The Past as Future in Japanese Contemporary Art

The Past as Future in Japanese Contemporary Art
Thursday, November 6, 6:30 PM
Drawing on his experience as a curator of exhibitions of traditional Japanese art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, John Carpenter will comment on the works of various contemporary artists, both Japan-born and Western, who incorporate images or concepts from premodern East Asian art. Sometimes, as in the work of Yamaguchi Akira and Hisashi Tenmyouya, the citation process is intentional and conspicuous though the artist’s motives are by no means reverential. References to the past in the dazzlingly complex drawings of Manabu Ikeda draw on a collectively shared set of imagery, such as Hokusai’s Great Wave, that for the artist seems to be the foundation for an ecologically aware, forwardlooking or even prophetic world view. Carpenter will also reflect on the groundbreaking exhibition Bye Bye Kitty!!!, curated by David Elliott and held at the Japan Society in spring of 2011 and how it influenced his own views on the reception of various trends of Japanese contemporary art in the West.