Category — Art

One of my favorite architects, Junya Ishigami (his website is only a contact form…I know: frustrating), is having an exhibition at the Shiseido Gallery.

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The highly anticipated show (at least for me) just opened yesterday. I combed the interweb yesterday for images and turned up with nothing. I tried again today and bingo! ARTiT has hooked us up with a first look.

If you are not familiar with Junya Ishigami, check out my feature on Japanese contemporary architects I did back in 2008 where I talked about his work “Kait Kobo.” Also, if you are in Tokyo I would highly recommend the show. Ishigami is not a very public figure and it’s a rare opportunity to check out his work.

Junya Ishigami, along with designers such as Nosigner, is part of a school of young designers who got their start studying under acclaimed architect Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA.

Last summer Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama released a new photo book. The title, Northern, referred to Hokkaido, the northern-most island of Japan, and a location he resided in 1978 for 3-months.

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Roughly 2 months after the release of the book the publisher (and perhaps Moriyama himself) decided not to do a 2nd printing. So the book is, in effect, out of print (but you can still purchase it on Amazon JP).

Moriyama then went on to showcase a series of prints from his book at COMME des GARCONS’ acclaimed “Six” gallery space in Osaka, Japan. Designed by Rei Kawakubo herself, the gallery opened in 2009. Moriyama’s show, which ran from April – July of 2010, was the the 3rd exhibition to date, following Yayoi Kusama and Tadanori Yokoo.

I love all the gritty, high-contrast awesomeness of these prints. I’ve never seen Hokkaido in such light. You can purchase an original print, which is accompanied by the book, at Azito.

Rie Hosokai, who made a name for herself by bending balloons, and consequently goes by the name of Daisy Balloon, is having a solo exhibition at Sunday Issue, an art/lounge space in Shibuya. The show will run from August 21st to September 5th. Daisy plans to unveil a spectrum of new work under the art direction of frequent collaborator Takashi Kawada of kotenhits.

Sunday Issue
Tue – Fri : 13:00 – 24:00
Sat, Sun : 12:00 – 19:00
Mon : Closed

Daisy Balloon
Rie Hosokai (Daisy) started balloon art in 2002 and went on to reign supreme in almost every balloon folding exhibition she entered. She garnered the attention of the art community with her haute couture dresses made from balloons.

Related:

• Balloon as vase by Shun Kawakami

In his first solo exhibition since 1993, established artist and fashion designer Kosuke Tsumura exhibited a series of fabrics hand-knitted from industrial waste of the information technology industry; namely LAN cables and plugs. Tsumura is known for his environmental works, which often incorporate the recycling and reusing of materials. In 2005 his “Final Home 44-pocket parka” (1994) was featured in MoMa’s exhibition, “Safe: Design Takes on Risk.”

The works from MODE less CODE, which were shown at Nanzuka Underground in February of 2010, have been repackaged into multimedia collages and are currently available at Azito ($570). My favorite piece, “Codelace record 2,” is pictured.

And as an added bonus, Tsumura’s Tokyo apartment was recently featured in the Selby. Although, in my opinion, overall the shots were a bit lackluster.

click to enlarge | all photos by Nacasa&Partners

Enigmatic Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka is being given the solo exhibition treatment at the MUSEUM. beyond museum in Seoul, Korea.

To me, the most astonishing piece in this show is the optical glass bench, “Waterfall.”  It so effectively distills form and material down to the basics that I am having trouble putting my thoughts into words.

Via architecturephoto.net

Related:

• Collabs: Camper x Tokujin Yoshioka
• media skin by Tokujin Yoshioka

“The inside of a scab” (2008) – click images to enlarge

Meet Aya Koizumi, a 29-year old sculptor with a vast portfolio of intricate, intimate installations (try saying that 3 times fast). Up until now she has remained largely under the radar due, primarily, to the fact that, up until last week, she didn’t have a website. But now that has changed and her curious creations have been opened up for all to admire.

“Room next to mine” (2009)

Aya Koizumi received her BFA in Scenography, Display and fashion design from Musabi. Upon graduation she immediately began showing her work, beginning with Gallery Tsubaki. She continues to actively exhibit in galleries across Japan.

“My home” (2003)

There is something very nostalgic about her work, and the titles of her work. Perhaps as children we dreamed up the abstract ideas that Koizumi has so eloquently translated. Her work conveys a certain sadistic warmth, a combination that perhaps only exists within the innocence of a child.

“Device to catch a bird” and “Device to catch a closed idea” (1994)

click images to enlarge |  tree page marker by megumi takagi

Happy Earth Day! …what? You say that was yesterday? But every day is earth day, right? Ok, I’m just trying to make up an excuse for not posting this yesterday, which was my original intent. I wanted to share some work from the recent Konica Minolta Art and Eco Awards. I briefly covered this last year, but decided to pay more attention to it this year. And I apologize for the lack of consistency in images but they were scarce and I had to dig them up from multiple sources.

The first place prize went to Remo-Kuma, a polar bear that controls the use of electricity in a household. Created by Shozo Kuze and Mariko Sakamoto, the polar bear responds to head petting, back rubs and butt pats. Check out the cute video below!

Although they lost out, I was fascinated by some of the other entries such as this Knot chair by Miyashita Tomoya. It can be configured to accommodate almost any kind of position.

Image courtesy of legiter

One of the most gorgeous entries, in my opinion – hence the numerous images – were these Tree Page-markers by Megumi Takahashi, an editorial designer. They function almost identically with those grass pagemarkers except these, as curiosity mounts in a certain book, a forest grows, rather than a yard of grass.

Images courtesy of tsui design

The markers depict several varieties of trees and each blade of paper is made from its respective tree. Lovely.

One other piece that caught my eye was Icicle by Fujita Manabu and Takuma Yamamoto, of design unit PLUS. It was made from thow-away straws that are plentiful in any fast-food joint.

Image courtesy of mycom journal

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On April 29th 2010 the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (MOMAT) will present Where is architecture? Seven Installations by Japanese Architects. The show, which runs for 88 days until August 8th and will be the museums first definitive look at Japanese architecture and where it stands today.

To better understand the profound recognition that Japanese architecture has received from abroad, the curators have selected 7 architects to present new installations based on previous work. The show will then proceed to examine the logic, technique, and aesthetics that define Japanese architecture in an attempt to understand “where and in what form it arises.”

In order to draw audiences in and get them involved the museum has set up a special website, designed by  Takashi Kamada of spf design, which provides sneak-peaks into each architect’s work-in-progress. Below are screenshots of each.

Toyo Ito will present an installation using the same spatial structure he proposed for the Deichman Main Library Competition in Oslo, Norway. Although – earlier this month – a consortium of Norwegian architects were selected for the design, Ito’s use of 3 types of polyhedrons will undoubtedly create a dynamic space.

Ryoji Suzuki will unveil a large-scale model of a residence that is near completion. But the architect will take his model a step further by altering it using “dub.” Dub can refer to “an instrumental subgenre of reggae,” or “a separate genre of music that involves revisions of existing songs.” I am assuming both of these definitions will apply.

Hiroshi Naito will present an installation consisting of 200 red lasers. Enough said.

Atelier Bow Wow, inspired by the outdoor sculptures of Barbara Hepworth, will completely redesign the museum’s front lawn to function as a summer house.

Hiroshi Kikuchi’s installation will include motion-linked video that connects his space in the museum to previous work he has created.

Ryuji Nakamura – whose intricate work prompted him to solicit assistance via his website -  will create a large scale structure using his hechima concept.

Hideyuki Nakayama – a protégé of Toyo Ito – will present a reformatted version of “Door on the Prairie,” a proposal which he won to design a tea house in Hokkaido.

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For the past 2 years Canon has been flexing their digital imaging muscle during Milan Design Week. Yesterday they presented Neoreal (part 3), an installation titled “prism liquid,” in which numerous projectors cast moving images over a spider-like architectural structure. The multi-sided structure provides multiple canvases for the hallucinatory motion video to move through as it slips and slides off different surfaces.

They collaborated with video artist Takahashi Kyota, architect Akihisa Hirata and designer Hikaru Mori.

The diligent folk over at Canon were kind enough to upload an image gallery and video, immediately after the release…. but the finicky folk running their website directs all my links to their top page. So you are just going to have to go in a and look for it.

Related:

• Milan Design Week 2010 | Japanese Design
• Akihisa Hirata

Despite my initial cynicism – begging to tire of the Johnny Depp-Tim Burton-Tim Burton’s wife-tie-up – I have a renewed enthusiasm for Alice In Wonderland, which just hit theaters. Unfortunately, my day-to-day parenting responsibilities will, without a doubt, delay any form of viewing until a DVD release. But this is no reason not to have a little fun.

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When thinking about the film I keep coming back to the work of Midori Araki, a Japanese artist who creates fantastical and whimsical installations and furniture. Some of her stuff looks like it could be seamlessly placed onto the set. In 2007 she created “Spice of a Day” for the popular lifestyle goods chain Afternoon Tea.

I am also a big fan of the fun and creepy “Phantom Light” (2006) which projects unsuspected shadows onto the ceiling.

Stump (2000) was, in Araki’s own words, modeled after mankind’s very first chair. A limited series of 20 chairs were made, each with their own unique inscription. When arranged properly, they complete an entire verse from a poem.