Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine
The materials of Atsuko Goto's otherworldy paintings are as intriguing as her subject matter. Her pigments are made from semi-precious Lapis-lazuli and gum arabic, which helps her create her hazy, subdued palette. While decidedly dark, there is a softness in her portrayal of ethereal beauties, loosely based on Izanami-no-Mikoto or the goddess of creation and death.
Yasuyo Fujibe's softspoken, decorative works immediately caught our eye at LA Art Show last week. Her pieces there represented a departure from her older monochromatic paintings of faces in favor of new bolder elements. This would be her unique portrayal of doe-eyed girls in the arabesque style of Islamic art. Her use of surface decorations are based on the linear patterns of foliage and snowflakes, tiled repeatedly in a lace-like manner. Quiet yet intense, girls stare dreamily through their veils of interwoven lines.
Tokyo based painter Yugo Kohrogi sees life through a unique filter. His exhibition "Ripple", now on view at Cashi gallery in Tokyo, presents interpretations of the female form with a ripple effect. Kohrogi's images undulate with an invisible energy that changes from piece to piece. Looking through broken glass or a watery surface might distort an image differently, and it's these subtle differences that Kohrogi observes.
Tokyo-based teamLab is a group of 9 creators- artists, video, sound designers, and programmers- who transform spaces with their interactive installations. Their most recent installation "Flowers and People – Gold and Dark" is now on view at the Japan Society in New York. It is part of a larger exhibition that includes works by Manabu Ikeda and Hisashi Tenmyouya, their "Garden of Unearthly Delights". A monster tsunami has just uprooted a major city. teamLab's contribution represents a perpetual blooming and withering of life.
Japanese artist Yasuto Sasada, just 27 years old, has already made a name for himself in the modern art and fashion world, through his collaborations with Yohji Yamamoto. Sasada has his own visual language that combines cultural traditions with the future. His detailed pen drawings of creatures mix motifs from modern technology and religion. Their black and white tonality, achieved with a thin 0.3mm pen, is harshly contrasted against bright pink, blue, and green backgrounds. He's created a new form of painting that juxtaposes old and contemporary ideas, taking us into an entirely new dimension.
On view as of yesterday, Galerie Perrotin is exhibiting Japanese artist Makoto Aida's first major exhibition in Hong Kong. The show presents some of his most well-known artwork, in addition to experimental new pieces with the loose theme of metamorphosis. There are different interpretations of the world's changes in recent years, from politics to global warming. At the center of it all is his new sculpture "Space Tripper 1455" (lovingly called "Comet-chan"). See more after the jump!
These works by Japanese artist Tenmyouya Hisashi represent uniquely Japanese aesthetics, mixed with modern, vulgar depictions of sub-culture icons. His paintings of vehicles and Gundam samurai on gold leaf are only a few characters he's refashioned in the styles of his predecessors. By combining traditional Japanese symbols, his paintings have a spirit that is old and contemporary at the same time.
Hello Kitty mania has hit Los Angeles. On view in conjuction with Hello Kitty Con, which opened yesterday, is her "Hello! Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty" 40th anniversary exhibit at Japanese American National Museum (JANM). The show is curated by Christine Yano, author of Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty’s Trek Across the Pacific, and Jamie Rivadeneira, founder of JapanLA. Attendees are led through a retrospective that highlights the history and development of Hello Kitty as a cultural icon, before they arrive to the art exhibition, a modern interpretation of this famous character.
Japanese pop artist Keiichi Tanaami (previously covered here) has a new exhibition on view at Tokyo's underground gallery, Nanzuka. "Cherry Blossoms Falling in the Evening Gloom" is named after his show's titular piece, an effort to take the darkest of his personal experiences and turn them into a positive image. The 3-meter painting leads into a transformation in the artist's motifs, known for his glowing, grotesque creatures, which are shown emitting light.
This Saturday, Mari Inukai is returning to Giant Robot with her expressive new series, titled "Marilla Blue and Orange". Inukai has long experimented with personal symbolism that blends her fantasy and reality worlds together. For this upcoming show, she takes a step into her imaginary world and brings her recurring subjects, including her daughter, and characters with her. Her narrative begins with a charming collection of pencil drawings, which she brings to life in illustrative paintings.
Relatively new to New York's Chelsea gallery scene, B2OA recently debuted the highly saturated and frenetic paintings of Kazuki Umezawa. His exhibition "Empty god CORE" which opened last Thursday evening, was notably the multi-disciplinary artist's first in the United States. His large scale paintings may look digitally Photoshopped, however they are hand painted and intensely planned collages- Umezawa's reimaginings of modern day Japan, created by intricately cut and carefully placed paper images, combined with original drawings.
Earlier this year, Blum & Poe gallery in Los Angeles brought us never before seen works by Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara (covered here). The show was critically acclaimed for his introduction of new materials, including large scale bronze busts and environmentally-friendly installations. Alongside some of these same peices, he will debut a new series "Greetings from a Place in My Heart", opening tonight at Dairy Art Centre in London. Nara will also host a rare artist talk about the exhibit, notably the largest retrospective of his drawings, paintings, and sculpture spanning 30 years.
Coinciding with the opening of "BLAB!" at Copro Gallery last Saturday was Yoko d'Holbachie's "Genesis of Girls". Over the course of her career, featured in Vol. 6 in 2007, d'Holbachie has created candy colored paintings inspired by the stories of time. One of her greatest inspirations is traditional Japanese folklore and legends. Her characters are non-human and androgynous with a feminine touch, found in her symbols of butterflies and birds representing fertility. Her latest solo show is a reimagining and exploration of the origin of girls from various cultures.
Fans of Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama need no introduction to the Kusama pumpkin- her dotted signature motif and yes, alter ego. Her pumpkins have been famously recreated from hotel rooms to textiles and designer hand bags by Louis Vuitton. She's even taken us inside of their surreal, organic structure, as in her Selfridges London pop-up store this time last year. So the story goes, Kusama's family once owned a storehouse full of pumpkins during World War II, and she developed a fondness for them. Ever since, she has continually used them throughout her career as a symbol of growth and fertility. Just in time for Halloween, Victoria Miro in London is showing a new body of bronze sculptures and paintings 2 years in the making, simply titled "Pumpkins".
Japanese Pop artist Keiichi Tanaami has rarely seen artwork now on view at New York contemporary art gallery Sikkema Jenkins & Co. When we covered his 2013 solo exhibition at Mizuma Gallery, his art went through a turning point. His fascination with life after a near-death experience inspired him to look to the future, rather than the past. The artwork in this show is not new- but Tanaami's mixture of motifs from the past inspires modern questions that keeps his art relevant.
Currently on view at Harbour City, Hong Kong is "Sky is the Limit", a new sculpture and paintings by Tomokazu Matsuyama (Vol 24). Curated by LA based Lebasse Projects in collaboration with Harbour City's Ocean Terminal and gallery, the event centers around Matsuyama's largest outdoor sculpture of the same name. At 21.5 feet of stainless steel, it is also the largest ever installed in Harbour City, which has previously exhibited artists like KAWS, Yayoi Kusama, and Yue Minjun.
Opening July 25th in collaboration with Tokyo's Mizuma Art Gallery, Zane Bennett Contemporary Art brings us a show by emerging Japanese artists and legends alike. IMPACTS! takes a look at work created between 2008 through today by names to put on your radar- Amano Yoshitaka, Ai Yamaguchi, Ishii Toru, Kaneno Tomiyuki, and Ishihara Nanami shown below. You may already be familiar with Ai Yamaguchi (featured here), and Amano Yoshitaka, famous for his designs for the Final Fantasy video games. Their works are filled with warring heroes, sirens and monsters drawn from mythology; some mix traditional Japanese folk tales with fantasy elements, while the new generation progressively exhibits Western influences.
Japanese artist Kenichi Yokono was on hand Saturday night for his opening of “The New Suburbs” at Mark Moore Gallery. Yokono’s show is a jarring vision of Japanese suburbia. Matched with Cheryl Pope’s reaction to violence in America, “Chain Reaction”, one could mistake Yokono's pictures for a murder scene. True, it might look like spilled blood- but if you look closer, you’ll see its just last night's dinner. Read more after the jump.
The paintings of Japanese artist Maki Ohkojima explore our most precious possession as humans, our imagination. Imagination can be defined as making images that convey through shape, form, and emotion a reality. We are gifted with the ability to associate sounds and symbols and communicate these, think about new ideas and even crack the secrets of the universe. Ohkojima wants to paint what our bodies conceal. See more of her work after the jump.
Japanese artist Kazuki Takamatsu (featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 16) has a new solo show opening at CHG Circa on June 21st, “Spiral of Emotions”. The show’s title epitomizes the ghostly spiraling layers in Takamatsu’s handpainted figures that look like 3D graphics. He will exhibit twelve new gouache paintings exploring the emotional disconnect between the old and adolescent generations of Japan. These compositions may be precisely designed with a digital technique called Depth Mapping, but the final result captures feelings that cannot be planned. For his debut exhibition with Corey Helford last year, “Japanese Ideology of Puberty”, Takamatsu infused elements of Japanese pop culture and fantasy that are further employed here. His new subjects appear "lost" and floating through ethereal visions of death, spirituality, and an uncertain future. See more after the jump!
Japanese artist 非 (meaning “Hi”) first caught our attention in 2012 with his mysterious tumblr of digital illustrations that look like oils. Hi’s portraits of young men, often depicted with a pained expression, are a unique blend of creepiness and happy colors. For writing purposes, we can only guess “his” gender, because Hi keeps his real name, sex and age a secret. Hi intentionally doesn’t sell his works nor does he exhibit in a gallery. What we do know is that Hi is a young artist representing the internet generation, millennials using it for creative tools, inspiration, and reaching audiences on a socially global level. Take a look at Hi's new work after the jump.
Yoskay Yamamoto’s artwork has always expressed a charming and nostalgic feel. His sense of nostalgia as a Japanese artist living and working in Los Angeles is unique. His latest exhibition, “House of Daydreamers”, which opened Saturday at Giant Robot's GR2, defines the physical and emotional meaning of the word “home”. For some, home can be many things. It can be as broad as the place where you grew up, a dollhouse of imaginary characters, or even the planet Earth. Yamamoto’s new paintings, drawings, and basswood figurines created over the past year explore all of these possibilities.
Japanese artist Yukino Fukumoto’s emotional and transparent watercolor paintings seem to dissapear into a spectrum of cool hues. A young graduate of Japan’s prestigious Tama Art University, she is virtually new to the international gallery scene having only been exhibiting for a couple years. Her work can recently be seen alongside Hikari Shimoda (featured in Hi-Fructose Volume 29) in Tokyo based ACT gallery’s show “The Sailor”. Her style is a balance between ornate details that spill into dramatic washes and splatters. Read more after the jump.
Last Saturday, Century Guild unveiled Stephanie Inagaki’s first major solo offering, “Metamorphosis”. The gallery is filled with historical furniture and paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries. Among these, you will find Stephanie Inagaki’s work. Inagaki is a reflection of her art and greeted visitors in an intricate black headdress of her own design. While her new paintings can be appreciated from a historical context, it’s her use of modern motifs that stands out. Read more after the jump.
The work of Japanese artist Yasuaki Onishi has been compared to ethereal dreamscapes. He creates complex shapes with simple materials like dyed hot glue, clear plastic, and thread that inspire the imagination. Some see floating mountains, rain, and clouds, speaking to the broad scope of interpretation of his work. While Onishi’s flowing linear installations are site specific, they also celebrate the ‘happy accident’. Each piece begins with an organic object hung by fishing line, then connected to plastic sheets on which Onishi instinctively drizzles glue. Once the glue is dry, a cast of the object is revealed. Read more after the jump.