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No. 11: Mom Art

The ticking time bomb of okan-art If outsider art inhabits one end of the spectrum away from mainstream fine art, there is another art form being lovingly nurtured at the opposite end: okan or “mom” art, as the name suggests,View More >

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No. 10: Cosplay

The hidden depths of cosplay Today, the term “cosplay” has attained global currency. Referring to the practice of engaging with a comic or cartoon by turning oneself into one’s favorite character, this phenomenon barely existed when Disney and Marvel dominatedView More >

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No. 9: Galleries of Obsession

I wonder if the gentle readers of ART iT are aware of the existence of a very different sort of magazine, devoted to the photographic efforts of those with what one might call “exhibitionist” proclivities? The sort of magazine, thatView More >

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No. 8: Trick Art

Learning a lesson from ‘trick art’ Taking my first day off for a while – and deciding a soak in a hot spring would be just the ticket – I jumped in the car and headed for the Nasu-Shiobara areaView More >

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No. 7: Earthquake Paintings

Allow me first to offer my heartfelt condolences to all those suffering as a result of the recent massive earthquake and tsunami. I hope life can return to some kind of normality in a safe environment as soon as possible.View More >

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No. 6: Outsider Calligraphy

Yuichi Saito – Detective Konan (c 2005) pen on paper, 39.8 x 54.8 cm, private collection. Held at the National Art Center, Tokyo, the 42nd Japan Fine Arts Exhibition (Nitten) ran from late October to the beginning of December 2010,View More >

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No. 5: Raji-Kase

The lost world of the radio cassette player HITACHI TRK-W4U, (ca.1984), 50 x 15 cm Whenever a story like “Pakistanis collect stolen cars to secretly ship offshore” or “Bulk bicycles found bound for North Korea on the Mangyongbong-92” hits theView More >

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No. 3: The Snack

A Bar-Hopping Lesson in Architectural Reality For the better part of three years now I’ve been traveling around Japan reporting on “snack” drinking establishments by the name of Limelight, as part of a series for the photographic monthly Asahi Camera.View More >

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