Beautiful, Bittersweet, Dazzling and Dark: Bijin-ga & Mythology, Pop Japan, and Kuma-Puff at Bui

Every new generation of artists must deal with the dreams and burdens of art history in its own way — a dynamic that is further complicated and enriched if that generation is also confronting locally and globally significant societal and political issues at the same time. For the generation of young Japanese artists represented in this tripartite group exhibition, it’s rather a perfect storm, as they take on not only the centuries-long visual paradigms and conventions of Japanese visual culture, but the way those tropes portrayed female power and beauty — and this within the context of the increasingly mingled aesthetic of East-West inter-pollinations in popular culture, as well as many of the same environmental, economic and social justice issues that their generation is grappling with around the globe.

Shiki Taira at Building Bridges Art Exchange