In today's highly commercialized and commodified world, art is all too often considered a specialized activity limited to highly trained professionals. But this view of art overlooks the fact that imagination and the urge to create is something that lives in many, maybe even all, of us . . . and that some of the most striking images are the product of untrained artists. The term Art Brut was coined in the 1940s by the French artist and critic Jean Dubuffet to describe the output of individuals, often those with mental health problems, with no formal art education or art-world recognition. more...
A Museum Built of Memories: Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art
Jennifer Pastore
Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art (Hirosaki MOCA) opened in June 2020, after eight weeks of delay due to the COVID-19 crisis. Architect Tsuyoshi Tane headed the renovation that turned this historic brick warehouse into an art museum. Reflecting its legacy as a former sake and cider brewery and an industrial heritage site integral to the landscape and history of Hirosaki City, the museum titled its inaugural exhibition Thank You Memory: From Cidre to Contemporary Art (ended 22 September). Hirosaki MOCA now continues with a program of exhibitions and events that promote interaction with its architecture, engagement with Hirosaki and the Tohoku region, and the advancement of contemporary art and intercultural exchange. more...
Sagacho Exhibit Space: Giving an Incubator of Japanese Contemporary Art Its Due
Alan Gleason
In November 2002 I made my way to an old brick-and-concrete building in the Saga district on the east bank of Tokyo's Sumida River, and joined the throngs filling the central courtyard for a last chance to see this legendary place. Soon it would be torn down and replaced by a condo. Built in 1927, the Shokuryo Building was a former rice storehouse that, between 1983 and 2000, had been the epicenter of contemporary art in Japan. Now, for its last hurrah, the former tenants who had made and displayed art here were going all-out in a farewell exhibition poignantly titled Emotional Site. It was the first and last time I got to see the Sagacho Exhibit Space, which had nurtured so many young artists who are now big names. more...
