Izima Kaoru
August 23rd, 2010 § 1 Comment
I have been a fan of Izima Kaoru for quite some time now. More specifically, I have been a fan of his Landscapes With a Corpse series. In the twilight realm where runway fashion meets Law & Order, one finds Kaoru’s beautifully arranged photographs. Working with major Japanese models and actresses, he begins by discussing with them possible “fantasy” death scenes, and what designers they would wear to their own death.
What emerges is a series based on a single, cinematic vision. An exhibition of a particular death scene will involve a number of images, maybe four or six, in which the same scene is photographed from different lengths and zooms, from different angles and levels, giving the viewer the feeling of floating over the whole scene at once, like a ghost detective.
Each work in a scene will bear the overall title of the important details (the model & designer). The title of the first image, for example, is Igawa Haruka wears Dolce Gabbana #383. The production values in his photographs are stunning. Since they tend to be rather large in size, one is really absorbed by the scenery, which is always empty, quiet, and always devoid of other people or animals. The works are not depressing, but relaxing and uplifting while also being quite funny, all in the face of (what appears to be) murder.
A book of the Landscape With a Corpse series is now available, and his work can be regularly seen at Von Lintel Gallery here in New York.
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All images were borrowed from the Von Lintel website, and all artworks are copyright Izima Kaoru. The titles of the second and third works are: Tominaga Ai Wears Prada #405 and Kimura Yoshino Wears Alexander McQueen.
Yoshitomo Nara Open Studio
August 20th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Photo by Isabel Roxas
In association with his upcoming Asia Society exhibition, Yoshitomo Nara will have an open studio at the Park Avenue Armory, as he puts the finishing touches on the installations with his assistant Hideki Toyoshima. The studio will be open from August 23-27, and the A.S. exhibition will open September 9th.
Yuken Teruya
April 14th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Yuken Teruya has become quite popular in New York. I most recently saw his work at the Museum of Art & Design’s relatively recent Slash: Paper Under The Knife exhibition. He has also been shown at PS 1 and Asia Society, to name but a few venues.
Teruya’s approach is very clean and simple. He excels at carving delicate, decorative sculptures out of mundane materials. The first image is part of the Notice – Forest Series (2005) and is made from only a carved McDonald’s Happy Meal bag and glue. The second image is part of the Corner Forest series, which is another single continuous carving out of a toilet paper roll.
The work has obvious connections to issues of consumer waste, global commercialism, and the like. However, what I appreciate most is how he doesn’t beat you over the head with the politics of it all. The work is able to simultaneously harken back to the more genteel Japanese arts of controlled nature, such as bonsai trimming and flower arranging.
You can visit the artist’s website here.
All images are copyright Yuken Teruya.
Yoshihiro Tatsumi
April 1st, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Yoshihiro Tatsumi has been a manga giant in Japan for decades. I recently came across some of his volumes of collected stories , published in the United States by Drawn & Quarterly. Each volume consists of the published stories from a given year. The images above are from the 1969 volume, called The Pushman & Other Stories.
His stories are short, dark, and violent. The illustrations are crystal clear in their black and white layouts. Another favorite illustrator of mine, Adrian Tomine, has written the introduction to the volume, and also interviewed Tatsumi. It becomes immediately apparent how and why Tatsumi was an important influence on Tomine. It is also quite interesting to see how modern these stories are, both in their content and cinematic treatment.
Highly recommended.
The images above are scans of The Pushman & Other Stories, art copyright Yoshihiro Tatsumi and the edition itself copyright Drawn & Quarterly.
Japanese & Korean Art at Christie’s
March 24th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Christie’s has a number of sales coinciding with Asia Arts Week in New York City. This city-wide event includes many galleries that I, sadly, do not have the time to visit this year. I originally went to Christie’s to see the South Asian Contemporary Art sale, but found a few gems in their Japanese & Korean art sale.
It is a bit of a hodge-podge ranging from raku ceramics to gilded screens to swords to contemporary paintings. The first image is, obviously, a group of Samurai armor that was displayed quite nicely in the second floor exhibition space. The second image is a detail of Kim Taesoon’s “Untitled” from 2001, which is a mixed media collage painting of what appear to be pasted street pamphlets. With an estimate of $5,000 – $6,000 it is a deal.
The sale catalog can be viewed on the auction house’s website for a brief time. The sale is March 24th.
Yuko Murata
March 8th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Yuko Murata’s work was on view at the Armory Show, in the booth of Gallery Side 2 from Tokyo.
Her works are simple and beautiful, and small in scale. She uses images from magazines and postcards to depict places she has never been, and things she has not seen.
These paintings combine the cool distance of unfamiliarity with a painterly study of color plains and sparse composition.
You can see more of her work here.
