Metalwork

The combination of Japan and metalwork together suggests the tradition of the samurai sword, and it is certainly in this world that Japanese craftsmanship is pre-eminent. Less known perhaps is the world of accessories to the sword in which precious …
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Glass

“But glass remained basically foreign to the Japanese, something that had no roots in indigenous culture. So only artists prepared to take risks used it, artists with a decidedly Western orientation – in other words, those who were notably open-minded …
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Japanese Design: Rinpa Resonates and Sekka Seduces

18/12/2012 -  - AGNSW, Art Gallery of NSW, Contemporary Art
The Art Gallery of NSW led the way last year (June-August 2012) in an international celebration of Japanese design with a visually striking and intellectually stimulating exhibition and series of lectures of the Rinpa-inspired works of Kamisaka Sekka (1866-1942) from …
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The Whitney Museum: Yayoi Kusama Retrospective

30/09/2012 -  - Contemporary Art, Exhibition, Japan
Image courtesy of Whitney Museum Priestess of Polka Dots/Eccentric Art or Louis Vuitton Brand Ambassador? The queues at the Whitney Museum for entry to the Kusama Yayoi retrospective (Read NY Times Review) were, yes, admittedly longer and more decorous than …
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Issey Miyake 132 5

07/09/2012 -  - Culture, Design, Fashion
image courtesy of Issey Miyake ‘1’ refers to the single piece of cloth for each item of apparel; ‘3’ to the three-dimensional shape and ‘2’ to the fact that it reduces to a flat two-dimensional form. The gap in the …
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