The "Power of Images" exhibition at the National Art Centre Tokyo is nothing less than an assault on the senses — a barrage of exotic and vivid anthropological oddities from the collection of the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka.
Garish, fantastic, ghoulish and comical masks adorn the walls, grinning and leering, with horns sticking out or eyes popping. Outlandish over-decorated costumes stand as if to pour scorn on your own conservative sartorial choices. Weird, psychedelic shrines invite you to laugh at them and then make you feel slightly sad for not having such a transcendent and vivacious faith.
Then, soaring toward the museum's high ceiling, ornately carved totem poles point to the heavens and inspire a sense of awe. And there are the brilliant colors — in the aboriginal paintings, Tibetan sand mandalas or idols — applied as if they were potent essences rather than mere decorative touches.
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