Yoshitomo Nara by
Follow the trajectory of Yoshitomo Nara, one of the most prominent contemporary artists, whose work has grown in complexity and nuance over the past three decades. Thirty years after Yoshitomo Nara rocketed to fame with his paintings of sinister figures, the artist has developed his practice to reflect his unique, empathic eye. This book presents the full range of Nara's work. Along with his most recognizable pieces, such as his ubiquitous portraits of wide-eyed figures on monochromatic backgrounds, readers will discover his earliest paintings, sketched on surfaces ranging from envelopes to cardboard made during his time in Germany, as well as an installation that re-creates his drawing studio. His most recent works are also represented, including his large-scale bronze and ceramic figurines and portraits made following the 2011 earthquake that devastated Japan. Comparing and contrasting these pieces through Nara's distinctive musical lens, the catalogue also features "liner notes" written by the artist about various albums in his personal collection, published in English for the first time. Viewers will see the evolution of a dynamic artist who has become more contemplative with age. Published with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Tenzing Dakpa: the Hotel by
The hotel in this book is both real and metaphorical, an actual establishment run by Tenzing Dakpa's parents in Sikkim, Northeast India, and a prism through which he revisits his family history and place within it. Dakpa's photos reveal the physical spaces of the hotel, its guest rooms, dining room, the family's cat on a flight of stairs; as well as signs of daily working life there: sheets hanging out to dry, clipping plants in the garden, his parents engaged in various tasks. For the hotel is both public and private, a business and a home: a transient place for guests who come and go and a residence that holds the memories of its owners and projects their hopes.As the only member of his family not involved in running the hotel, Dakpa's photos allow him to negotiate his migration and detachment from it, while intensely exploring his family relationships. In Dakpa's words, one's sense of self is inseparable from the places we create, both physically and in our minds: "The nature of our official identity and place on paper is adopted and the one which is in our memory is fragmented, revealed only in places we once remember." The Hotel is the winner of the Singapore International Photography Festival Photobook Award 2018.
Yayoi Kusama by
"Yayoi Kusama. A Retrospective' features groundbreaking new research and archival documents, including photography and film materials. These focus on Kusama's early 1960s exhibitions in Germany and Europe, as well as covering a wide range of aspects of her oeuvre, which spans a period of over seventy years. New essays by eleven esteemed authors provide insights into Kusama's work from various points of view, with perspectives that have been previously neglected. As such, the artist's commitment to political and social issues in Europe, America, and Japan are illuminated. Exhibition: Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany (postponed until March 2021)."-- Publisher's description
Mrinalini Mukherjee by
This revelatory monograph explores the work of Indian sculptor Mrinalini Mukherjee (1949-2015). Committed to sculpture, Mukherjee worked most intensively with fiber, making significant forays into ceramic and bronze toward the middle and latter half of her career. Within her immediate artistic milieu in post-independent India, Mukherjee was one of the outlier artists whose art remained untethered to the dominant commitments of painting and figural storytelling. Her sculpture was sustained by a knowledge of traditional Indian and historic European sculpture, folk art, modern design, local crafts and textiles. Knotting was the principal gesture of Mukherjee's technique, evident from the very start of her practice. Working intuitively, she never resorted to a sketch, model or preparatory drawing. Probing the divide between figuration and abstraction, Mukherjee would fashion unusual, mysterious, sensual and, at times, unsettlingly grotesque forms, commanding in their presence and scale. In retrospect, Mukherjee's artistic output appears iconoclastic, singular, calling out for assessment and analysis across multiple registers, as well as for an account of why, in hindsight, it was relegated to the margins. Within these pages are deliberations on Mukherjee's place within both an Indian and a more international art history, and her work's relationship to other fiber-art practices from the mid to late 20th century. This book will introduce Mukherjee to a new generation of scholars, art historians and artists.
Nam June Paik by
Explore the ground-breaking work of 20th-century, avant-garde artist Nam June Paik, the pioneer of video art, and discover his impact on the digital age. Nam June Paik was one of the most presciently visionary artists of his generation, one who foresaw the ascendance of the screen in modern life, coined the phrase "electronic superhighway", and celebrated these developments with a humor and whimsy that counteracts some of the darker aspects of our technological age. This book features works from throughout Paik's five-decade career--from robots made from old TV screens to stills from his innovative video works and views of his renowned room-sized installations. Archival materials and excerpts of Paik's own writings offer a deeper understanding of the artist's extraordinary collaborative career. He had exchanges with avant-garde artists, musicians, and choreographers, including Charlotte Moorman, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Joseph Beuys, and members of the Fluxus movement. Essays explore how Paik influenced a global network of artists and pioneered a radical and cutting-edge art practice. They also consider how Paik's transnational approach to art presaged today's issues around borders, immigration, cultural appropriation, and nationalism. By envisioning a future that has become a reality, Paik's work--and its humanity, scope, and optimism--is perhaps more important than ever. Published with Tate
Korea Power by
From cars to electronics, Korean design is conquering the world. This book explores Korea's contemporary design culture between tradition and the future. Currently one of the world's leading industrial nations, South Korea produces an enormous amount of consumer goods. Korea Power is the first comprehensive collection of contemporary Korean product and graphic design. This book aims to document the "Korean identity" that has been formed as the country has become a modern state in the aftermath of the fall of the Josean Dynasty, its occupation by the Japanese, and the Korean War. To this end, Korea Power includes images that the legendary Korean advertising photographer Kim Han-Yong shot in the years of reconstruction following the war. It also features images shot in Seoul and Pyongyang by the German architecture photographer Dieter Leistner that strikingly capture the divided land of today. South Korea's rapid rise to an economic superpower almost swept away all traces of a traditional lifestyle. Today, however, the cultural values of Korea's past are again becoming more influential. Many Korean designers now have a new sensibility for their culture's traditional definition of beauty. They are also defining an original, distinctly Korean elegance. This new development is represented in the book by work from the Culture Keepers, for example. Their designs for practical furniture and table settings are inspired by the aesthetics of the past, yet are ideally suited to meet the needs of our modern lives.
Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World by
Surveys experimental art in China between the years 1989 and 2008. Published on the occasion of the largest exhibition of contemporary art from China ever mounted in North America, organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World explores recent experimental art from what is arguably the most transformative period of modern Chinese and recent world history. Featuring over 150 iconic and lesser-known artworks by more than 70 artists and collectives, this catalogue offers an interpretative survey of Chinese experimental art framed by the geopolitical dynamics attending the end of the Cold War, the spread of globalization, and the rise of China. Critical essays explore how Chinese artists have been both agents and skeptics of China's arrival as a global presence, while an extensive entry section offers detailed analysis on works made in a broad range of experimental mediums, including film and video, ink, installation, Land art, performance, as well as painting and photography. In addition, an appendix includes a selected history of contemporary art exhibitions in China, biographies of featured artists, and a bibliography.
The Pacific Arts of Polynesia and Micronesia by
The Pacific Ocean covers one-third of the earth's surface. Comprising thousands of islands and hundreds of cultural groups, Polynesia and Micronesia cover a large part of this vast ocean, from the dramatic mountains of Hawaii to the small, flat coral islands of Kiribati. Including bothtraditional and contemporary arts, this book introduces the rich artistic traditions of these two regions, traditions that have had a considerable impact on western art in the twentieth century through the influence of artists such as Gauguin.Instead of looking at Polynesia and Micronesia separately, the book focuses on the artistic types, styles, and concepts that they share, placing each in its wider cultural context. From the textiles of Tonga to the canoes of Tahiti, Adrienne Kaeppler looks at religious and sacred rituals andobjects, carving, architecture, tattooing, personal ornaments, basket-making, clothing, textiles, fashion, the oral arts, dance, music and musical instruments - even canoe-construction - to provide the ultimate introduction to the rich and vibrant artistic cultures of the Polynesian and Micronesianislands.
The Propeller Group by
The Propeller Group--an artist team made up of Phunam, Matt Lucero and Tuan Andrew Nguyen, and based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam--blurs the boundaries between fine art and media production, in much the same way that this publication blurs the boundaries between a traditional exhibition catalogue and an artist's book. The publication features essays by curators Naomi Beckwith and Cesar Garcia, as well as contributions by each of the members of The Propeller Group: Nguyen pens an obituary for the group that pays homage to Vietnamese funereal celebrations, Phunam shares an astrological reading and Lucero creates a travelogue that records the group's recent exploration of Papua New Guinea.
Tattoo by
The essays collected here document the extraordinary, intertwined histories of processes of cultural exchange and Pacific tattoo practices. Art historians, anthropologists, and scholars of Oceania provide a transcultural history of tattooing in and beyond the Pacific.
Pacific Pattern by
A lavishly illustrated survey of Pacific fiber art, with a stunning compilation of contemporary, archival, and museum images--an indispensable sourcebook for artists, craftspeople, designers, and architects. Many of the most appealing and flamboyant designs of the human imagination have been expressed in the form of patterns. Nowhere is this more evident than in the South Pacific, which is home to some of the most innovative and inspirational patterns in fabric and fiber: an ever-changing story in which the islanders have reacted to the changes brought by contacts with Europe or by contemporary Western popular culture. Using natural fibers taken from local plant resources, such as coconut palm or pandanus leaves, and contemporary materials, including unraveled plastic sacking and lengths of shiny video tape, patterns of astonishing creativity and color are woven, bound, knotted, plaited, rubbed, or stamped. Pacific Pattern provides a visual journey through the history of the Pacific, the techniques associated with fiber and fabric, and their cultural relevance to the people. It is the first book to reach beyond the ritual domain to encompass patterns in the everyday sphere, including the traditional patterns found in floor coverings, cooking containers, or storage baskets and the use of fiber art in architecture and interiors. 327 color illustrations.
Tokyo, 1955-1970 by
"Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde explores the extraordinary convergence of artists and other creators in Japan's capital city during the radically transformative postwar period. Examining works from a range of media--painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, printmaking, video and film, as well as graphic design, architecture, musical composition and dance--this is the first publication in English to focus in depth on the full scope of postwar art in Japan. During this period, Tokyo was a vibrant hub that attracted such critical artistic figures as Taro Okamoto, Hiroshi Nakamura, Ay-O, Yoko Ono, Mieko Shiomi and Tetsumi Kudo; photographers Daido Moriyama, Eikoh Hosoe and Shomei Tomatsu; illustrators and graphic designers Tadanori Yokoo, Kohei Sugiura and Kiyoshi Awazu; and architects Arata Isozaki and Kisho Kurokawa; as well as many important artists' collectives. Curator Doryun Chong's essay investigates Tokyo's sociopolitical context and the massive urban changes that set the stage for the city to emerge as a vital node in the international avant-garde network. Essays by scholars Hayashi Michio and Miryam Sas and curator Mika Yoshitake discuss critical concepts in art and culture at this time, including 'graphism,' which manifested itself across various mediums; the development of new sculptural languages; and the 'intermedia' tendency that engendered provocative cross-pollination among artistic genres. Masatoshi Nakajima provides an illustrated chronology and Yuri Mitsuda supplies artist biographies. Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde brings fresh insight to this dynamic metropolis during a time of remarkable artistic burgeoning"--Publisher's description.
Kenya Hara: Designing Japan by
The story of Japan's design ethos, by Muji's celebrated art director As Art Director for Muji since 2002, Japanese graphic designer Kenya Hara (born 1958) and his aesthetic of pared-back, beautifully functional objects has taken the world by (quiet) storm. With Kenya Hara: Designing Japan, the designer presents his vision of how his industry can contribute to the future of his country: a future founded on Hara's unique philosophy of beauty as well as crowd-sourced wisdom from around the world. The book spans history, from the beginnings of professional Japanese design in the 16th century to the impact of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. But Hara's real focus is on the future. A master collaborator, meticulous organizer and globally conscious innovator, Hara draws on more than three decades of work in design and exhibition curating, as well his professional interactions with creators from many fields. Designing Japan offers a foundation course on the essence of Japanese aesthetics, while maintaining a practical approach to Japan's circumstances and future possibilities. Hara reveals the methods by which designers in Japan work with government and industry, and considers how design can propose solutions for this island nation as its population ages, other nations take over manufacturing and technology develops. Illustrations and examples recognize successful problem-solving through design, proving that design is a living, changing industry that remains relevant not in spite of, but as a partner to, advancing technology.
Tattoos from Paradise by
Traditional tattooing designs are depicted from the exotic Pacific Polynesian cultures of Easter Island, Hawaii, the Marquesas, New Zealand, Samoa, Tahiti and Tonga. The actual process and ceremonies involved in tattooing are described and illustrated with over 250 drawings and color illustrations of native people. Included are actual 19th century photographs as well as early exploration art, paintings, drawings, engravings, and artifacts all relating to tattooing.
After Darkness by
"After Darkness: Southeast Asian Art in the Wake of History considers how contemporary art from societies in transition may be read as an expression of the ambiguous and sometimes contentious relationship between individual artistic practice and sociopolitical context. This publication explores the development of contemporary art movements and the artistic repercussions of political ruptures through the work of seven contemporary artists and one artist group from Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam"--Back cover