People | WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN? Apr 13, 2019
Masaya Nakayama: Keeping an eye on the art of subtraction
by Katherine Whatley
Finding artistic freedom in New York, Osaka-born artist finds new expressions for Japanese-style painting.
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Art Apr 9, 2019
Weaving in and out of a century of art
by Claire Williamson
The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo's re-opening exhibition is an ambitious exploration of an entire century's worth of art that runs through the majority of the museum building and spans four floors. Allow yourself ample time to make your way through it.
Art Mar 26, 2019
Japanese artisanship: As real as it can get
by Matthew Larking
From perfect replicas of fruit to tiny articulated dragons, Japan's ceramic, metal, wood and other craft industries excel at making decorative items that are so detailed and realistic, they can fool the naked eye.
Art Mar 12, 2019
Bizen: Pottery that rose from the ashes
by Robert Yellin
Of all the ancient high-fired unglazed stoneware styles in Japan, none is as popular as Bizen pottery, with its vareid colors and textures all the results of melting ash from the kiln.
Art Mar 10, 2019
Ohara Koson: Bringing ukiyo-e back to life
by Martin Laflamme
Ohara Koson created a large body of ukiyo-e prints that delighted a foreign clientelle, yet garnered relatively little attention in Japan. More than 70 years after his death, he is finally being honored with a retrospective in his native country.
Art Feb 19, 2019
Toshiko Okanoue gives us pieces of her mind
by Jeff Michael Hammond
Despite being unaware of the surrealists in Europe, Toshiko Okanoue created collages that were so unusual for the 1950s, they caught the attention of Shuzo Takiguchi, the leader of Japan's surrealism movement.
Art Feb 12, 2019
Crossing 70 years of Katsushika Hokusai
by Katherine Whatley
Featuring an astounding 480 prints, spanning the entire 70 years of Katushika Hokusai's career, the new Hokusai exhibition at the Mori Arts Center Gallery is a great overview for ukiyo-e fans.
Art Feb 5, 2019
Gentaro Komaki: A pioneer of surrealism
by Matthew Larking
Gentaro Komaki (1906-89), the son of a Kyoto Prefecture silk crepe wholesaler, lived a decadent youth of literature and philosophy, until seeing the work of Max Ernst and Yves Tanguy inspired to pursue surrealist art.
Art Jan 22, 2019
Left-field visions of Kyoto's rising artists
by Matthew Larking
The Museum of Kyoto's latest exhibition presents a promising cast of 45 emerging local artists working in miscellaneous mediums from lacquer to small-scale mixed-media installations.
Art Jan 8, 2019
'Beyond the End: Ruins in Art History': What kind of beauty lies beneath ruins?
by John L. Tran
The exploration of the subject of ruins — their romanticization and fantasization — raises questions about the relationship between art, beauty and disaster.
Art Nov 28, 2018
Shinzo Fukuhara: Shiseido's patron of beauty
by John L. Tran
As an artist, Shinzo Fukuhara may not be a household name, but his production of a photography magazine, founding of the Shiseido Gallery and writings on aesthetics were seminal to the development of art photography in Japan.
Art Nov 20, 2018
Japan's artistic rebels of the 1980s
by Matthew Larking
While nothing so much as an epochal rupture occurred, 1980s' artists in Japan were reactive to the lingering concerns of the '70s — in that decade, oil painting and sculpture were mostly passe, while modernism appeared exhausted.