Ernesto Neto in Tokyo: Walking on the Urban Jungle
Okay, folks. We’ve found the funnest thing to do in Tokyo right now and best of all, it’s right in the center and it’s even artistic. Head on down to the Louis Vuitton store on Omotesando, where on the...
View ArticlePhotographer Leslie Kee arrested for “obscene” male nude photo books
Singaporean photographer Leslie Kee (41) has been arrested by Tokyo police on suspicion of distributing obscene imagery, a development that will surely ignite a fierce debate over the freedom of...
View ArticleJapan Society holds special charity art auction in New York
Paddle8, the online art auction portral, is holding a special online art auction during this month, to accompany an exhibition, Trailblazer, happening at the Japan Society in New York. The auction...
View ArticleAvatar Man “savage” foreign model wanders Tokyo’s Omotesando
This hasn’t taken off yet like we hoped it might — if YouTube video numbers are anything to go by at time of writing — but we wanted to share this video we spotted of an “Avatar Man” roaming the...
View ArticleRoppongi Art Night 2013 lights up Tokyo for spring
It seems like I’ve been spending a lot of my time in Roppongi these days. Last week I went to the Pamyuseum, and on Saturday night I ventured back to Roppongi Hills for Roppongi Art Night. Much like...
View ArticleArt Aquarium Tokyo goldfish spectacle returns this summer
We blogged last autumn about the opening of the Art Aquarium in Tokyo in 2012. After the exhibition pulled in a whopping 200,000 visitors, it’s not surprisingly coming back to the Nihonbashi venue,...
View ArticleMizu Keitai, a mobile treasure hunt for art over Shibuya’s underground streams
Last weekend I jumped on the Fukutoshin Line and headed down to Shibuya to check out Keitai Mizu (“mobile water”). From what I had read, the event at Jingu-dori Park was set to be a mobile game, a...
View ArticleNippon TV’s 24-hour Television telethon with new Yayoi Kusama charity T-shirts
While people make charitable donations for (arguably) many different reasons, this year, the annual 24 Hour Television themed “Love Saves the Earth” — which will be aired on August 24th and 25th —...
View ArticleShogakukan comic book artists transform building with graffiti manga
Back in 2008, when the French embassy in Tokyo decided to demolish its premises and relocate, it invited in a whole bunch of French and Japanese artists to create site-specific temporary installations,...
View ArticleCosmetics brand shu uemura collaborates with artist Takashi Murakami for...
This coming winter, Japan’s iconic cosmetic brand, shu uemura, will celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of its beauty boutique in Omotesando in central Tokyo with the Christmas collection “Six Heart...
View ArticleDogo Onsenart: Top Japanese artists re-design hotel rooms in old hot spring...
Heading to a Japanese onsen (hot spring) is one of the best trips you can do in Japan during the winter. But the exclusive onsen resorts don’t come cheap and they need to keep innovating to attract...
View ArticleTokyo Metropolitan Art Museum censors anti-government Yasukuni-themed artwork
The Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum has demanded the removal of an artwork that criticizes the visits to Yasukuni Shrine by members of the Japanese government. The exhibition is now running, set to...
View ArticleArt Fair Tokyo 2014 starts today
Japan’s largest art event, Art Fair Tokyo, starts today at the Tokyo International Forum in Yurakucho. The fair features around 180 galleries and other organizations putting their wares for collectors...
View ArticleJeroen Bisscheroux’s “POOL loss of colour” brings Tohoku swimming pool carpet...
Dutch artist Jeroen Bisscheroux installed a brilliant swimming pool artwork in Osaka as part of the Namura Shipyard Creative Center Osaka’s artist-in-residency program. “POOL loss of colour” was shown...
View ArticleArtist Asami Kiyokawa creates augmented reality butterflies for Starbucks Card
Artist Asami Kiyokawa, known for her extravagant combination of embroidery and photography, and collaborations with top models and actresses, has got together with Starbucks Japan to create a special...
View ArticleNoriko Takasugi’s “Fukushima Samurai” photography series documents quiet...
Photographer Noriko Takasugi has devoted herself to going in search of modern-day “samurai” in the devastated region of Fukushima in northeast Japan. Her “Fukushima Samurai” series, though, is far from...
View ArticleEco Edo Nihonbashi Art Aquarium: Tokyo’s summer spectacle of goldfish and Edo...
After first appearing in 2011 and proving a massive success in both 2012 and in 2013, the spectacular Eco Edo Nihonbashi Art Aquarium 2014 is back. Exploiting Japan’s love of the decorative and the...
View ArticleExbiotanica: Makoto Azuma launches bonsai Japanese plant sculptures into space
Intergalactic bonsai! Just when you thought there couldn’t be any more innovations on past traditions, along comes something that makes your jaw drop. Makoto Azuma, known for his eye-catching botanical...
View ArticleJapanese vagina artist Megumi Igarashi (Rokudenshi-ko) launches “deko-man”...
It garnered headlines worldwide and made a fringe figure the talk of the town. The arrest of Megumi Igarashi (Rokudenshi-ko) on July 12th ostensibly for “distributing obscene materials” after she made...
View ArticleGay Japanese photographer Ryudai Takano’s “obscene” artworks censored by police
Local police in Nagoya have demanded that the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art remove 12 artworks by Ryudai Takano that depicted male genitalia. As first reported by Art Info, the action came after...
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