naoshima Bathhouse "I Love Yu" (the "Love" represented by a heart symbol and "Yu" in kanji form) and designed by artist Shinro Ohtake...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 10, 2009
Artist Yoko Ono is honored
On June 6, the Venice Biennale presented artist Yoko Ono with one of its most prestigious honors, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. Ono was nominated for the distinction along with American John Baldessari by the director of this year's biennale, Daniel Birnbaum.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 10, 2009
Gutai installation a winner in Venice
Yoko Ono is not the only historically significant Japanese artist included in biennale director Daniel Birnbaum's exhibition, "Making Worlds." In the newly renamed Palazzo delle Espozioni in the Giardini, Birnbaum has dedicated a room to works by members of the post World War II avant-garde Gutai Art...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 3, 2009
ART iT transforms into digital forum
When Tokyo-based quarterly magazine ART iT announced the discontinuation of its print edition and that all content would move online following the publishing of its June 2009 issue, it seemed like yet another example of how the popularity of the Internet had combined with a global economic recession...
CULTURE / Art
Jun 19, 2009
Miwa Yanagi makes the personal public
Born in 1967, Kyoto-based photographer Miwa Yanagi burst onto the Japanese art scene in 1994 with "Elevator Girl" (1994-98), her photo series depicting groups of uniformed women languidly posing in empty shopping arcades. Since then, much of her work has reflected a theatrical aesthetic. For "My Grandmothers"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 19, 2009
Collectors pleased with Art 40 Basel fair
The consensus among the 61,000- odd dealers, collectors, museum curators, media and art lovers who descended on the Swiss town of Basel for the 40th edition of the annual Art Basel fair on June 10-14 is that the art market is surprisingly healthy despite a global economic recession.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jun 3, 2009
Creative Commons fights for new copyright
On April 17, the district court of Stockholm issued its verdict in the copyright infringement case of the torrent tracking Web site The Pirate Bay, whose managers and another associate were accused of facilitating the illegal downloading of music, movie and video-game files. The four defendants were...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / ART BRIEF
May 1, 2009
Ruud van Empel: 'Dawn, Moon, World'
Gallery Terra Tokyo, Kamiyacho
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / ART BRIEF
May 1, 2009
Stephen G. Rhodes: 'There is No Bear Bear Ladder'
Misako & Rosen Gallery, Kita-Otsuka (near Ikebukuro)
CULTURE / Art
Apr 3, 2009
Going postcolonial, seeking 'altermodern'
Born in Calabar, Nigeria, in 1963 and now dean of academic affairs at the San Francisco Art Institute, Okwui Enwezor has organized a number of seminal exhibitions of contemporary art. In 2001, the internationally touring exhibition "The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 13, 2009
Fans of GEISAI enjoy the opportunities
Held on Sunday, March 8, at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center, GEISAI #12 marked the latest installment of the ongoing series of open-application, competitive one-day festivals organized since 2001 by pop artist and cultural promoter Takashi Murakami. Part exhibition, flea market and spectacle, punctuated...
MULTIMEDIA
Mar 13, 2009
Fans of GEISAI enjoy the opportunities
Held on Sunday, March 8, at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center, GEISAI #12 marked the latest installment of the ongoing series of open-application, competitive one-day festivals organized since 2001 by pop artist and cultural promoter Takashi Murakami. Part exhibition, flea market and spectacle, punctuated...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 30, 2009
Art Basel codirector sees positive changes
Since its inception in 1970, Art Basel has become one of the world's most prestigious art events. Held every June in Basel, Switzerland, the commercial fair hosts almost 300 galleries dealing in blue-chip Modern and postwar art as well as those with cutting-edge contemporary art.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 9, 2008
Narcissism on the march for beauty
If there is any doubt that New York-based artist Terence Koh has perfected the art of winsome provocateurship, it was put to rest upon reaching the terrace of his Shibuya penthouse hotel room, where a plastic, spermatoza-shaped chalice, filled with milky white liquid, lay innocuously on the artist's...
CULTURE / Art
Sep 18, 2008
Yokohama Triennale curators puzzle locals
In its short history, the Yokohama Triennale has had its ups and downs. The critical and popular success of the first edition of this international art showcase in 2001 was squandered in 2005 when that year's director, architect Arata Isozaki, resigned after six months on the job. His successor, artist...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 4, 2008
Historical turn at Sydney biennale
The opening of the 16th Biennale of Sydney in June arrived on the heels of a national controversy in Australia, after police had removed works from an exhibition of renowned photographer Bill Henson in late May. Police deemed Henson's photographs of naked adolescent children to be indecent, although...

Longform

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