Category: Articles

Update From Wajima Just as Japan’s Noto Peninsula began recovering from a New Year’s earthquake and tsunami, catastrophic floods now threaten its centuries-old lacquerware industry. Can it survive? By Jake Price Photos & reporting by Shuto Isobe November 13, 2024 As previously reported in Japan Contemporaries, the town of Wajima in Noto Prefecture suffered extensive…

The artist discusses his first solo show in New York, how leaving his desk job was the best decision he ever made, and how art can transcend borders and bring people together.

Sponsored | Dekanta Mono No Aware, Anniversary World Blend 2024 by dekantā —the most international whisky. The renowned artisanal label has enlisted emerging artist Richard Ford III to infuse his creative vision into their exclusive small-batch whisky. In 1859 Thomas Blake Glover (1838-1911), a Scottish merchant, arrived in Nagasaki, Japan, just five years after the…

As climate change impacts the growth of urushi trees and the number of skilled artisans declines, initiatives are being launched to safeguard this unique cultural heritage while adapting to a rapidly changing world.

Reflecting on a month of artistic contributions of Japanese and Asian artists in New York to foster dialogue and mutual respect.

Hitoshi Fugo: KAMI at Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery  By Jonathan Goodman, May 3, 2024 Now in his late seventies, Hitoshi Fugo is showing a body of work conceived and created some time ago: a suite of eleven black-and-white images, taken from the total of 31 photos that make up his project KAMI, which means paper and…

Kikuo Saito: Color Codes at James Fuentes Gallery By Jonathan Goodman, April 20, 2024 Kikuo Saito(1939-2016) left Tokyo for New York in 1966, at the age of 26. He established himself downtown, only six blocks away from the present home of the Fuentes gallery on White Street, Tribeca, Manhattan, where his work is now on…

Interview with Mira Nakashima We speak with the renowned architect and furniture maker about the transcendent nature of craft, her early years growing up in the Minidoka concentration camp and how questioning authority led to the continued success of Nakashima Woodworkers. By Kyoko Sato & Jake Price, April 17, 2024 Following the release of The Nakashima Process…

Loft Generation: Painting in New York 1960s-80s, Featuring Naoto Nakagawa at the Eric Firestone Gallery By Jonathan Goodman, April 11, 2024  “Loft Generation,” an excellent show, presents a recent time, when the city’s downtown offered space and freedom to experiment. The exhibition begins at a time when New York was in steep decline and ends…

A Hidden Journey of Friendship: Shigeru Izumi’s New York Paintings, 1959-1962 at the Microscope Gallery By Kyoko Sato, February 19, 2024 The exhibition “Entrusted: New York Paintings, 1959-1962” unveils the captivating story of Shigeru Izumi (1922-1995), a Japanese artist whose work from his New York period (1959-1962) lay hidden in a friend’s storage for six…