Opening Tomorrow: Bye Bye Kitty!

Makoto Aida "Harakiri School Girls" (detail), 2002.

Opening tomorrow at the Japan Society: "Bye Bye Kitty! Between Heaven and Hell in Japanese Contemporary Art"-- an exhibit that rejects the "cute" image that tends to exist about japan. 

From the Japan Society website:

50% of all admission sales will go to Japan Society's Earthquake Relief Fund.

Curated by David Elliott, founding Director of the Mori Art Museum, Bye Bye Kitty!!! is a radical departure from recent Japanese exhibitions. Moving far beyond the stereotypes of kawaii and otaku culture, Japan Society’s show features sixteen emerging and mid-career artists whose paintings, objects, photographs, videos, and installations meld traditional styles with challenging visions of Japan’s troubled present and uncertain future. Each of the three sections, “Critical Memory,” “Threatened Nature,” and “Unquiet Dream,” not only offers a feast for the senses but also demolishes our preconceptions about contemporary Japan and its art.

Previews from Hyperallergic

Kumi Machida "Relation" (2006)

Kohei Nawa "PixCell Deer" (2011)

Japan Society

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