CoFuFun is an open space for special events, gatherings and for children (and adults) to play. It was produced by Nendo, a not-for-profit arts and architectural group, to pay homage to the numerous kofun (burial mounds, often key shaped, for nobles constructed between the 3rd and 7th centures BCE) in Tenri city and Nara prefecture and support city revitalization. It is located in the Tenri train station plaza. This seems like a great idea and much better than the gentrification we are seeing around train stations in Japan. See links below for more info. Or better yet, visit Tenri!
Since the 1980s, Itsuo Kobayashi has drawn a picture of every single meal he eats. However notable we find this practice now, it would surely have struck us as downright eccentric back then. Kobayashi began drawing his food before the arrival of inexpensive digital cameras and cellphones, and well before the smartphone combined the two into the single package we now keep close at hand. We all know people who take camera-phone pictures of their meals, some of them with the regularity and solemnity of prayer, but how many of them could produce lifelike renderings of the food placed before them with only pen and paper?
"The Japanese outsider artist and professional cook, born in 1962, first began keeping food diaries as a teenager," Artnet's Sarah Cascone writes of Kobayashi. "In his 20s, he began adding illustrations of the dishes he made at work, and those he ate while dining out." When, at the age of 46, a "debilitating neurological disorder made it difficult for him to walk, leaving him largely confined to his home," Kobayashi began to focus on his food diaries even more intensely.
His subjects are now mostly "food deliveries — sometimes from restaurants, sometimes from his mother. And though his day-to-day existence rarely varies, he’s been pushing his practice in a new direction, creating a new series of pop-up paintings."
After 32 years of making increasingly detailed and realistic overhead drawings of his every meal — including such information as names, prices, flavor notes, and faithfully replicated restaurant logos — Kobayashi's work has caught the attention of the American art world. The Fukuyama-based gallery Kushino Terrace "gave Kobayashi his US debut in January, at New York’s Outsider Art Fair," Cascone writes. "His works sell for between $500 and $3,000." That makes for quite a step up in prestige from his old job cooking at a soba restaurant, though his copious experience with that dish shows whenever it appears in his diary.
But then, after decade upon decade of daily practice, everything Kobayashi draws looks good enough to eat, from bowls of ramen to plates of curry to bento boxes filled with all manner of delights from land and sea. Though hardly fancy, especially by the advanced standards of Japanese food culture, these are the kind of meals you want to savor, the ones to which you feel you should pay appreciative attention rather than just scarfing down. Or at least they look that way under Kobayashi's gaze, which even the most ardent 21st-century food-photographing hobbyist must envy. Many of us wish to eat more consciously, and the work of this cook-turned-artist shows us how: put down the phone, and pick up the sketchbook.
Controversial artist Makoto Aida is refusing to bow to demands that he alter a politically sensitive submission to the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo after museum chiefs and Tokyo Metropolitan Government officials deemed it unsuitable for children.
Aida, whose previous work includes pictures of naked schoolgirls on leashes and Japanese fighter planes attacking New York, was invited with his family to submit an installation for an exhibition entitled “An Art Exhibition for Children — Whose Place is this?” which runs at MOT from July 18 through Oct. 12.
The museum’s website describes the exhibition as a “summer holiday exhibition for children” that invites visitors to “stand in the spaces and ask ‘whose place is this?’ ” and features the work of four artist groups.
Aida’s installation, created with his junior high school student son Torajiro and wife Hiroko Okada and submitted under the name “The Aida Family,” includes a 6-meter-long scroll of white fabric suspended from the roof, daubed with criticisms of the education ministry in black ink.
The piece, entitled “Manifesto” and explicitly directed at the education ministry, includes phrases slamming Japan’s school system, such as “Increase the number of teachers!”
The installation also includes one of Aida’s prior works featuring the artist satirizing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a video entitled “Video of a Man Calling Himself Japan’s Prime Minister Making a Speech at an International Assembly.”
According to a July 25 post made by Aida on the blogging platform Tumblr, museum curators and metropolitan government officials contacted the artist last Thursday and Friday to demand the removal of the two pieces after a complaint was made by a visitor.
Aida states that he believes his work’s “removal is inappropriate,” and ends his blog post by asking: “Do you think I can ‘agree’ with this?”
Aida’s agent told The Japan Times on Tuesday that he had nothing to add to the lengthy post.
Museum spokesman Mitsuaki Kojo, meanwhile, denied that the museum had forced any demands on Aida and hopes to persuade the artist to alter his work.
“Rather than making a demand, we felt that the content was a little difficult given that the exhibition is aimed at children, so we asked him if he would change it,” Kojo told The Japan Times.
“It’s a summer holiday exhibition aimed at junior high school students. We were looking for something a little easier to engage with overall, and that’s what we talked to him about,” Kojo said.
“We asked him if he would change it, but he wasn’t comfortable and both sides remain far apart. He hasn’t changed anything and he still hasn’t found a way that he’s comfortable with, so we’re still looking.
“We’re not going to force him to do anything,” he continued. “We’re still trying to settle things. I don’t know if we’ll be able to do that. We won’t force anything unilaterally, but if we can’t reach an agreement, then things could be difficult.”
The metropolitan government’s Bureau of Citizens and Cultural Affairs, which oversees the museum, denied Aida’s claim that a visitor’s complaint was the reason for the museum’s stance.
“The museum and the metropolitan government were thinking the same thing,” said spokesperson Makiko Tomioka. “The exhibition is aimed at children, and we think it would be better to have an atmosphere that is more accommodating for children. This situation has not come about just because of a complaint.”
The MOT also claims that Aida’s work was completed so close to the exhibition’s opening that it left little time to address initial concerns.
“There were questions raised at the time that the work was completed,” said Kojo. “We had a private viewing on July 17, and the work was completed in a matter of days before that.”
Aida claimed on his blog that the installation is “not a political work,” and rejected suggestions it is inappropriate for children.
“The mentality of questioning things is something I believe is of the highest significance in human intelligence,” he wrote. “This is not something which we are given sudden rights to as we become official adults at the age of 20.
“It was with this thought that I began “Manifesto” and the entire layout of the exhibition. This show has not for one moment ignored the fact that it is being presented within the frame of a children’s exhibition, rather it is the result of serious consideration upon that very point.”
Photo borrowed from Japan Today's Picture of the Day, 5/23/15.
Caption reads: Visitors walk through the installation “Love is Calling” (2013) by Yayoi Kusama at the exhibition “Logical Emotion: Contemporary Art from Japan” in the Art Museum Moritzburg in Halle (Saale), central Germany, Friday. The exhibition, which presents the works of 13 Japanese artists, runs through July 26.
The leitmotif of the exhibition can be encapsulated in two concepts – often treated as each other’s antithesis – ‘logic’ and ‘emotion’. The organisers of the exhibition hold that the tension between these concepts is the pivot of contemporary Japanese art. The exhibition aims to discover the essence of the ‘Japanese identity’, presenting it in different contexts and attempting to define distinguishing features of its aesthetics.
At the exhibition we present the works of 13 Japanese artists including an architect and a graphic designer, produced in media such as photography, painting, drawing, manga, sculpture, installation, object, video, ceramic and poster.
...thanks to a new site, anyone can freely combine emoji for a hundred times more expressiveness. That’s exactly what Kazuki Takakura, art director for a Tokyo theatre company, did – and the results are nothing short of spectacular!
...the website presents users with every emoji available... After selecting an emoji, the user is presented with a blank canvas, upon which your chosen emoji can be placed. Clicking and dragging will paste a string of the images, like a paint brush. You can quickly select other emoji by pressing any key on the keyboard or change their size.
When police arrested Japanese artist Rokudenashiko last month for distributing 3-D printer plans for models of her vagina, the world was at once baffled and outraged. But despite all the fuss that was raised over the artist’s arrest, it looks like the Japanese police are at it again, this time targeting the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art for an exhibition featuring nude photography by the Japanese photographer Ryudai Takano.
Though no one has been arrested, the museum made headlines after it partially covered some of Ryudai’s photographs with cloth after local police deemed the images “obscene.” However, many in Japan are questioning the legitimacy of the police actions.
The exhibit, called “Photography Will Be,” features photos from nine different photographers and is set to run until September 28. According to the museum’s website, the exhibit is intended to “[examine] our relationship to the photograph and the image.” To that end, Takano, who is known for his nude photography, contributed nearly 50 pieces, 12 of which feature male genitalia.
Realizing that not all patrons would be happy about being confronted with uncensored genitalia, the museum consulted with an attorney and decided to put a curtain up separating the photos from the others on display and included a warning explaining that the images may be unpalatable for some. A guard was even posted nearby to watch the entrance of the cordoned-off area. Nevertheless, the police showed up on August 12, almost two weeks after the exhibit opened, demanding that the 12 “obscene” photos be removed following an anonymous complaint about the exhibition.
However, rather than simply getting rid the offending photographs, the museum worked out a sort of deal with the police. Cloth was put up over the photos themselves so as to censor the images and prevent anyone from seeing anything that might be glimpsed in an everyday locker room.
Though the photographs remain, many are still upset by the police’s apparent violation of free speech – including Shuji Takahashi, one of the museum’s curators. Takahashi explained that he did not want to engage in self-censorship, but had little choice since he would otherwise face arrest. For his part, Takano explained that there were basically three ways they could deal with the situation: 1) Continue with the exhibit unchanged, 2) Replace the photos in question with “safe” photos, or 3) Cover up the offending aspects of the photos.
Since letting the museum staff be arrested was out of the question for Takano, he immediately rejected the first option. He also felt that the second option was equally unacceptable as it would imply that they agreed with the police. The third option, though not ideal, would allow Takano to communicate his protest to patrons without anyone ending up in handcuffs.
By partially covering the photos, Takano is signalling to patrons that the police have become involved – though we imagine that most museum-goers have heard about the incident already. However, Takano’s choice to cover up the “obscene” portions of the photos is not without precedent – in an email sent to and posted by webDICE, the photographer references Seiki Kuroda, a Meiji- and Showa-era painter. Kuroda painted in the Western style and spent many years abroad studying a style that was, at the time, quite foreign to Japan. Upon his return from France, the painter opened an exhibit, including a technically excellent female nude which drew outrage. Takano was apparently inspired by Kuroda’s choice to add a “loincloth” to the painting as a way to deal with critics.
While many were displeased with the police deeming works of art in a museum “obscene,” there is another aspect to the case that has people’s ire up: A lack of transparency. In addition to the obscenity charges being a violation of free speech and free expression rights, the anonymous reporting and sudden appearance of the police demanding the photos be removed is troubling for many, including Takahashi. He explained that the anonymous complaint was frustrating–if the patron had reported it to the museum staff, they would have been able to explain the work to the patron.
But even more troubling for Tohoku University professor Tarou Igarashi is how easy it is for anonymous complaints to cause trouble. “If you wanted to make accusations against a work of art, there are a number of easy ways to do so,” he told Yahoo! Japan News.
A Change.Org petition created by fellow photographer Takashi Arai has received over 3,100 signatures since it appeared online. The petition maintains that the police are legally unable to demand the photos be taken down, and dismisses the idea that any of the photos are obscene.
Exhibition held in conjunction with the University of British Columbia Anthropology Graduate Student Conference, Vancouver, B.C., Canada. March 18 - April 1, 2011.
With works by Valentina Ricca, Charles Bateman and Dianja Zunic, Steven Fedorowicz, Anne Townsend, Otto Kamensek, Jenny Leese, Iain McKechnie, Chris Arnett, Ryan Gauvin, Lara Rosenoff, I am Scott, Jake Salvador, Deyan Denchev, Steven Breckon, and Dalia Vukmirovich.
With live performances by Chris Arnett, Jon Irons, Reggie Caiquo, and Farzad Amoozegar-Fassie.
Asianart.com - The on-line journal for the study and exhibition of the arts of Asia
Self-description:
Asian Arts, the on-line journal for the study and exhibition of the arts of Asia. Asianart.com is dedicated to all aspects of Asian art. It is our ambition to offer a forum for scholars, museums and commercial galleries. We display highlights of exhibitions in public and private institutions and galleries; present new discoveries by scholars and connoisseurs; and, by providing space for private galleries to present their works, offer the visitor a selection of fine Asian art worldwide. [...]
We welcome and encourage color photographs in material submitted for publication. We also welcome letters and requests for information from scholars visiting the site. [...] Please feel free to post letters on any subject; we particularly welcome enquiries with photos of objects you wish to have more information on. [...]
It looks like this is a great resource with a lot of interesting visual materials on Japan and Asia. Check it out.
Image borrowed from Japan Focus (artist: Fukushima Yasusuke)
New content at Japan Focus about artists depicting the Tokyo air raids. Brief description:
The following paintings depicting the Great Tokyo Air Raid of March 10, 1945 were featured in a special exhibit hosted by the Sumida Local Culture Resource Center (墨田郷土文化資料館) in 2004. The Center staff originally settled on the idea of collecting amateur and professional artwork as a unique way of contributing to the preservation of the public memory regarding the March 10 incendiary air raid. Each painting is accompanied by a short explanatory text written by the artist. As well as giving insight into the particular scene depicted in the painting, these explanations generally touch on the artist’s overall air raid experience.
Check out the whole story and paintings at Japan Focus:
Documentary filmmaker Amanda J. Hill was kind enough to send me an announcement about an art exhibition in Yamaguchi prefecture beginning this weekend featuring her work and that of Jakrawal Nirthamrong and Akiko Yanagimoto. See the following link for more information. Should be of interest for visual anthropologists...
The title, TOKYO NONSENSE, not only refers to the city itself but also references the word "nonsense" in the context of Japanese popular culture, connoting so-called "modern decadence" and the rebellious, anti-establishment spirit of the 1960s student protest movement. The work of these 11 young artists reflects both Tokyo's frenetic energy and the banal realities of everyday city life. The exhibition will consist of more radical forms of expression such as performance, video, and installation art in addition to more traditional mediums such as drawing, painting, and woodblock printing.
Original work by: Ichiro Endo, Taro Izumi, Ai Kato (aka ai*madonna), Sachiko Kazama, Iichiro Tanaka, and the six-member artist group, Chim↑Pom
This announcement for "Tokyo Nonsenses" seemed especially timely after viewing the film "Tokyology" in class on Wednesday. I announced this film on VAOJ when it first came out in May. Recall some of the claims about the film from its website:
TOKYOLOGY is a documentary exploring contemporary Japanese pop-culture.
[T]here's more to Tokyo than crazy nightlife and entertainment: from anime to architecture, political art to gaming, from shopping and style to the Cherry Blossom festival, the city has something for everyone, and its share of surprises, too!
My concern in the earlier post was that this film would fall into the Weird Japan and/or Cool Japan trap - perhaps an updated version of orientalism that perpetuates stereotypes of what we think we know about contemporary Japan. I gave the film too much credit. It is simply not a documentary at all. We follow the banal Carrie Ann Inaba on her ten day trip to Tokyo and listen to her reactions and interactions at seemingly uniquely weird Japanese settings. Most of what we get in the film is surface: here's the place, look at it, wow isn't it strange and/or cool. For example, the film visits a restaurant that has a Christian theme. We see the setting that many might consider sacrilegious and hear Inaba's reactions. Finally she ponders how customers act while at the restaurant. Why didn't they simply film when the restaurant was open? At times Inaba tries to interview people (she is supposed to be fluent in Japanese having attended Sophia University and having a two year singing career in Japan but the film reveals that she is definitely not...) to get deeper analysis and it is oh so painful. During the film students both groaned and laughed. One student commented, "well, we need to see bad films too, right?" In this sense, the film shows how not to do a documentary. It also illustrates the danger of the alluring visual overtaking real research. Other students, recalling Neighborhood Tokyo, suggested that Inaba and Professor Bestor switch places. I suppose that this means that both films fall into the reflexive category. Or perhaps students wanted an anthropologist to guide them around the scenes of Tokyo pop culture. And Inaba would have made Miyamoto-cho a more interesting place...
VAOJ students will discuss Japanese pop culture in their blogs next week. It is hoped and assumed that they will avoid the nonsense of "Tokyology."
In April I blogged about the artist Takashi Murakami (link). Today H-Japan provides this announcement:
The SSRC in New York has just published the following feature about Takashi Murakami based on an interview with UCLA sociologist Adrian Favell. This may be of interest to subscribers following the ups and downs of Japanese contemporary art on the international stage since the Bubble years.
Design Festa, Asia’s biggest international art event, will be held for the 27th time in Japan at Tokyo Big Sight on May 17 and 18. The event, which started in 1994 and is held twice a year, is expected to attract more than 50,000 visitors from 69 countries, organizers said.
Artists from Asia, Africa, Europe, North and South America will be exhibiting their works. Members of the public will be able to purchase artworks as well as meet artists of all persuasions, said organizers, adding that some 7,000 artists will occupy 2,600 booths. Design Festa will also feature outdoor and indoor stage performances, visual art, film exhibitions and workshops.
Admisasion is 800 yen per day or 1,500 yen for both days, in advance, or 1,000 yen at the door per day or 1,800 yen for two days. (From Japan Today, 5/6/08)
Headline: Watch Out, Warhol, Here’s Japanese Shock Pop
Art is visual anthropology, too... Because of my sign language interest, I collect art dealing with hands. I'd like to buy these but fear they would take up too much space in my house...
The article, written by Carol Vogel, discusses Murakami's exhibition and begins:
The fifth-floor rotunda of the Brooklyn Museum on a recent afternoon was strewn with a curious array of body parts. Resting on a mover’s blanket was most of “Miss ko2,” a busty blond waitress whose jellyfish eyes stared up at the ceiling (and whose white-painted fiberglass bosom pointed skyward too). Nearby, her counterpart from “Second Mission Project ko2” (pronounced ko-ko) balanced on one leg.
