Back Issue - 1 September 2020 -
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image image Mastering Material and Fashioning Form: Bauhaus Comes to Japan
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J.M. Hammond
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In the early 20th century, innovation and modernization were reshaping how the world looked no less in the fields of architecture, fine art, and design than in science and industry. Many of the leading developments were taking place in Europe, and the art school known as the Bauhaus, based in Germany, was at the heart of the design revolution. Its influence was widespread, even reaching Japan. A new exhibition at Tokyo Station Gallery surveys the school's output and teaching practices, concluding with a look at the work of four Japanese students of the Bauhaus who returned to work in Japan. Titled come to bauhaus! -- the basis of education in art and design, the show packs in about 300 exhibits. more...

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image image Inflated with the Spirit: Shiro Takahashi and the Kojiki
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Jennifer Pastore
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The Taro Okamoto Museum of Art, Kawasaki marked its 20th year in 2019. On the way to this museum nestled in the wooded Ikuta Ryokuchi Park, just across the Tama River from Tokyo, my taxi driver tells me it is popular with visitors from the Osaka area, home to Okamoto's landmark public sculpture Tower of the Sun. Okamoto (1911-1996), who made a name for himself across Japan as a major postwar artist, was born in Kawasaki. The museum holds both permanent and special exhibitions, the first relating his life story, philosophy, and artistic achievements, which ranged from ethnological research on Japan's prehistoric cultures to avant-garde painting and sculpture. Okamoto became sort of a cultural phenomenon in his own right, popularizing the phrase "Art is explosion!" The current special exhibition, Shiro Takahashi and the Kojiki: Mythology, Art, Technology, fits with the museum's history of spotlighting contemporary artists who channel his ethos. more...

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image image The Art of Flux: Yuko Mohri at Ginza Sony Park
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Alan Gleason
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Disembarking at the Ginza subway station in downtown Tokyo, I walked out the wickets and across the underground passage straight into a cavernous space that appeared to be an extension of the parking garage next door. Instead of cars, though, people dressed in black were scurrying around a roomful of unusual sound equipment. Dominating the scene was a trio of rotating speaker horns the size of megaphones. Near the back wall a record turntable was set up, from which a maze of wires led to the speakers and numerous microphones. The floor and walls of the area facing this "stage" were covered with large texts in English and Japanese explaining the installation, which was created by artist Yuko Mohri. more...

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Recent Articles
FOCUS
Mastering Material and Fashioning Form: Bauhaus Comes to Japan
J.M. Hammond
1 September 2020
FOCUS
Inflated with the Spirit: Shiro Takahashi and the Kojiki
Jennifer Pastore
1 September 2020
HERE/THERE
The Art of Flux: Yuko Mohri at Ginza Sony Park
Alan Gleason
1 September 2020
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FOCUS
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HERE/THERE
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