Whilst I was in London recently I popped in to see my old colleagues at the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation and was invited in to see the latest exhibition: Unexpected Stories by Umi Kumano (熊野海). Umi Kumano is a Japanese artist from Fukui, who currently lives in Berlin as a guest student at the Berlin University of … Continue reading
When I lived in London the ICN Gallery in Shoreditch was hands-down my favourite gallery. Around the same time I left London, the gallery closed down. It felt like the end of an era in many respects, but in a way I was glad that I wouldn’t have to miss out on all of their … Continue reading
A few weeks ago I attended a free public lecture at the University of Bristol. The ‘George Hare Leonard Memorial Lecture’ was entitled ‘The 400th Anniversary of the English East India Company in Japan – 1613 – 2013: A Forgotten Episode in Cultural History’ and the speaker was the wonderful Timon Screech, Professor of the History of … Continue reading
Did you ever wonder what happened to skateboards after they die? Tokyo based artist, Haroshi, has been resurrecting used decks for over a decade. This self-taught artist uses the discarded remains of broken down skateboard decks to create beautiful wooden sculptures, adapting the DIY ethos of skate culture into creating works of art. With intricate mosaic patterns … Continue reading
When I went to see Shunga – Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art at the British Museum recently, I also stopped by to see a small, related temporary exhibition. For a short period Room 3 was home to a screen called ‘Courtesans of the Tamaya House’ attributed to Utagawa Toyoharu (1735–1815), painted in the 1770s … Continue reading
A few weeks ago I visited the Holburne Museum in Bath. I first heard about the Holburne Museum at a netsuke exhibition at the Embassy of Japan earlier this year, just before I moved to Bristol. I noted down that the museum had a small collection of netsuke, and decided I must make time to visit. … Continue reading
To be honest, I’m not missing many things about London, but of all the Japanese-related things I had access to in London the one I do find myself missing is the ICN gallery. I don’t just miss the gallery because they have wonderful exhibitions, I also miss it because the people working there are so friendly … Continue reading
A solo exhibition by Japanese artist Junko O’Neill is opening in London this week. Here are the details: Junko O’Neill: FRAGMENTS OF TIME 19 – 24 March 2013 GV Art, 49 Chiltern Street, London W1U 6LY Have you ever experienced being drawn into the space within a painting and sensing the transient atmosphere that the work conveys? … Continue reading
There’s always a lot of Japanese-related stuff going on in London, so I thought it might be useful to give you a heads-up about some of what’s going on in the next couple of months. I’m sure I’ll miss something though, so do feel free to leave a comment if there’s something you’d like to … Continue reading
Mai Miyake’s exhibition, Dead Angle, at the ICN gallery in Shoreditch is quite different from anything I’ve seen before. One of the main themes of the exhibition is ‘focal points’, and the artist encourages visitors to consider looking at her work from different angles and in different ways. The first piece as you enter the … Continue reading
Haikugirl's Japan 