Modern Art Asia was founded to address the need within art history and art journalism for a space dedicated to the arts of Asia from the eighteenth century through today. For the rising generation of Asian art scholars, these works exist in a globalized interdisciplinary context at the intersection of scholarship, criticism, and the market. Modern Art Asia reflects this discourse with a combination of peer-reviewed postgraduate articles, insightful commentary, and international exhibition reviews to encourage a broader vision of art produced throughout Asia after 1700. Contemporary Asian art provides an active chronological boundary for this definition, challenging past trajectories even as it continues those traditions established centuries before with innovations inspired by globalization.
In preparation for the inaugural issue, the last few months have seen us travelling across continents and establishing correspondents around the world to bring you the best of exhibitions and scholarship on modern Asian art. Our inaugural issue focuses on East Asia, presenting cutting-edge international research and reviews. Exhibitions in New York, London, Seoul, and Taipei present snapshots of Asian art as displayed in museums and galleries across the globe, while reviews and conference reports emphasize the wealth of scholarship currently being produced on Chinese modern and contemporary art.
At the core of this first issue of Modern Art Asia are three articles engaging issues in Japanese art. Gwyn Helverson presents a provocative and thoroughly researched account of six Neo-Nihonga painters, interrogating their work in terms of gender and violence and locating it within a social and political nexus. Marci Kwon offers a new perspective on the work of 'art star' Takashi Murakami, best known for his commercial collaborations with Louis Vuitton, by reading the engagement with consumerism in his art as a deliberate appropriation rather than a compromise. Yayoi Shionoiri discusses Japanese post-war photographer Hosoe Eikoh's portraits of Nobel-nominee, writer and performer Mishima Yukio, whose infamous public suicide by seppuku retrospectively imbues this series of images with a special power to remind us of the ephemerality of the photographic moment.
With the conclusion of Asian Art in London, we are pleased to present the first issue of Modern Art Asia with the goal of increasing the international dialogue about Asian art, and kindling greater scholarly and nonspecialist interest in these works that are now global as much as regional.
Sincerely,
Majella Munro and Kristina Kleutghen
Editors, Modern Art Asia
In preparation for the inaugural issue, the last few months have seen us travelling across continents and establishing correspondents around the world to bring you the best of exhibitions and scholarship on modern Asian art. Our inaugural issue focuses on East Asia, presenting cutting-edge international research and reviews. Exhibitions in New York, London, Seoul, and Taipei present snapshots of Asian art as displayed in museums and galleries across the globe, while reviews and conference reports emphasize the wealth of scholarship currently being produced on Chinese modern and contemporary art.
At the core of this first issue of Modern Art Asia are three articles engaging issues in Japanese art. Gwyn Helverson presents a provocative and thoroughly researched account of six Neo-Nihonga painters, interrogating their work in terms of gender and violence and locating it within a social and political nexus. Marci Kwon offers a new perspective on the work of 'art star' Takashi Murakami, best known for his commercial collaborations with Louis Vuitton, by reading the engagement with consumerism in his art as a deliberate appropriation rather than a compromise. Yayoi Shionoiri discusses Japanese post-war photographer Hosoe Eikoh's portraits of Nobel-nominee, writer and performer Mishima Yukio, whose infamous public suicide by seppuku retrospectively imbues this series of images with a special power to remind us of the ephemerality of the photographic moment.
With the conclusion of Asian Art in London, we are pleased to present the first issue of Modern Art Asia with the goal of increasing the international dialogue about Asian art, and kindling greater scholarly and nonspecialist interest in these works that are now global as much as regional.
Sincerely,
Majella Munro and Kristina Kleutghen
Editors, Modern Art Asia
The Creation of A Myth Through Destruction of Another: Hosoe Eikoh's Photographs of Mishima Yukio in Barakei
Yayoi Shionoiri
The collaboration between Mishima Yukio, a world-renowned Japanese writer, and Hosoe Eikoh, an avant-garde Japanese photographer, resulted in the publication of Barakei, or Ordeal by Roses, in 1963. Hosoe’s photographs of Mishima—superimposed upon images of Western painting—resulted in a stunning visual presentation of portraiture and photographic performance, providing rare visual testimony of Mishima and his representations of an identity situated at the intersection of East and West.
Yayoi Shionoiri
The collaboration between Mishima Yukio, a world-renowned Japanese writer, and Hosoe Eikoh, an avant-garde Japanese photographer, resulted in the publication of Barakei, or Ordeal by Roses, in 1963. Hosoe’s photographs of Mishima—superimposed upon images of Western painting—resulted in a stunning visual presentation of portraiture and photographic performance, providing rare visual testimony of Mishima and his representations of an identity situated at the intersection of East and West.
From “Divers Desecrations”, Barakei (1985). © Eikoh Hosoe
Commodifying Identity: Takashi Murakami 1989-2008
Marci Kwon
A look back at what can now be understood as the millennial art world’s decadent period reveals an overlap between art and commerce that is unprecedented in its degree and pervasiveness. On the forefront of this exploration is art star Takashi Murakami (b.1963), who has garnered a tremendous amount of fame for both his art and his collaborations with entities such as luxury goods conglomeration Louis Vuitton. Because of this, most of the scholarly criticism about Murakami’s work frames it as a harbinger of the collapse of the fine art/commercial product dichotomy. This paper will bypass this issue and argue instead that Murakami’s oeuvre, including his painting, sculpture, writings, curatorial endeavors, and mass produced goods, should be read as an appropriation of the systems that drive capitalist consumption.
Marci Kwon
A look back at what can now be understood as the millennial art world’s decadent period reveals an overlap between art and commerce that is unprecedented in its degree and pervasiveness. On the forefront of this exploration is art star Takashi Murakami (b.1963), who has garnered a tremendous amount of fame for both his art and his collaborations with entities such as luxury goods conglomeration Louis Vuitton. Because of this, most of the scholarly criticism about Murakami’s work frames it as a harbinger of the collapse of the fine art/commercial product dichotomy. This paper will bypass this issue and argue instead that Murakami’s oeuvre, including his painting, sculpture, writings, curatorial endeavors, and mass produced goods, should be read as an appropriation of the systems that drive capitalist consumption.
Gazing at the Male/Female Gaze: The Composition of Gender as Seen in the Work of Six Neo-nihonga Artists: Tenmyouya Hisashi, Aida Makoto, Yamaguchi Akira, Matsui Fuyuko, Machida Kumi, and Yamaguchi Ai
Gwyn Helverson
This paper studies the recent phenomenon of neo-nihonga art in Japan; that is, artworks made using traditional Japanese materials and/or incorporating traditional imagery, but invigorated with modern themes from, for example, hip-hop and otaku (geek) culture. The theories of feminist art historian Chino Kaori, who challenged essentialist notions of art in the categories of [onna] (woman), [Nihon] (Japan), and [bi] (beauty/aesthetics), are applied. The artists were questioned and their works analyzed not only using these categories but also via an additional [otoko] (man) category.
Gwyn Helverson
This paper studies the recent phenomenon of neo-nihonga art in Japan; that is, artworks made using traditional Japanese materials and/or incorporating traditional imagery, but invigorated with modern themes from, for example, hip-hop and otaku (geek) culture. The theories of feminist art historian Chino Kaori, who challenged essentialist notions of art in the categories of [onna] (woman), [Nihon] (Japan), and [bi] (beauty/aesthetics), are applied. The artists were questioned and their works analyzed not only using these categories but also via an additional [otoko] (man) category.
Yamaguchi Ai (2007), makura yori ato yori, acrylic on cotton, blanket and panel, 41x103x6cm (detail).
© ai yamaguchi • ninyu works
© ai yamaguchi • ninyu works
Taka Ishii Gallery, Frieze Art Fair in Regent’s Park, London, UK, Photo by Linda Nylind, Courtesy of Frieze l 14 October 2009
Chen Chiu-Jhin. Two Rice Cakes for Tea Time, watercolour on paper, 41x76cm, 2006
REVIEWS AND REPORTS
PAPERS
727, 1996, acrylic on canvas mounted on board, 3000 x 4500 x 70 mm, (detail) © 1996 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Tetsumi Kudo, Fossil in Hiroshima, 1976, embossing, spray paint on paper, 65.6 x 50 cm, ARG# KT1976-002, © ADAGP, Prais & ARS, New York. Courtesy of Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, Photo by Tyler Campbell Wriston
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