Mar 2010

#art
#japan
#painting

Japanese figurative paintings


I went to the National Museum of art in Osaka the other day, and saw a lot of inspiring stuff. The exhibition that was on was titled "Garden of Painting—Japanese Art of the 00s":

To commemorate the fifth anniversary of the National Museum of Art, Osaka's relocation from Expo Park to Nakanoshima, in the heart of Osaka, we are pleased to present a special exhibition titled "Garden of Painting—Japanese Art of the 00s." In this event, we focus on new figurative painting from the last decade to showcase the vibrant activities of a younger generation of Japanese artists.

In this exhibition, we present some 200 works by 28 artists, including recent and new works, throughout the museum's exhibition spaces in the second- and third-floor basements. Among these are the unforgettable O Jun with his witty portraits and iconography; Kobayashi Takanobu, who depicts landscapes and people shrouded in a distinctive kind of light; artists from the preceding generation such as Nara Yoshitomo, who is known for his pictures of young girls with incisive looks; up-and-coming artists like Goto Yasuka, Sakamoto Natsuko, and Atsuchi Tomoko, who were born in the 1980s; and Kusama Yayoi, who has in recent years been exploring new frontiers in painting through her use of line drawings.

Here's a list of the things I liked the most:

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  • Nara Yoshitomo, 'the little judge', 'agent orange', 'after the acid rain'

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  • Ozawa Sakae, 'Zauber/magic', 'the secret of the world tastes like honey', 'i always wanted to cry', 'the world becomes dream, the dream becomes world'

Picture 6.png- Kusama Yayoi

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Cite this blog post:


Michele Pasin. Japanese figurative paintings. Blog post on www.michelepasin.org. Published on March 9, 2010.

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