Noi Sawaragi August 31, 2021

Notes on Art and Current Events 96

Art to help us live through these times Mine Oka and Shunzo Sato (Part 1)   Mine Oka – (left) Night of a full moon – Lake Chapala, (right) Night of a full moon – ¡Adiós!. Installation view at the “98th

Noi Sawaragi July 27, 2021

Notes on Art and Current Events 95

ART/DOMESTIC 2021   MOCAF (Museum of Contemporary Art Fukushima), March 11, 2021, Tomioka, Fukushima. Photo: Noi Sawaragi.   For me, it was as if the tenth anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11 began the month

Noi Sawaragi May 25, 2021

Notes on Art and Current Events 94

Looking back on 2020: Covid-19 and the changing nature of our faces, hands and breath   Michelangelo – The Creation of Adam (detail) (c. 1511).   What exactly has changed about the way we go about our daily lives as

Noi Sawaragi April 3, 2021

Notes on Art and Current Events 93

“Rei Naito: Mirror Creation” – on a sunny day, on a rainy day   Rei Naito – The spirit (2020). Installation view at “Rei Naito: Mirror Creation,” at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. All images (except where otherwise

Noi Sawaragi October 23, 2020

Notes on Art and Current Events 92

The COVID-19 pandemic and “Don’t Follow the Wind” – and then there were only “exhibitions that no-one can see”   Current state of the Designated Waste Landfill Disposal Center (former Fukushima Eco-tech Clean Center), Tomioka, Fukushima. All photos: The writer.

Noi Sawaragi August 23, 2020

Notes on Art and Current Events 91

Katsumi Sunamori – Implications of the Scenery (3)   Katsumi Sunamori – From the series “Unzen, Nagasaki” (1993-95) All images: © Katsumi Sunamori Photography Office   I came to know about Katsumi Sunamori’s photo series concerning the Mount Unzen disaster

Noi Sawaragi July 5, 2020

Notes on Art and Current Events 90

Katsumi Sunamori – Implications of the Scenery (2)   From Katsumi Sunamori Kama Tida: Osaka Nishinari (1989). All images: © Katsumi Sunamori Photography Office   In my last column, I delved into the question, Who is Katsumi Sunamori? and discovered

Noi Sawaragi May 26, 2020

Notes on Art and Current Events 89

Katsumi Sunamori – Implications of the Scenery (1)   Katsumi Sunamori – From the series “Unzen, Nagasaki” (1993-95). © Katsumi Sunamori Photography Office.   On the morning of June 2, 2019, I arrived at Nagasaki Airport and headed south by

Noi Sawaragi April 18, 2020

Notes on Art and Current Events 88

Imagination for recovery – Disaster and restoration   Kenichi Tanaka – (left to right)>: Haisen C (1964), oil on canvas; Still life 1 (1975), oil on canvas; Umibe no bochi A (1978), oil on canvas. Installation view at “Art Doctor

Noi Sawaragi January 29, 2020

Notes on Art and Current Events 87

Before “Freedom of Expression?”: 2019 for Shusei Kobayakawa, Kikuji Yamashita, and Nobuyuki Oura   Shusei Kobayakawa – Kuni no tate (Shield of the Nation) (1944), color on paper, collection Kyoto Ryozen Gokoku Shrine (entrusted to the Nichinancho Art Museum).  

Noi Sawaragi November 18, 2019

Notes on Art and Current Events 86

Evading Perspective – Thoughts inspired by “What If AI Composed for Mr. S?”   Reference material: Copy of an instruction sheet given to Mr. N by Mr. S (2014), photocopy on paper, 21 x 29.7 cm. From the Artificial Intelligence

Noi Sawaragi October 21, 2019

Notes on Art and Current Events 85

Inosuke Hazama traveled to Europe four times and studied under Matisse, was an assistant professor at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, and served as president of the Japan Art Association. However, in the later half of his life he devoted himself to making Ko-Kutani ware in Ishikawa Prefecture. Sawaragi visited the Inosuke Hazama Art Museum to look into this change and Inosuke's enduring pursuit of modern painting.

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