What's goin' down, October 2010 • 何が起こってんの、2010年10月

Autumn has finally arrived. No more sweltering heat! The weather just got bearable, so I'm feeling good and ready to blog about stuff again.

Also, on a side note, a new magazine called "大阪美術 Osaka Art" has just come out. It's a great bilingual guide for galleries and information in the Osaka and Kobe areas. 74 pages, available at all bookstores, ¥700.

Must Sees
From my mail I've picked up these few goodies:

(Oct.1 ~ 17) Nariyuki Circus, a very nice selection of Illustrators is having their 2nd Exhibition at the newly renovated Kamata Shouten (bookstore) in Nishi yodogawa ku. It's a place you'd not normally go to, but it looks awesome. Tatara San from Cahier (sits next to me at OOO) did their new website.

(Oct.13 ~24) Y Art Gallery in Kita-ku will hold MORI's solo exhibition this month, which looks like copperplate printing and fine color. Her work is very detailed and amazing, but I have no idea what scale you should expect to see.

(Oct. ~ Nov.) Hoi! is a Dutch Life / Design exhibtion thats going to be held all over the place; graf, Pantaloon, Toi and space_inframince. The two designers appearing at Pantaloon are of particiular interest; Vincent de Rijik and Werkplaats Typografie will be showing from Oct.9 ~ 31.

Other Recommends
Dane Ash's Solo Exhibition @ ItalGabon アイタルガボン (Oct.19~26)
http://italgabon.blog133.fc2.com/
京都市上京区中町通丸太町上ル俵屋町435
am.11:30 open 〜 pm.10:00 close
phone: 075-255-9053


Keep an eye on these information sites:
MIGOHSHA has bounced back recently with a new site design! A lot more information bounces out at you now, and a lot of it is quite cool. Keep an eye on it!
http://migohsha.com/

What's goin' down, July 2010 • 何が起こってんの、2010年7月

Well, I've been a tad bit lazy, skipping the action packed month of June. Not to worry, I'm back and meaner than ever with stuff for July.

Must Sees
It's Art Osaka 2010 this month! The greatest art fair in Kansai will be held at the Dojima Hotel on the 10th and 11th (12:00~19:00). There are 47 rooms to see, with 23 solo exhibitions. 4 floors of the hotel booked solid. It's our FLAGged Event this issue for FLAG 005. ￥1,000 for a 1 day pass.
http://www.artosaka.jp/

Other Recommends
Hirotsune TASHIMA's solo exhibition @ Yoshiako Inoue Gallery (July 7~31)
Shigeo FUKUDA's Visual Jumping @ ddd gallery (July 13~Sep 4)

Keep an eye on these information sites:
Thought I'd do a bit of a spotlight on Konohana-ku this time. I guess because rents cheap, all these creative places are popping up down there.
Konohana Media—http://medias.sitemix.jp/
Buzzing with events and proactive community based art.
Baikado—http://www.baikado.org/
A nice artist in resident program.
Kurome Garou—http://kuromegarou.seesaa.net/
The coolest underground gallery and event, live space in Konohanaku.

What's goin' down, May 2010 • 何が起こってんの、2010年5月

Have a great Golden Week everyone! Rock those exhibitions galleries people! Woot!

Must Sees
Got some hot stuff this month.

You're a fool if you don't make the ART FAIR KYOTO @ The Hotel Montery!
33 galleries including YOD Gallery, Gallery Out of Place, Neutron, Muzz Program Space and stacks of others. If you present you entrance ticket, you'll get a ¥2,000 discount on any art you are interested in buying.

There are 2 FLAGGED exhibitions you MUST see. The first is Junko ISHIRO, "Darkness and White Shadow" @ Gallery Hosokawa. The 'white shadow' refers to the parts of the canvas she has left unpainted on purpose. Paintings that call back memories. The other exhibition is "Pearls" by Tomoko INAGAKI @ The Third Gallery Aya. INAGAKI has been in Germany for the past year, and this is the result. Her previous exhibitions, especially her installations, have been STUNNING. Hard to sell I imagine, but STUNNING. See them both!

Other Recommends
22 Pieces of Surfactant @ CASO
Creative Moments @ SoHo Gallery (May 25th~June 13th) FLAGGED
Junko ISHIRO "Darkness and White Shadow" @ Gallery Hosokawa (May.17~Jun.12) FLAGGED
Tomoko INAGAKI "Pearls" @ The Third Gallery Aya (May.7~22) FLAGGED
Keisuke JINBA @ 2kw Gallery (May.3~15)
BeBe Re:S, Shunsuke ITO & Naoki HAYASE - LIVE 16th May (16:00 Open) ¥2,000
@ いとう写真 http://re-s.jp/beberes
Art Fair ULTRA KYOTO @ The Sugimoto House, tangible cultural properties of Kyoto-city (May.15+16, 11:00~19:00), ¥3,000

Keep an eye on these information sites:
Follow us at FLAG on twitter:
http://twitter.com/FLAG_Osaka
Goto San powers this thing. He's awesome, absolutely pumping out information from Osaka.

Tsunagari D Delicious Bookmarks
http://delicious.com/TsunagariD/TsunagariD
My Personal Mix bag of everything I come across. You have been warned.

What's goin' down, April 2010 • 何が起こってんの、2010年4月

Must Sees
2 x 個展 @ Yamaguchi Kunst-Bau (April 4th~24th) FLAGGED
Absolute must this month is the double 個展 at Yamaguchi Kunst-Bau in Osaka-ko.]
1) 中西章之 個展 VII-2: NAKANISHI Akiyuki - An exhibition centered around the very prominent pillars at Yamaguchi.
2) Irradiation: KODAMA Taichi - Excellent Silk-screened works.
We picked up VII-2 in FLAG this month (which is out, by they way).

HeadSpace @ Cafe Absinthe (17th April ALL NIGHT!) FLAGGED
Your one chance to see David SHILLINGLAW and just about all the Foreign artists in Osaka, all in one night. From evening till morning, this won't fail to impress, be sure. Organized and run by Jamie Goodenough, who runs HeadSpace in Nara, a new gallery that's just popped up. We're helping him out a bit with media support. Entry is only ¥1500, and all proceeds are going to the artists!

Other Recommends
mirocomachiko - Solo Exhibition @ iTohen (April 14th~25th)
Sarah Van Marcke - The space between us @ Flanders Gallery (April 2nd~28th) FLAGGED
Food for the senses @ CASO (April 6th~18th) FLAGGED
Creative Moments @ SoHo Gallery (May 25th~June 13th) FLAGGED
nomoto piropiro @ TEZUKAYAMA Gallery (April 9th~30th) FLAGGED

Keep an eye on these information sites:
Geiriki - Japanese Artists Database
http://geiriki.com/
A very nice site (apparently run by a single individual). FLAG has gone into a media partnership with them supporting Art Osaka 2010 this year. Yeah! Go Osaka!

FLAG Web!
www.f-l-a-g.net
Oh yeah! It's up and sexy and ready and loaded with events! Check it out!

What's goin' down, March 2010 • 何が起こってんの、2010年3月

Must Sees
Motonori Inagaki: phase @ Gallery Nomart (~Mar.13)
Nomart, one of the great contemporary art galleries in Osaka, present in the art scene, active, and not just that, but really making sure that they deliver the very best of art to the public. The Gallery itself, just constructed last year, is a wonderful space. And Motonori Inagaki! Wonderful photography. Superb Tableau. Active since 2000, with a serious list of solo and group exhibitions. 一石二鳥だ (kill two birds with one stone)!

Other Recommends
Simon Everington - Innermost Visions @ Kaede Gallery (Mar.30~Apr.4)
Self-Taught Artists@ YOD Gallery (~Mar.20)
Book Exhibition @ Port Gallery T (Mar.15~27)
Gen Aishu @ CASO (Mar.2~14) Cool minimalistic stuff
Sabro Ota: The Age of the Child @ Artcourt Gallery (Mar.19~)
Graphic West 2 "Kanjiru Hako Exhibition" @ ddd Gallery (~Mar.13) Get in there if you need a bit 'o graphic Design
Shingo Takei @ Nardar (~Mar.16~21)
風土、働く人々への賛歌 長尾 和 展 −新収蔵作品を中心に−@ Kobe Artists Museum (~Mar.30)

Keep an eye on these information sites:
Bianca Beuttel
http://kyoto.bbianca.net/
"design inspirations from Kyoto" as it pops up in the header. I met Bianca at a Gallery Opening at the Third Gallery Aya late Jan, and we traded b/cards. She's tracking whats happening in Kyoto very well, much better than I am with what's happening in Osaka. If you're not sure what to do when you're there, check it out!

Kalonsnet
http://www.kalons.net/e/gallery/
"News, reviews and features covering Japanese contemporary art", and being Serious about the art they cover, they've got a number of great Galleries in Osaka listed. I reccomend you have a look!

What's goin' down, Feb 2010 • 何が起こってんの、2010年2月

Must Sees
Katrin Paul @ the White Chamber, Creative Center Osaka (Feb.11~Mar.7)
We met Katrin when she joined us for our Art Tour last year for Art Osaka 2009. She had been living in Tokyo for a very long time and had just come to Osaka, and discovered FLAG. With this exhibition at the White Chamber, it's a great chance to go and check out CCO and Katrin's works at the same time.

Monochrome @ Athens Gallery (bookstore 5F) (~Feb 10)
Flier arrived just in time for February. 81 LAB—Representing some of the better photography magazines in Osaka is putting this show on; 5 photographers present their monotone photos. Yuuji Nakagawa, Hiroshi Yamauchi, Miki Jyou, Ryuuhei Yokoyama and Yuuko Tada.

Other Recommends
Mariane (solo exhibition) @ Studio J (~20th Feb)
Yuka Nakata, Usugouri Pattern @ iTohen (Feb.3~14)
Meiro Koizumi "A Love Supreme" @ Gallery Raku, Kyoto Univ. of Art and Design (Feb.12~28)
Yukio Fujimoto "Notes 1979-2009" @ Sai Gallery (~Feb.13)
Mirror Montage, International Group Exhibition @ Flanders Center (Feb.15~27)

Keep an eye on these information sites:
http://www.shift.jp.org/guide/osaka/
Shift's Osaka City Guide, with 52 locations, brief reviews and access information.

http://bldg-mania.blogspot.com/
The semi-famous BMC "Building Mania Cafe", a group of 5 people absolutely nuts about discovering and tracking retro buildings in Osaka city. Specifically targeting 50's~70's.

http://kenjifukuda.blogspot.com/
A great lad called Fukuda san, with his awesome blog "Eetoko ikouka • Let's go somewhere good". He wanders around eating, drinking, digesting, then eating and drinking more and scribbling notes.

What's goin' down, Jan 2010 • 何が起こってんの、2010年1月

Happy New Year Everyone!
I hope you're geared up for a great new year this year. I certainly am. What a better way to start that What's goin' down • 何が起こってんの !

Must Sees
Transnational 2010 @ Osaka Genbi Centre (Jan.25~) (SoHo Gallery)
Celio somehow pulled it together—again!—this year for another totally international exhibition featuring it's own swath of swashbuckling artists brimming with passion and large artworks. Prepare for the fresh, unearthed stuff in this exhibition; there'll be very few "oh yeah, this person." comments going around!

Takehiko Inoue: The LAST Manga Exhibition @ Suntory Museum (Jan.2~Mar.14)
"Goodbye Suntory Museum!" Was what I was expecting to say at the end of last year, however,
I was wrong. end of this year! One more awesome manga exhibition before they pack it up and hand the wonderful building over to the city. Check out Inoue's great original work from titles we all know such as Slam Dunk and Vagabond.

"We Love Books!" International Book Art Picnic @ Nakanoshima Library (Jan.25~30), Itohen (Jan.19~30) & Calo (Jan.19~30)
And they're not joking either. The book is rarely an art medium; but at the following 3 places you can see just how a book can become a piece of art. Click the link above for more information!

Other Recommends
Ryuta Ohtake @ Taro Nasu Osaka (Jan.13~)
Under 100 @ YOD Gallery (Jan.12~) All artworks lower that 100cm!
Hishiki Yoko @ Lotus Roots Cafe (Jan.6~17)

Keep an eye on these information sites:
http://www.daneash.com/blog/
Dane Ash, DIH (Doin' it himself) Designer based in Kyoto. Great blog about everything he is doing and all the places he's going in Kansai.
www.f-l-a-g.net
FLAG for the online masses. Coming very very soon: February. We promise. Bookmark.

What's goin' down, Dec 2009 • 何が起こってんの、2009年12月

Must Sees
Osaka Art Complex vol.2 @ Fukuda Gallery, Tezukayama Gallery and Tengensya Gallery (4th~19)
3 awesome galleries unite to bring you what's awesome and hot in Osaka at the moment.
Fukuda Gallery sports Mukai Shouichi San, with his awesome exhibition "Heroes", a selection of kick-ass robotic diaper wearing ass-kicking baby paraphernalia sporting Babytector Series.
Tezukayama will be holding Hiroyuki Toi's "Seuzau", oil on canvas. Cute girls with balloon looking afros and toes turned inwards. Great stuff.
And Tengensya has two great names in the Kansai Scene; Momo and 東雅子, both producing character featured artworks that blend what's cute and what's creepy. And also seems to be only done here in Japan.

Natsuki Machida @ YOD (~5th Dec. TIME IS LIMITED!)
I interviewed Machida San for FLAG 003 and her upcoming exhibition MURMUR. Read the interview to see more about this, but for those who can't be stuffed or can't get their hands on a precious copy of FLAG here it is in a nutshell:
WORTH SEEING.

Sleeper Hallucination Camping #006 @ FLOAT (Dec.12)
An outdoor music event with headphones + video. All the music is broadcast live via radio waves, so if you're heading on over, take an FM Radio and a pair of headphones. You can get drinks there or bring your own, and considering it's all night, they recommend you bring a sleeping bag as well. Can't be stuffed? You can rent sleeping bags and radios there too!
Aparently Antonio Bandereas is making the food. The salads in space will be playing as well.

Other Recommends
Makiko Shigeta Exhibition (Kimono Works) @ Space B (Osaka Seikei Uni) (Dec.10~22)
Synchro - Theism @ CASO (~Dec.6) Spiro Design is bringing another world into being, weird and cool stuff.
Kai Kaikawa Solo Exhibition @ Osoblanco (~Dec.22)
Masataka Kurose "For Mutt" @ &'s Gallery (~Dec.6)
100 Objects @ Kaede Gallery (Dec.8~20)
Sandrine Pelletier @ Super Window Project (Dec.25~2010 Feb)
Album Expo Osaka @ Hep Hall (~Dec.6)
TON @ Cafe Hitoshian in Kobe—Nishinomiya (~Dec. 27th)
migratory @ Artcourt Gallery (~Dec.12th)
Rainbow Works and Cozco Muwka Glass Art Exhibition @ Lotus Roots Cafe (~Dec12)

Nakanoshima Banks Art Night (Dec.12~25)
Bunch of cool stuff happening on the banks of Nakanoshima.

Keep an eye on these information sites:
www.f-l-a-g.net
FLAG for the online masses. Coming very very soon. We promise. Bookmark.
http://migohsha.com/
Migosha, Osaka Art File. Only in Japanese, but they have great ties with the world of Art and other creative stuff in there too.

What's goin' down, Nov 2009 • 何が起こってんの、2009年11月

Must Sees
Gallerism @ Genbi Centre, (2nd~14th)
When you think Osaka, you don't really think art. Gallerism is one event to shatter this preconception! Osaka has swaths of gallery areas and numerous established galleries, and Gallerism is one event bringing them all together: Amano Garo, Gallery AO, Gallery Haku, Gallery H.O.T, Gallery Wks. Cubic Gallery, Bangarou, and more! But it's not about the galleries, it's about creating a good atmosphere in Osaka, and supporting young artists like Kyoto NAKAMURA, Masaki TAMURA, Takao KANO, Yusaku MIYAHARA, Ayami ITO, Akiko KAWABATA, Tomoyuki NAKAMOTO, and more more more!
Get in there! Get down to Gallerism!

Personal Circles @ iTohen, (4th~15th)
Awesome mix of sketches from Artists all over the world. Participants of different academic backgrounds (illustration, fine art, etc.) present sketches of objects and items in their own personal circles. Screen printing workshop @ OOO on the 7th and workshop with Ros Siu, Canadian and participating artist on the 8th @ iTohen.


Other Recommends
Mon Ex Libris Vol.4 @ Gallery Bi-Damas (~8th)
「自宅から美術館へ」田中恒子コレクション展 @ The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama (~8th) (Woo! Yeah! Go Wakayama!)
Kobe Biennale (~23rd)
Art Cube 3 @ SoHo Gallery (17th~22nd)
苅谷昌江個展 @ AAS (Antenna Art Space) (~8th)
drowning room @ Kobe Art Village (~23rd)


Keep an eye on these information sites:
www.f-l-a-g.net
FLAG for the online masses. Coming soon. Bookmark.
destinationosaka-janellemac.blogspot.com
Janelle Mac takes on Osaka and includes everything I don't in her blog. Must read.
ART man days
Follow Machio Takamoto, an independent copywriter, on his adventures in the art world of Kansai.

What's goin' down, Oct 2009 • 何が起こってんの、2009年10月

Must Sees
Suito Osaka (~22nd)
Namura Art Meeting '04-'34, vol.3 (3rd ~ 4th overnight)
Karahori Machi Art (24th & 25th)

Other Recommends
54のreset @ Gallery Den (~17th)
Jimmy KETS, Brightside @ Flanders Gallery (~24th)
Yayoi KUSAMA, Multiplying Room @ Six (COMME des GARCONS) (~Nov 8th)
Experimental Film Festival in Osaka @ Various venues (1st~2nd screening @ Bunkaza Cultural Plaza, Suito Osaka)
Bernard JOISTEN @ Super Window Project & Gallery (~Nov 22nd)
TACO @ iTohen (~11th)

Keep an eye on these information sites:
www.f-l-a-g.net
FLAG for the online masses. Coming soon. Bookmark.
http://www.opus-design.jp/
An awesome portal for all things creative in and around Osaka, by OPUS.
http://blog.livedoor.jp/artkobujime/
One of the most comprehensive blogs about the Art Scene in the Kansai area by Takafumi Kosui from Turner Paint.