Art Fair Tokyo, is a very ambitious project to “Change the situation and open up the art market” in Japan. Held at the Tokyo International Forum everything was bilingual and looked very visitor friendly- so I was quite shocked, when I got asked to fill out a form with my name, address, telephone number, profession…… before I was allowed to purchase a ticket for the fair. Security purpose? Come on! Don’t tell me, that if I wanted to do anything bad, a fill out form would keep me from doing that! Don’t enhance fear and mistrust in this still greatly functioning Japanese society, that is entirely built on trust!!! If you replace the trust by fear- then you start to create a problem! So unfortunately a minus point on “entering exhibition”.
Since the idea of the Art Fair was to gather all kinds of galleries to present a different spectrum of art- there were only a few things, that really got me interested in. Next to traditional crafts and things like kimono, pottery, antiques… one could also find weird stuff and very questionable art (how did this bird manage to get in here? I have no idea!) Then of course all the big Japanese artists were there: Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Aya Takano and Tomoko Konoike, who is one of my favourites. My idea for the Art Fair Tokyo, however, was to hunt for things I had not seen anywhere before and: I found some treasures! Look at this hammerhead mapped all over with brand names. Esthetics somewhere between air plane and formula one racing car, this highly polished animal got me! Titled “Human’s Won Evo2 SPVA019″, this artwork was created by Showichi Kaneda presented by Beijing Tokyo Art Projects. Art Beatus Gallery was a further Chinese gallery showing interesting works. Amongst those “deja vu- superego” from Francis Wong, was an interesting mixed media piece. “World’s Famous Brands” by the Luo Brothers fusioned traditional Chinese drawings with big corporate brand products in a billboard style tryptic- both artworks revealing a cynical, critical view at the strong economic changes happening in China.
“Noodle Boy” from Ryoich Majima (Capsule gallery) made me laugh a lot. This punk sitting in a big Ra-men bowl watching TV was just to the point! Bathing in Noodle-soup slurping away, while being entertained- a very suitable pinch here on Japanese male youth culture.
Dutch artist Mariette van der Ven shocked and touched with her delicate, extremely detailed porcelain figures expressing extreme loneliness and helplessness (Yoshiko Matsumoto Gallery).
Last but best was finding the cubicle of the Mori Yu Gallery. Personally, I would consider this Kyoto based gallery as one of the very best contemporary galleries in Japan. Besides featuring Italy’s Studio Azurro, they represent Hidenori Kitamura, Tomoko Jindo and highly recommended collaborative Paramodel. Using blue plastic model-train racks, this group creates huge landscapes- beautifully shaped installations and patterns (I had a look at their portfolio chatting to Yuichi Mori: very impressive!).
Security non-sense
Art Fair Tokyo
Kimono, antiques, pottery...
weird gothic art
a very questionable painting
Aya Takano art piece
Tomoko Konoike art piece
Human's Won Evo2 SPVA019- by Showichi Kaneda
deja vu- superego- by Francis Wong
World's Famous Brands- by the Luo Brothers
Noodle Boy- by Ryoich Majima
Einzelgänger- by Mariëtte van der Ven
Paramodel- a very small piece
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None found
very interesting- want to see more
Posted by: Peter Bardazzi on November 11th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
Did you hear about “Art in the Dark” in New York?
It’s crazy!!!
Posted by: Peter Bardazzi on November 23rd, 2006 at 2:27 pm
I am an artist, professor of digital art and recent director of new media development at New York University. I founded and directed the Center for Advanced Digital Applications at NYU in 1996-2004, developing its curriculum, design, and philosophy for the digital arts and new media. I also co-founded the digital animation/special effects area at NYU’s Tisch School of Art in the graduate film department. During my tenure at the university, I created a wide-ranging graduate program addressing digital imaging and design based on my concept of a “Digital Bauhaus”. My teaching experience includes digital special effects, animation, lighting, digital film production, painting, thesis etc. In my professional career, I have exhibited my paintings, prints, and drawings at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art; and am in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, NY, Neuberger Museum, and Purchase, NY Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. In addition I have been interviewed on CNN, ABC, CBS, E-Entertainment and VH1-TV and in the press at the LA Times, Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News, NY Times and Associated Press, and Gamasutra Magazine, on modern media, film, art and the popular culture. Recently I was included in a major exhibition at the Neuberger Museum of Art at Purchase Collage NY and was on the Education Panel at Siggraph 2006 Boston. I am now working on a documentary film about Hell and preparing a panel for Siggraph 2007 on the history and future of digital space.
Posted by: octopus peter bardazzi on November 26th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
I come from an eclectic background but have a solid foundation in both the technical, historical and theoretical aspects of the Arts. I am an artist, media scholar and also a pioneer of various programs at many universities. After I received my MFA from Yale University, I had a fruitful career contributing to both academics and the cultural. I have taught, developed and directed programs at New York University, Pratt Institute, Fashion Institute of Technology and Yale University. I founded and directed the Center for Advanced Digital Applications at NYU, creating a new philosophy and curriculum for teaching the digital arts including digital film, special effects, pre-visualization and new media based on my concept of a Digital Bauhaus. I also co-founded the digital animation/special effects area for film at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in Graduate Film. I have worked professionally on visual effects projects, consulting and educational collaborations with companies like George Lucas’s Industrial Light & Magic, Silicon Graphics and Apple. Furthermore, my paintings is always growing taking extraordinary turns and have exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and Brooklyn Museum of Art; and am in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, Neuberger Museum, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Recently my interests in a cinematic pop-culture of how visual information moves through the society have resulted in appearances on CNN, ABC, CBS, E-Entertainment and VH1-TV and interviews in the LA Times, Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News, NY Times, Associated Press, Gamasutra Magazine and San Diego Union-Tribune. I am now working on a series of small paintings and a documentary film about Hell.
Posted by: Peter Bardazzi on June 8th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
Akira Kurosawa
A poem by Peter Bardazzi
You are not humane unless you are afraid of the dark
There is little left in me because of the fire bombing
Like a Rousseau painting you must be honest
You are not yet Buddha not yet
Kindness kindness is so powerful
There is water and color at the end
The children in me are ready not yet
The firebombing and the cat
There is a pile of dead soldiers.
Strike first if you want to win Pearl Harbor
Omens and blood are everywhere
Without ambition a man is not a man
Coppola: taught me plotting and treachery
But you knew it all along that
Best friend and worst enemy
But the forest moves
I don’t understand what is happening
Something is worse than war is here.
Chose to look at life and let Nature exposes us.
We all want to forget something, So tell lies
Death and destruction, lies at the end of the world.
You were saved by a little faith.
The gate you never get through
The struggle, then your gone
First look to the west King Lear
And go down road with mirrors.
You are the movies.
We do not exist through ourselves but through the world that shapes us.
I walk the way of demons
You showed the way
Through strong horizontals
Mystery is the true core of stability
Your father was a teacher, my father was an accountant
Your home was Omori district of Tokyo.
Fire in the distant killing a dog
My home was Brooklyn New York
My first film was Italian
Yours was French
Father liked movies though a strict military man,
Sword fighting in school for you, .22 for me
We left for art, Afraid of water, but loved to swim
We did drawing all the time, but knew you late in life
Tiny people in a landscape painting
Life as looking through a camera lens at a painting
Little big sister death, my brother’s deaths too
Long walk to school, Fight after school. Then art,
For you cinema
Then the power of memory gives rise to the imagination
Posted by: Peter Bardazzi on July 19th, 2007 at 6:30 am
bizarrree
Posted by: kurye on February 16th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
just a quick note…
all exhibitions done is Japan require visitors fill out their information. this is done so that the organizers can send you an invitation for next year’s event and whatever events might interest you according to you profession…i know it’s hard to believe, but japan cares more about being efficient than about looking biased…
Posted by: Yifat from Israel on August 13th, 2008 at 1:07 am
thanks for subject. it is very intersting post
Posted by: konteyner on December 24th, 2010 at 5:51 am
all exhibitions done is Japan require visitors fill out their information. this is done so that the organizers can send
Posted by: perdeci on December 24th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
So “improvement” does not necessarily mean “make it look all futuristic and cool ooh this would look great in my new hover car”. However, the rash of designers setting out to improve the design of the humble clothes hanger are actually managing to combine some pleasing designs with a marked improvement in the actual functionality of the design, too. Well, most are.
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