Flashing Style, Celebrating Beauty: Edo-Period Cultural Icons
J.M. Hammond
With Tokyo museums closed and restaurants shutting early, the simple pleasure of dressing up for a day out has been taking a hit. If you are looking to tog up and get out to visit an exhibition, you might consider heading for the coastal town of Atami, a journey of less than two hours from Tokyo, to check out The dapper, the seductive - top stars of Edo glamour at the MOA Museum of Art. The exhibition brings together roughly 80 artworks -- mainly woodblock prints and paintings -- that will take you out of the current state of reality and transport you to the colorful and fashionable Floating World of the Edo period (1603-1867). more...
Where Are We Now? Motoyuki Shitamichi and Sachiko Kazama's TCAA Exhibition
Jennifer Pastore
Motoyuki Shitamichi and Sachiko Kazama are the winners of the inaugural Tokyo Contemporary Art Award (TCAA), established to help mid-career artists make breakthroughs in their practice. Along with prize money and a stipend for work abroad, they have been granted an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT). According to the selection committee, multimedia artist Shitamichi and printmaker Kazama were chosen for the award because they both "have strong practices and are at a moment in their work where the possibility of time spent abroad can be very fruitful." The MOT exhibition, which features early and recent works from both artists, is free of charge and has been extended through 22 June (open every day from 1 June). Online reservations are required. more...
Don't Wait to Exhale: Artists' Breath at the Ichihara Lakeside Museum
Alan Gleason
Fram Kitagawa is the impresario behind Japan's profusion of regional art festivals, which seem to proliferate year by year. When the coronavirus pandemic forced the postponement of several such events scheduled for 2020, Kitagawa contacted participating artists around the world and asked them to join in an Instagram project and submit two-minute videos documenting their thoughts and experiences in these fraught times. Titled Artists' Breath, the project drew contributions from 194 artists in 34 countries. Though on hiatus since January, Artists' Breath is currently enjoying reincarnation as a visually stunning exhibition at the Ichihara Lakeside Museum in rural Chiba Prefecture. more...
