Reviews | TABlog | Tokyo Art Beat

“…the work of anonymous craftsmen, produced by hand in quantities, inexpensive, to be used by the masses, functional in daily life, and representative of the region in which it was produced.”

The color and light in Midori Mitamura’s digital photography fills the gallery with a sense of nostalgia and innocence.

A floating sphere made of an amalgam of dead electronic gadgets brought back to life; stop-motion animations of long-exposure photos with light trails; a sensually intriguing interior with moving wall parts.

Tucked away on a quiet street near Tokyo University, the Takehisa Yumeji Museum has created a small, yet comprehensive exhibition of work by Takehisa Yumeji (1884-1934), a leading figure in the Taisho Romanticism movement.

“From Daimyo to Marquis” at Sen-Oku Hakuko Kan in the scenic Roppongi Hills is a rotating exhibition of both clothing and various items donated by the Nabeshima family of Kyushu.

Ginza Graphics Gallery is celebrating its 20th year with a comprehensive two part exhibition featuring approximately 170 designers, who have shown their works either at the ggg, or the ddd in Osaka during the last two decades.

In his exhibition at Makii Masaru Fine Arts, Toshio Iguchi has installed 5 different works in which he has created “gaps that thread the different worlds existing in ‘me’ and ‘you’.”

If you have an hour to spare next Friday or Saturday, how about searching out a residential building in the quiet backstreets of Ebisu and climbing the vertiginous staircase to a gallery housed in a tiny Tokyo apartment?

Desolate landscapes, literal and figurative, preoccupy photographer Yao Shinya in a small exhibition of photographs entitled date/paper at Suikatou, a contemporary art café in Asagaya.

“Cult of personality” indeed. Having already had on average two exhibitions a year at the Photographers’ Gallery every year since its establishment in 2001, Naoki Ohji had no less than twelve solo shows there in 2006.

For his performances, Toshihiro Yashiro spins around in ninja outfits or in bright, comical costumes with head-dresses, aiming to “become the space”.

Commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Media Arts Festival, and run by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, this exhibition consists of three sections.

Tobira wo hiraku to sekai ga hirogaru.

Blindly following others and jumping on the horse’s back…can be liberating. Who knows? Maybe you’ll end up grabbing it by the neck and making it behave.
-Akira Yamaguchi

Photos stuffed down the toilet? Paintings propped up on pillows? Sculptures in the shower? Welcome to Art@Agnes, one of Tokyo’s most important contemporary art fairs.

Today, humanity seems to have conquered all terrains on earth and connected every region with the global Internet.

Perhaps the key element that has fuelled the enduring success of MC Escher’s work is the relative ease with which his works can be reproduced in mass media.

Some of the most insightful career overviews—as the conventionally trained museumgoer might agree—are designed around a classic ‘hinge.’

She had said: “11am. Odakyu line. End of the platform. Last car.” Then I was there waiting in the bright sun of autumn, a song in my head when the train arrived.

I first discovered the monumentality of Canadian sculptor Darrell Petit’s work when I visited his website while doing research for this interview.

In March 2007, the design facility 21_21 Design Sight will open in Tokyo Midtown, the site of the former Defense Agency in Roppongi.

Introduction (Aneta)
On Monday October 9th, a national holiday in Japan known as Health and Sports Day, Tokyo Art Beat celebrated the second anniversary of its launch with a club bash at Roppongi’s Super Deluxe.

I wish I had asked Bill Viola why he chose “Hatsu-Yume - First Dream” as the title of this exhibition, although I hadn’t thought about it until now, this very moment when I am just beginning to write this review.

Almost six years have passed since my mother died. is how Miyako Ishiuchi introduces the display of “Mother’s”, for its sixth display, this time at the Metropolitan Museum of Photography in Tokyo.

There is always a detail.

You know it. You walk into a room, see things, look at people, objects, light and shadows.

The phrase “If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all” came to mind when walking through the Yasuomi Hashimura exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography in Ebisu.

Japanese pop artist Ushio Shinohara, or “Gyu-chan” as he is affectionately called, is famous for his “boxing” performance-art paintings (where he punches the canvas with boxing gloves soaked in paint).

This past Saturday, I worked five hours at the gallery Kobo&Tomo where the DIVVY/dual project was on show for the sixth and the last day.

When walking into “Magical Art Life - A Collector’s World” in Tokyo Wonder Site, you can’t help referring to the fact that the collector is a psychiatrist.

5th day of the DIVVY/dual exhibition. To explain the Type-Trace program on display very briefly, it records what you type on the laptop - not only the words, but also how you typed, where you paused, which words you erased, and so on.