Blog

In Chefs, Shokunin, and the Moments in Between, Michael Magers considers his enduring interest in Japan and Japanese culture in his own words.

Through the use of perspective, artists can both shape our perception and challenge our understanding of the subject. Perspective can be used as a tool to depict lifelike qualities, but it also can also invite the viewer to see familiar things in new ways. The exhibition On Perspective explores the power of artistic perception. It asks: how does the way we look at a subject change our understanding of it? This post was written by Inez Olszewski during her 2021 summer internship at Ronin Gallery. We would like to thank Inez for all her hard work!

Sarah Brayer is an internationally acclaimed artist who works in print and paper mediums. This May, we took a moment to catch up with her about her recent solo exhibition Inner Light at Kyoto’s Komyo-in Temple, her Luminosity series, and her latest book project.

This March, we took a moment to catch up with the Daryl Howard and chat about her lifetime of Japanese woodblock printmaking, her artistic practice, her pandemic-era explorations, and her latest projects.

In Spirit of the Stage: Kokei Tsuruya, we explore the career and artistic process of the woodblock print artist and modern master of actor portraiture, Kokei Tsuruya.

In the 1960s, Ushio established himself as the enfant terrible of the Japanese art scene, where he gained particular notoriety for his boxing paintings. Ushio has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art Kyoto, Museum of Modern Art New York, and the Japan Society New York, to name just a few.

Noriko Shinohara's work brings together boldness of color, line, and persistent humor. Instilling her work with irony and poignancy, her contemporary scenes draw inspiration from a variety of art styles across time and culture. Born in Toyama Prefecture, Japan in 1953, Noriko Shinohara moved to New York City in 1972 to study at the Art Students League.

While often translated to "cute," in English, this translation of kawaii is a misnomer. So what exactly is kawaii? Where did this idea originate? Kawaii is an influential and subversive culture in dialogue with centuries of Japanese popular culture. For artist Sebastian Masuda, the kawaii spirit is akin to that of the punk or hippie movement, a rebellion against the norms and standards of mainstream culture.

Over the past decade, the influence of Japanese photography has swept the art market. This thriving market focuses on post-war photographers, largely active between the late 1950s and the 1970s. The avant-garde group working during these years tore away from the dominant journalistic tradition of Japanese photography to create raw, subjective images of the world around them.

Daryl Howard embodies the beauty of cross-cultural art. She artfully combines influences from her American upbringing in Texas with traditional woodblock printing techniques learned in Japan.