A Restatement: The Art of ‘Ground Zero’ (Part 13) Nukes and Niigata – Addendum III The five children of Hidenaga, fourth generation of the Yoshihara Photographic Studio (1936), from “SPIRAL LIFE – 140 Years of the Yoshihara Family” (2011). PhotoView More >
Provoke and Con-pora: In the blank space of ‘1968 – Japanese Photography’ (Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography) I Shigeo Gocho, from the series “Hibi – Day to Day” (1967-70) Settling the question of whether theories on Con-pora are correct hangsView More >
Flowers of Japan: Katsuyuki Shirako: “exhibition 4” @ eN arts untitled (2009), from the “scribble” series. All images: © Katsuyuki Shirako, courtesy eN arts, Kyoto. In every genre, the postwar Japanese craft movement has experienced the misfortune of splitting intoView More >
A Restatement: The Art of ‘Ground Zero’ (Part 12) Nukes and Niigata – Addendum II The Kanbara region of Niigata in earlier days. “Transformed into a lake following collapse of the Hisoyama drainage canal. From Hakusan looking toward Tagoshima,” fromView More >
From ‘negative’ eternity to ‘positive’ eternity: Mansai Nomura and Hiroshi Sugimoto – SANBASO, divine dance Kami hisomi iki II (Part 2) Scene from Mansai Nomura and Hiroshi Sugimoto’s SANBASO, divine dance Kami hisomi iki II. © Sugimoto Studio, courtesy ofView More >
From ‘negative’ eternity to ‘positive’ eternity: Mansai Nomura and Hiroshi Sugimoto – SANBASO, divine dance Kami hisomi iki II (Part 1) Scene from Mansai Nomura and Hiroshi Sugimoto’s SANBASO, divine dance Kami hisomi iki II. © Sugimoto Studio, courtesy ofView More >
A Restatement: The Art of ‘Ground Zero’ (Part 11) Nukes and Niigata – Addendum I Installation at Yukihiro Yoshihara’s solo exhibition “Pleasure Dome” (1989) at Spiral Garden, Tokyo, 100 television monitors, five video projectors, 600 x 600 x 700 cm.View More >
A cynical beginning – TOLOT heuristic SHINONOME The end of March was art fair week in Tokyo, but I found the art space TOLOT heuristic SHINONOME, newly opened in Shinonome, more interesting than the likes of Art Fair Tokyo andView More >
Painter and ‘counterfeiter’ – On ‘Makoto Aida: Monument for Nothing’ (Part 3) Aida Makoto + 21st Century Cardboard Guild – Monument for Nothing II (2000-). Installation view: Mori Art Museum, 2013. All images: Courtesy Mizuma Art Gallery. Caught betweenView More >
‘B-grade horror’ reputation – documentation and mediacy The criticisms in my previous two columns dealing with Lieko Shiga’s exhibition “Rasen Kaigan,” or what have been dubbed the “Lieko Shiga = B-grade horror” theory, were penned to provide some balance toView More >