Description

Harry N Abrams/LACMA [Published date: 1991]. Soft cover, 144 pp. Second printing. In good+ condition. Glossy illustrated paper covers have light bumping to edges and corners light overall scuffing with a bit of the color scuffed off along the edges. Binding tight (NO spine crease). Pages clean and unmarked. NOT Ex-library. NO remainder marks. Featured Artists: Koichi Ebizuka, Toshikatsu Endo, Chuichi Fujii, Tadashi Kawamata, Takamasa Kuniyasu, Emiko Tokushige, Shigeo Toya, Kimio Tsuchiya, and Isamu Wakabayash [From Asia Art Archive] This material was published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same title, which started at Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Japan and travelled to a few venues in the United States. This is the catalogue for the Los Angeles exhibition. There is a selected exhibition history and bibliography for each artist at the end. Introduction by Fox touches upon the cultural and social background of post-war Japan, and tells us about the state of art institutions and art market in Japan, lack of governmental and private support for art, and lack of academic interests in Japanese contemporary art in and out of Japan. It also discusses about several important exhibitions on Japanese contemporary art chronologically, and closes with a suggestion to appreciate the artistic achievements of non-Western cultures apart from Western concept of art. In his essay, 'A Primal Spirit,' Fox introduces the very unique tendencies that the exhibiting ten artists share (although they do not belong to a particular group.) They are deeply related with the Japanese spirit and philosophy rooted in Buddhism and Shinto, that stress the unity of divinity and nature. As Fox explains, the exhibiting artists show great respects for their (mostly natural) materials and creative process. They create and present their works as aspects of the universe, functioning within and as part of a larger natural order, contrasting to the Western modernist concept of autonomous works of art. 'Artists' Portfolios' include each artist's statements based on the interviews by Greer. With a preface by Toshio Hara.