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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 5, 2016

Kuniyoshi and Kunisada: When great minds think a little differently

When Japan opened up to the Western world in the 19th century, popular artistic tastes were dominated by two great woodblock print artists, Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) and Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1864). Contemporaries, keen rivals and both members of the Utagawa School, the pair had the inventiveness...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 15, 2015

Smiling between the lines of ukiyo-e

Some art collectors enjoy the eclectic, picking up art pieces opportunistically — even randomly — usually when they find something at the right price. Others have more streamlined tastes and focus on a theme or genre, building up more consistent collections.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 20, 2015

Monet's experiments meet his masterpieces

To anyone familiar with art exhibitions in Japan, it is clear that Impressionism is one of the most well-known and most-loved of all the "isms" and movements of Western art. The name of the movement is believed to have come from a 1872 painting by Claude Monet titled "Impression, Sunrise." When it was...
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2015

Islamic State's war on art

The Islamic State's destruction and sales of ancient artifacts is a crucial piece of its recruitment and financing strategies.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 19, 2015

Seeing beyond Jiro Takamatsu's shadows

"Jiro Takamatsu: Trajectory of Work" is taxonomic, breaking down everything in the artist's oeuvre into relatively neat successions of projects and including his paintings and sculptures, copious sketches and the marginalia. Even the catalog seemingly calls for a scientific approach, this exhibition...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 20, 2015

A stitch in time does much more than save nine

One of Tokyo Dome's most attended annual attractions might come as a surprise to some. Aside from being home to baseball games and big-name concerts, the huge stadium also hosts a number of fairs, including the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival — which is the largest of its kind.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 31, 2015

Hallucinating in print with Keiichi Tanaami

Prolific is a word that hardly does justice to Keiichi Tanaami. Born in Tokyo in 1936, Tanaami has worked ceaselessly, imparting a lasting legacy on the landscape of Japanese Pop Art. He has been described as "Japan's Andy Warhol," but unlike Warhol, Tanaami's works are consistently psychedelic; full...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2015

Self-censorship is biggest threat to free speech in Japan

An edgy art exhibition of works rejected or removed by other exhibitors offers insights into whether Japan can be considered a nation of free speech.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 25, 2014

From tradition to trash: Tokyo's art in 2014

This year has been a memorable one for art exhibitions at museums in Tokyo, with a surprisingly diverse array of shows and events, ancient and modern, foreign and domestic, metropolitan and provincial.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 24, 2014

2014: New horizons opened up in Japan's theater world

Looking back over the past 12 months in Japan's theater world, it's clear that one encouraging trend is a lessening of the capital's dominance.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 19, 2014

Asia enriches the Bard's work-in-progress

Whatever would William Shakespeare make of it all if he were to journey now through Asia, where the interpretations of his works differ so much across vast regions, ethnic groups, cultures and languages?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 18, 2014

Taking a pictorial trip to Normandy

"Normandie — L'Estuaire de la Seine: L'Invention d'Un Paysage" ("Normandy — The Seine Estuary: The invention of a Landscape" is an exhibition at the Sompo Japan Museum of Art that recently changed its name to Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art. Just as the museum's name is rather too long — something...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 31, 2014

No words can describe Tan's 'Terminology'

'As a visual artist it's very important to reach a point where I'm going beyond words. In interviews I find myself struggling, because we're always talking around (the work), circumscribing it. A question that I hate is 'what does this work mean?'' Fiona Tan
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2014

Calculating the ethical cost of high-priced art

If artists, art critics and art buyers really had any interest in reducing the widening gap between the rich and the poor, they would spend time in developing countries, where spending a few thousand dollars on the works of indigenous artists can make a real difference to the wellbeing of whole villages.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 17, 2014

Roppongi Art Night 2014: Get ready for a 32-hour art marathon

Art needn't be strictly visual. That's how Katsuhiko Hibino sees things.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Mar 6, 2014

Everyone is invited to enjoy art

Over thousands of years, Japanese art has evolved through many phases and genres — from pottery to sculpture, ink paintings to woodblock prints, manga to anime and much more. Although contemporary art is often thought of as conceptual and difficult to comprehend, it hasn't stopped the public from enjoying...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 3, 2014

When it comes to public space, Atelier Bow Wow barks up the right tree

Atelier Bow Wow uses the framework of art exhibitions to encourage public social interaction in what it calls 'micro public spaces.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 5, 2014

Yokohama's annual feast of TPAM

As befits its designation as a "Cultural City of East Asia 2014," Yokohama is about to host Japan's foremost annual platform for contemporary performing arts.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 30, 2014

Fifteen minutes . . . and counting

Across the ages, individuals standing at the peak of each society's pyramid of power and fame have depended on artists to ensure their immortality: Khafre, pharaoh of Upper and Lower Egypt, conscripted an army of artisans to carve his likeness into the Great Sphinx to preserve it through the eternal...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 8, 2014

Darren Almond: All things pass

A wall of 450 flip-clocks all display 15:26 in the entryway to "Second Thoughts" at Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito. Seconds pass ... CLICK, all synchronized to the minute. The sound of 15:27 is so overwhelming it's surprising to see only one digit change: 6 to 7. Standing, waiting for 15:28,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 28, 2013

In the realm of the Fujiya Hotel

It's a different matter with ryokan, Japan's traditional and often premium-priced inns, but outside the stellar class of regular hotels charging astronomical rates, their down-to-earth cousins aren't usually the kind of places to feel too strongly about. You generally expect little by way of character...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 25, 2013

Best of the West tops this year's major shows

Japan occupies an odd niche in the art world. Its own indigenous artistic traditions are balanced against an almost fanboy fascination with certain aspects of the canon of Western art, while there is an often half-hearted attempt to stay plugged into the global contemporary art scene with its various...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 11, 2013

Somewhere between art and craft lies the beauty of Satoshi Someya

Satoshi Someya has produced a cerebrally engaging and visually alluring exhibition. His "Digesting Decoration" positions him among the most significant contemporary lacquer artists working today. The primary concern is with "use," as in the particularly utilitarian function of craft, as opposed to the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 27, 2013

The Imperial Household of tradition

The catalog for The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto's exhibition, "Treasures of the Imperial Collection: The Quintessence of Modern Japanese Art," tells us that this "sublime collection of resplendent masterpieces shines brilliantly in the history of modern Japanese art." The collection, represented...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 28, 2013

Smashing ideas on future design and technology

While contemporary art is still transfixed by its own reflection, veteran Japanese curator Yuko Hasegawa has focused her cultural microscope on something quite different. "Bunny Smash Design to touch the world," the current group exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, is a hit-and-miss...

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