At first glance, the colorful, classically shaped vase adorned with flower prints and pictures of doll-like young girls seems harmless enough. It's the second look that throws you.
A step toward the enormous vessel reveals a much less wholesome scene of young children wielding weapons, smoking drugs and dismembering their stuffed toys. A billboard in the background bears the perplexing sign, "Fxxk Our Car" while a Madonna-and-child decal decorates the foreground.
Such is the unsettling world of British artist Grayson Perry as depicted in the piece, "Plight of the Sensitive Child," on display now at the 21st Century Kanazawa Museum as part of "My Civilization," his debut in Japan.