Shikishi card exhibition opens Jan. 1 and runs through Jan. 28
Topic: Art

 

The Shikishi of laughing boars was drawn by Kevin Brechner of Pasadena.

 

   As the annual New Year event of Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angles, the Shikishi card exhibition runs from Jan. 1 through Jan. 28 at the Doizaki Galley in the JACCC Building in Little Tokyo. Admission free.

   The Shikishi exhibition features works from all walks of life: from dignitaries on both sides of the Pacific to children, from Prime Ministers to teachers.  The only guideline imposed are the Hatsu-Warai (first laughter) theme and the use of ones' imagination.
    The Japanese Shikishi is a 12 x 10 inch card used traditionally as a canvas for paintings, poetry, and words of inspiration.  Today in Japan, a more common use for the Shikishi is as a canvas for collecting autographs and quotes from famous people.

 

From Heart to Hand, June 22 - Sept. 17, 2006
Topic: Art
Pacific Asia Museum

46 N Robles Ave, Pasadena, CA 91101
Wednesday – Sunday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Fridays 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Tel: (626) 449-2742

http://www.pacificasiamuseum.org


Modern Japanese Prints from the George and Marcia Good Collection. From Heart to Hand focuses on 15 modern Japanese prints from the post war era as represented in the George and Marcia Good collection, donated to Pacific Asia Museum in 1990.

These prints have been selected to present a sample of the wide array of styles and techniques found in works of the modern Japanese print movement.

Japan Art Now featuring three Japanese painters, Jun. 3 - 30
Topic: Art
The Henken Gallery presents three Japanese artists in the exhibit, Japan Art Now, at the Henken Gallery located inside New Otani Hotel in Little Tokyo, from June 3 to June 30. This exhibition features works that showcase the artists’ unique personality:

Dr. Letsu Sugiyama (1925- ) Born in Fukuoka. He is an artist beyond explanation who has established a unique style that has been widely recognized throughout the art world. Sugiyama has said, “There is no past and no future of my art. Only the present work to express my history, my value and my career. The painting is an expression of my self.”

Mas Kawamoto (1943- ) Born in Whittier, California. Kawamoto’s interest in abstract art has always been present through his life. His creativity flows freely but occasion after several false starts. Recent his works integrating vibrant colors and powerful brush strokes, allow him to express himself at every aspect of his life.

Kiyokazu Itou (1952- ) Born in Mie. He is a renowned artist who primarily works in oil and watercolors. His style originated from a traditional Japanese art. His style is still seen, not only through his works, but also from the works of his art students. His paintings depict a new style of Japanese art in which he presents his subjects in sharp lines and harmonious colors.

The Henken Gallery is located in the grand floor in the New Otani Hotel, 120 South Los Angeles Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012, (213) 626-2505. www.thehenkengallery.com.

(Photo)
“Yawaragu toki” by Kiyokazu Itou, oil and gold leaf on canvas.

Reflections of Beauty: Women from Japan's Floating World at Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, Mar.10 - June 18
Topic: Art
Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena will present the exhibition Reflections of Beauty: Women from Japan’s Floating World, curated by Kendall H. Brown, Associate Professor of Art History at California State University, Long Beach, from March 10 through June 18.

The exhibition consists of nearly 75 works that explore how representations of these artistically accomplished and aesthetically enticing women have been utilized not to capture the reality of their existence but to express a range of attitudes towards sex, culture, class and nation.

The exhibition features paintings, woodblock prints, ceramics, textiles and personal ornaments, most coming from the museum’s large but rarely seen collection of Edo-period (1616-1868) art. It also features rare objects and photos from private collections as well as paintings by contemporary artists that play with now stereotypical ukiyo-e forms.
At the broadest level Reflections of Beauty invites the audience to question its own assumptions about Japanese art, female identity and even Asian culture at a time when Westerners are confronted with appealing but potentially misleading images in popular culture.

In most cultures, images of women are laden with symbolism and associations far beyond those of men. In Japan, beginning in the Edo period (17th century), depictions of women were particularly complex in their meanings as bijinga (“pictures of beauties”) and comprised the most popular and dynamic subject in ukiyo-e, “pictures of the floating world.”

Paintings and woodblock prints alike express the values and fantasies of a society in which women, particularly courtesans (y?jo) and artistic entertainers (geisha), were veritable cultural heroes. These images have accumulated layers of significance in Europe and America where, from the publication of Madame Butterfly in 1898 to Memoirs of a Geisha a century later, Westerners have been fascinated with the mystique of Japanese femininity.

Distinguishing between painted ladies and painted lads

The first part of the exhibition elucidates the basic physical and functional differences between various beauties, first distinguishing between painted ladies and painted lads—the latter including young male prostitutes and onnagata, the kabuki actors who played female roles.

One critical goal of the exhibition is to educate viewers about the differences between the appearance, activities and cultural roles of courtesans, geisha, apprentice geisha (maiko), and even the merchant-class married women who often adapted elements of style from women of the floating world. This introductory display also shows the standard dress, hairstyle and ornament of courtesans and geisha, providing an introduction to the aesthetics of feminine beauty and suggesting how pictorial images provoked new fashion trends.

The show’s second section examines various themes in the representation of women that disclose in part the physical and psychological lives of these women as well as their social roles, both actual and symbolic.

Themes range from the descriptive and poetic—including “Celebrating the Seasons”(flower viewing), “Auspicious Performances” (dance), “Beauty on Parade,” (processions), “Entertaining Clients” (eating, drinking and carousing) “Private Moments”(bathing, resting, sewing, raising children), and “Thoughts of Love” (reading and writing letters)—to the political, where the satirical transpositions and juxtapositions between these merchant-class Japanese icons and Chinese patriarchs are evident in themes including “Literature and Lore” (transpositions of geisha into fiction and history), and “Subverting the Patriarchy” (parodies of establishment themes).

A diverse program of films, lectures and gallery talks will accompany the exhibition and expands upon the core concepts of the show.

Pacific Asia Museum is located at 46 North Los Robles Avenue in Pasadena. Hours are Wednesday through Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and until 8 p.m. on Fridays. Free parking is located adjacent to the museum. Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for students and seniors. Children under 12 are admitted free. For more information call 626-449-2742 or visit www.pacificasiamuseum.org.

(Photo)
Anonymous, Meiji-era photo of Geisha writing, Dawn Frazier Collection, dimensions 991 x 1724. (Courtesy of Pacific Asia Museum)

Surface, Line and Color: The Spirit of Design in Japanese Art, April 4 - July 29
Topic: Art
HANFORD, California - Although the Lee Institute collection is famous for its rich Edo period paintings, the collection also includes Japanese art objects from a variety of periods and medium. The upcoming spring exhibition “Surface, Line and Color: The Spirit of Design in Japan,” will be a perfect opportunity to acknowledge this fact, where the viewers will find a selection of art works highlighted by their design quality rather than their categories.

Over the years, Japanese artists have established a reputation for their acute sense of design in enhancing any surface, whether large or small, two- or three-dimensional, and no matter how banal or regal an object. Art connoisseurs have also long discussed issues surrounding design in Japanese art. Design can be regarded as an overall plan for something, a basic scheme or pattern, or the elements to organize a work of art.

This exhibition focuses on three elements of design in Japanese art—surface, line, and color—as they are expressed in a selection of paintings and sculptural ceramic and bamboo works from the Lee Institute collection.

“Surface” can constitute the composition of a painting or the textural aspects of a three-dimensional object. “Lines” are powerful expressions of the inner spirit, but they also create rhythm, movement, patterns, and designs in art.

And “Color” is the essential element in Japanese art; it not only compliments linework, but it actually embodies Japanese aesthetics.

This exhibition will illustrate how the spirit of Japanese design can be observed in many situations, sometimes bold and clear and other times in more subtle manners. It is the curator’s hope that students and visitors from all walks of life will visit and discuss what they see while learning something new about Japanese art.

For this particular show, the institute welcomes Midori Oka, museum educator at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, as guest curator. In 1997, Midori came to the institute as its first curatorial intern and was subsequently hired by the institute, on completion of her internship in 1998, as its first curator. Interestingly, most of the objects she has chosen for this exhibition were acquired after she left the institute in 2000.

The Lee Institute is a public museum gallery and library study center dedicated to Japanese art located 6 miles south of Highway 198 in Hanford between Jackson and Jersey Avenues at 15770 Tenth Avenue.

The gallery hosts regular exhibitions of Japanese art of various styles and media ranging from the 12th to the 21st centuries. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday 1-5 p.m. with a docent-led tour every Saturday at 1 p.m.
For more information, visit the website at www.shermanleeinstitute.org or call (559) 582-4915.


(Photo Caption)
Ueda Kōchū (1819-1911), Boys on a Bull, hanging scroll, ink and colors. Lee Institute Permanent Collection.

(Photo Caption)
Mimura Chikuhō (b.1973), Hope, bamboo sculpture, lacquered madake bamboo and rattan. Clark Family Collection, on loan to the Lee Institute.

Isamu Noguchi's Sculptural Design exhibition, Through May 14
Topic: Art
Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, presents Isamu Noguchi –Sculptural Design exhibition from Feb. 4 through May 14.

In a career that spanned six decades, Japanese American artist Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) produced a groundbreaking body of work that encompassed multiple disciplines to break down the barriers between sculptural art and functional design.

Isamu Noguchi – Sculptural Design celebrates this legacy by integrating more than 75 of Noguchi’s works into a series of dramatic installations conceptualized by renowned theater designer and artist Robert Wilson.

The exhibition includes Noguchi’s portrait busts, unique stone sculptures, and set designs for the Martha Graham Dance Company as well his iconic furniture designs and Akari lamps, all arranged in thematic settings with bold lighting, visually striking tableaux, and evocative sounds.

This is the second exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum exploring the complex career of Isamu Noguchi.

Isamu Noguchi – Sculptural Design was organized by the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany, in cooperation with the Isamu Noguchi Foundation Inc., New York. The exhibition design and visual concept by Robert Wilson were developed at the Watermill Center on Long Island, New York. The Japanese American National Museum is the only California venue after showings in London, Weil am Rhein, Madrid, Paris, Cologne, Rotterdam, Berlin, New York, and Seattle.

The Los Angeles presentation of Isamu Noguchi – Sculptural Design is made possible, in part, by the generous support of Ray Inouye, Chris Inouye, Steve Inouye, and Deena (Inouye) Lew; The James Irvine Foundation; Karen & Michael Schneickert; Prudential Financial, Inc.; George Takei & Brad Altman; and Gordon Yamate & Deborah Shiba, DDS.

Special ticket prices are $12 for adults, $9 seniors (62 years old over), $8 for students and youth (6-17 years old), free for children 5 years old and under and the museum member. Thursday evenings from 5–8 p.m. and all day on Feb. 18, March 16, and April 20: Adults, seniors, students, and youth are $4. During these times, admission to all other museum exhibitions is free.

The Japanese American National Museum is located at 369 East First Street in the historic Little Tokyo section of Los Angeles. For more information, call (213) 625-0414 or visit www.janm.org.

Photo
Isamu Noguchi with Tsuneko San (Head of Japanese Girl), 1931, plaster, mid-1960s.
(Copyright 2005 The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)

Author Masayo and Peter Duus to discuss thier book "The Life of isamu Noguchi" Feb. 19
Topic: Art
MASAYO, PETER DUUS TO DISCUSS BOOK, 'THE LIFE OF ISAMU NOGUCHI: JOURNEY WITHOUT BORDERS' AT
JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM FEB. 19

LOS ANGELES.-As part of the installation of the international traveling exhibition, Isamu Noguchi - Sculptural Design, the Japanese American National Museum will host the public program, "An Enduring Odyssey:Masayo Duus and Peter Duus Talk About the Life and Times of Isamu Noguchi" on Sunday, Feb. 19, beginning at 2 p.m.

Author Masayo Duus has written what critics have described as the definitive biography of artist Isamu Noguchi, originally published in 2004, the 100th anniversary of his birth. Her husband, Peter Duus, a historian, did the English translation for The Life of Isamu Noguchi: Journey without Borders, which examines Noguchi's life in great detail.

Born as Sam Gilmour to a Japanese father, Yonejiro Noguchi, and an American mother, Leonie Gilmour, Noguchi spent his life expressing his bicultural heritage in his work, often fusing together elements and aesthetics from East and West.

The first full-length biography of the artist, the book draws on Noguchi's letters, his reminiscences, and interviews with his friends and colleagues to cast new light on his youth, his creativity, and his relationships. Noguchi was born in Boyle Heights and his mother moved them to Japan when he was three in an attempt to be close to his father.

That relationship never developed and young Sam eventually was sent to school in Indiana, where, after some struggles, he lived a life similar to many young American boys in the 1910s and 1920s.

His exceptional artistic talents took him to New York City and eventually Paris, where he befriended Alexander Calder and became an assistant to Constantin Brancusi.

Duus also reveals much about Noguchi's personal life, including his many romances with such public figures as dancer Ruth Page, painter Frida Kahlo and writer Anais Nin. Yet his own sense of being an outsider never ended. "With my double nationality and my double upbringing, where was my home?" he once wrote. "Where were my affections? Where my identity?"

This search even led to his voluntarily entering the Poston, Arizona World War II concentration camp to be with other Japanese Americans in hopes of improving their lives. His proposed projects for a park and a recreation center were never realized and he left camp after several months.

As the exhibition makes clear, Noguchi, in his six decades of work,explored various fields of both applied and the fine arts. Besides creating over 2,500 sculptures, he designed stage sets for choreographer Martha Graham, invented furniture for Herman Miller and developed his own style of landscape architecture all over the world. He often traveled to Japan, seeking to explore his father's world and collaborated with many Japanese artists.

The exhibition was organized by the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein,Germany, in cooperation with the Isamu Noguchi Foundation Inc., New York. The exhibition design and visual concept by Robert Wilson were developed at the Watermill Center on Long Island, New York.

Masayo Duus has written several books on the history of Japanese Americans and U.S.-Japan relations and has published collections of her essays on life in America. Translations of her work include The Japanese Conspiracy: The Oahu Sugar Strike of 1920 and Unlikely Liberators: The Men of the 100th and the 442nd. Peter Duus is William H. Bonsall Professor of History at Stanford University. His most recent book is Japanese Discovery of America.

All Isamu Noguchi - Sculptural Design public programs are free with admission to the exhibition. Seating is first-come, first-served. Reservations are recommended. All programs are free for National Museum members, unless otherwise noted. For non-members, public programs are included with admission to the Noguchi exhibition ($12 adults, $9 seniors 62 & over, $8 students). Children five and under are free. For more information call (213) 625-0414.

LACMA: Contemporary Project 9
Topic: Art
Los Angeles County Museum, Oct 27 – Feb. 12

Contemporary Project 9: Gajin Fujita and Pablo Vargas Lugo


Ride or Die by Gajin Fujita. 2005. 83 x 126 in.

Gajin Fujita’s vibrant paintings are inhabited by fearsome warriors, lusty geishas, and others legendary figures that derive from his interest in Japanese tattoos, screen paintings from the Edo period (1603-1867), nineteenth century erotic ukiyo-e woodblock prints and cartoons.

This exhibition also features for the first time several of the artist’s preparatory drawings for his large-scale paintings.

Born in Los Angeles of Japanese parents, Gajin Fujita grew up in Boyle Heights, a predominantly Latino section of East Los Angeles. A member of the West Coast graffiti crew K2S (Kill to Succeed), in the 1980s, Fujita did numerous “taggings” and murals in downtown Los Angeles.

His smooth surfaces are the result of a painstaking process. After priming the panels with gesso and polishing them, he covers the surfaces with gold leaf, following traditional Japanese methods.

Some of his large-scale paintings are based on screens with several partitions, a format that he also borrows from Japanese art.

Fujita then invites friends from his graffiti crew to tag the shiny surfaces. By bringing graffiti into the studio, Fujita attempts to validate this form of guerrilla street art, which he views as creative and nonviolent.

In Fujita’s works, the urban chaos of L.A. and the imaginary world of the Far East collide and somehow miraculously coexist.

According to the artist, “I kind of look at myself as a hip-hopper, the way of a DJ would sample all sorts of great music from the past – sounds and beats. I’m just doing it with visuals.”

Museum Hours: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday noon - 8 pm; Friday noon - 9 pm; Saturday and Sunday 11 am - 8 pm; closed Wednesday. Call (323) 857-6000, or visit our web site at www.lacma.org for more information.

Tickets: General LACMA Admission: Adults $9; students 18+ with ID and senior citizens 62+ $5; children 17 and under are admitted free. Admission (except to specially ticketed exhibitions) is free the second Tuesday of every month, and evenings after 5 pm.

Woman as Art / Woman as Artist, Sept. 6 - Dec. 3
Topic: Art
HANFORD, Calif. - This fall the Ruth and Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art presents an exhibition on women in Japanese art that is not just a series of pretty faces. The exhibition Woman as Art / Woman as Artist: Two sides to the female figure in later Japanese painting runs from Sep. 6 to Dec. 3.

Of course, these stunning paintings from the 16th through the 20th centuries feature some of the most stylish and decadent representations of women from the world-class permanent collection of this small rural museum, but the exhibition also includes images of female ghosts, paintings of women at work, and humorous parodies of women in unconventional settings.

Most of the paintings in this exhibition were produced in the Edo period (1615-1868), during an era of very strict government regulation of everything from where different classes of people were allowed to conduct their daily activities to the type of clothes they were allowed to wear.

The current exhibition explores the ways in which paintings of women served not only to establish models of style and beauty for the visual pleasure of a male viewer but also reinforced ideals of model behavior expected of women during this period for their female audience.

Familiar types of images of beauties of the pleasure quarters stylishly coiffed and dressed in elaborate kimonos stand alongside idealized figures of peasant women picking tea and gathering firewood.

Supplementing such images of women primarily by prominent male artists, the exhibition also includes paintings by female artists, most of whom followed closely in the tradition of their male teachers and mentors.

Highlights of the exhibition include an early screen painting of the legendary Chinese beauty Yang Guifei from the late 16th century, images of unconventional beauties of the Osaka-area pleasure quarters by a rare artist of the early 19th century, and calligraphies and paintings by female artists of the literati-style Nanga School.

The Lee Institute is located 6 miles south of downtown Hanford at 15770 Tenth Avenue. The gallery and extensive reference library are wheelchair accessible and open to the public Tuesday-Saturday from 1:00–5:00 pm during the exhibition period. The gallery will be closed on Nov. 24 and 25.

Entrance fees are $5 for adults, $3 for students with valid ID and children under 12 are free. Docent tours of the exhibition are held every Saturday at 1:00 pm and special pre-arranged group tours are available for an additional fee.

For more information, see the website at www.shermanleeinstitute.org or call (559) 582-4915.

Hokusai's Great Wave will be recreated, Sept. 17
Topic: Art
Mysteries of woodblock printing will debut in multi-city demonstration by an artisan from Tokyo.

Eighteenth Century Japanese master impressionist Katsushika Hokusai’s exquisite woodcarving – The Great Wave Off Kanagawa – recently found in the vault of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, will be recreated in a seven-city demonstration and lecture series in September, co-sponsored by The Japan Foundation.

The Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints in Tokyo, whose skilled artisans were selected by the Boston Museum to make new prints from Hokusai’s original woodcut, will provide a personal appearance by Lecturer Mr. Isamu Adachi, head director of the institute, and Ms. Chiharu Enomoto, woodblock printer.

Together, they will provide an in-depth view of traditional Japanese printmaking, recreating the Great Wave image in full. They will show the many steps involved in the printing process, finally revealing the image’s original, vibrant colors.

Lecturers: Mr. Isamu Adachi, Head Director of the Adachi Institute, appearing in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara; Ms. Meguri Nakayama appearing in San Diego and San Francisco

Printer: Ms. Chiharu Enomoto appearing in all cities


Demonstration Location in California:
Los Angeles, Sat, Sept. 17, 1:00 p.m., Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, 244 South San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, Ca 90012, Contact, Mr. Hirokazu Kosaka at (213) 628-2725 ext. 127

Santa Barbara, Sun, Sept. 18, 2:00 p.m., Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1130 State Street, Santa Barbara, Ca 93101, Contact, Ms. Susan Tai at (805) 884-6408

San Diego, Wed, Sept. 21, 10:30am and 7:00 p.m., Mingei International Museum, 1439 El Prado, San Diego, Ca 92101, Contact, Mr. Rob Sidner at (619) 239-0003

San Francisco, Sun, Sept. 25, 2:00 p.m., Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin Street, San Francisco, Ca 94102, Contact, Ms. Deborah Clearwaters at (415) 581-3500.

LACMA Exhibition Japan Goes to the World's Fairs: Japanese Art at the Great Expositions Through Oct. 10
Topic: Art
Japan Goes to the World's Fairs: Japanese Art at the Great Expositions in Europe and the United States, 1867-1904 includes approximately 145 works chronicling the remarkable influence of the fairs on the course of Japanese art during the Meiji period (1868-1912) when Japan was reforming itself under strong Western influence. During this time, Japan participated in 19 international events and organized five domestic fairs, an average of almost one major undertaking every year.

Representing the creative interests of the period, the show is particularly rich in the craft media of ceramics, lacquers, metalwork, and textiles.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036

Cost: Adults $9; students 18+ with ID and senior citizens 62+ $5; children 17 and under are admitted free. Admission (except to specially ticketed exhibitions) is free the second Tuesday of every month, and evenings after 5 pm.

Museum Hours: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday noon-8 pm; Friday noon-9 pm; Saturday and Sunday 11 am-8 pm; closed Wednesday. Tel: (323) 857-6000, www.lacma.org