Art Mar 25, 2021
Tokyo's art scene looks back at recent history
by John L. Tran
Asian artists and curators examine the present through the lens of the past.
Art Jan 2, 2020
Art from the silver lining of life's dark clouds
by Matthew Larking
Threatening the precarious peace of everyday life are unforeseen incidents, disease and emotional turbulence. Such are the narrative threads running through "Song to Life, Struggles of the Soul" at Wacoal Studyhall Kyoto.
Art Oct 1, 2019
Shaun Tan's glimmers of hope in somber times
by Matthew Larking
Tan's imaginative worlds are usually a little dark, featuring dystopias, alienation, suffering, bureaucracy and monsters — but the camaraderie between family, friends and strangers lead to hope and happy endings.
Art Sep 3, 2019
Julian Opie: A fascinating view of the mundane
by John L. Tran
Julian Opie's schematic reductions of people, animals and landscapes to planes of color may be fun and casual, but it's not just eye-candy — he gets us to see much more than he shows us.
Art Mar 5, 2019
Ways to never forget Christian Boltanski
by Matthew Larking
Memories eroded, recovered, or forged from or for other peoples and times are the major themes of "Christian Boltanski: Lifetime," the artist's first full-scale Japan retrospective at The National Museum of Art, Osaka.
Art Nov 6, 2018
Waking up to Asia's growing role in art
by John L. Tran
One year after The National Art Center, Tokyo, and the Mori Art Museum presented the expansive "Sunshower: Contemporary Art From Southeast Asia 1980s to Now," The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, (MOMAT) has unveiled "Awakenings: Art in Society in Asia 1960s-1990s." Both projects were ...
Art Jul 31, 2018
Bertrand Lavier's 'Medley' blows hot and cold
by John L. Tran
Bertrand Lavier seems to relish messing with our cognitive dissonance. As the self-taught artist, who originally studied horticulture, put it in a 2016 interview, "Art is a matter of paradoxes on nearly every level."
Art Jun 3, 2018
Yayoi Kusama in Jakarta: She'll be your mirror
by Mark Thompson
"Life is the Heart of a Rainbow," the Yayoi Kusama exhibition now on at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Jakarta, is the first retrospective of the artist Indonesia has ever hosted.
Art May 16, 2017
by John L. Tran
As the phrase goes, "s—- happens." Walead Beshty explores different ways that it may happen, and in doing so, he gently suggests that we consider the implications. His solo show at Rat Hole Gallery exemplifies this. There are two series of works: a selection ...
Art Mar 8, 2016
Fujiwara wants the dirt to stick
by John L. Tran
White often seems to be used in contemporary art in Japan as a kind of short cut to signify "beauty," "purity" or "spirituality." Simon Fujiwara's show "White Day" at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery is, as the title suggests, overwhelmingly white, but it's designed ...
Art / Openings In Tokyo Mar 8, 2016
by Daisuke Kikuchi
March 11-April 23 New York-based contemporary artist Mariko Mori made a name for herself during the 1990s, creating works such as "Play With Me," which incorporated the Japanese otaku (obsessive fan) influences of anime and cosplay into art. Her recent works, however, are in striking ...
Art / Openings In Tokyo Feb 2, 2016
by Melynie Yoneda
Feb. 3-April 22 Since its establishment in 2006, the "Shiseido Art Egg" has been a set of annual solo shows for the finalists of a public-entry art competition. For its 10th anniversary, the exhibition is featuring the work of installation artist Yoi Kawakubo (Feb. 3-26), ...