Archive for October 2009

ULTRA002 is now open!

Last night’s opening reception for the Emerging Directors’ Art Fair inaugurated a six-day long artfair where 50 young curators (some with proper gallery spaces, some without) show their artists’ work.

Art and Fashion

The designer shows of the Japan Fashion Week ranged from Yukii Torii’s über-conservative society wares, to GalaabenD’s androgynous militarized chick, to Yoshikazu Yamagata’s Old Testament couture. In every case the audience, many dressed by the presenting designer, reinforced the brand’s message. There was no confusing the manicured luxury brands-clad crowd at Yukii Torii with the […]

Design Festa 30

The Design Festa that took place in Odaiba’s Big Sight complex over the weekend also happened to be the 15th anniversary of the project. It offered a mind-numbing array of displays containing all possible drawing and painting media, design items and performances. As far as art was concerned, my two picks were Fukao Atsushi’s grim […]

Shinro Ohtake: "Shell & Occupy 4"

Memory of Color 3/Geronimo 2008 Oil, printed matter, photographs, film, silk screen, rice paper, vinyl, cotton cloth, cotton yarn, plant matter, varnish, wood and acrylic in custom frame 47 x 34.5 cm Image courtesy of the Take Ninagawa and the artist This is the fourth installment of Shinro Ohtake’s scrapbook art at Take Ninagawa. The […]

ARTFORUM Critics’ Picks: Seiji Aruga

You have until October 31 to check out the artist’s punched and layered paper constructions that take the exploration of white to a completely new level. My review of the show is posted on the Artforum site. Photograph by Hideto NAGATSUKA, courtesy of Rontenwerke AG

Kiyosumi galleries—new exhibits

The night of October 10 was rather busy with new shows opening in five of the Kiyosumi-Shirakawa art complex galleries. Atsushi Suwa’s hyper realist works on view at Kido Press Inc. challenge any preconceived media boundaries. Hiromiyoshii is hosting its first solo exhibits for two artists: the American T.J. Wilcox, showing his engrossing film narratives […]

Ai WeiWei at the Mori

Curated by Mami Kataoka. If you have not seen this show yet, it will be on through November 8. I post my review below. Ai Weiwei: According to What? expertly showcases Ai’s flipping’em-all-meets-exemplary-social-consciousness attitude; it propels viewers out of the sterility of museum experience by the evocation of dead schoolchildren and on-camera destruction of an […]