Art Fair Tokyo aims to make modern art more accessible to the public by taking it out of small, cliquey galleries and bringing some trade-fair razzmatazz to the proceedings. It’s a great idea, since all too often the art lover in this city, having spent an hour trekking to some obscure location, is rewarded with a “show” of a dozen works that can be viewed in a few minutes. The Art Fair is unique in that the 80 participating galleries offer a wide range of contemporary and traditional art, from modern avant-garde paintings to antique woodblock prints. The galleries are predominantly Japanese, with a large contingent from Tokyo including many that are regularly showcased here, such as SCAI, Mizuma, Roentgenwerke, Taguchi, Taro Nasu, Taka Ishii, etc. There are also a sprinkling from Kansai, and a handful of international entries from New York, Milan, Amsterdam, Seoul, Taipei and Hong Kong. John Szoke Editions from New York specializes in fine contemporary prints, Inouye Oriental Art from Tokyo offers various modern pottery, and Keumsan Gallery from Seoul offers paintings by contemporary Korean artists. The Art Fair is unabashedly commercial, there’s even a friendly seminar series entitled “Let’s Go Buy Art,” and unlike a museum, the curators will be there hawking their artists and their works. With 80 galleries showing 1,500 works, Art Fair Tokyo sounds like a great day out – and a better show than many of the museum exhibitions (which generally average about 150 pieces). Art, now more than ever! [RJ]

‘Bape Exclusive’ in Aoyama reopened on July 16th (at the same location) completely renovated with the Footsoldier on the second floor.

This is the opening exhibition of Tokyo Wonder Site Shibuya. What looks at first sight like portraits of hip young people is in fact a series showing homeless boys and girls, made by Brad McCallum & Jacqueline Tarry and entitled “Endurance”. Tsumura Kosuke’s “Final Home Project” utilizing camping gear and recycling materials highlights the knife-edge actuality of big city life, while young artists Kuwakubo Toru and Botan Yasuyoshi make use of the venue’s walls to show paintings, and Taki Kentaro q4 VCT present video works. (REALTOKYO)

When Swedish illustrator Jessica Romberg first arrived in Japan two years ago, she finally had the chance to be part of her greatest source of inspiration – young urban Japan with its fabulous looking people. Trained at Beckmans school of design in Stockholm, Romberg started taking snapshots of people catching her eye, and within short the idea behind Tokyo Fashion Spotting was born. Here she presents her views of the people inhabiting the streets of Tokyo – an exhibition blending colors, styles, materials, and techniques from East and West. At the same time, running concurrently to the International Fashion Fair in Odaiba – the Embassy of Sweden will exhibit the work of six Swedish contemporary fashion designers. (TAB)

Cat Jams Label release JAM-013 VHS
Entei & Whitesnake with Hiroaki Koshiba / Jerusalem and the Starbaskets
Christmas Illusion 2 – an event/work for band, painting, video, performance, and internet
Thursday July 28th, 10:00 PM, Ragtag Cinemacafé, Columbia, Missouri, USA
Friday July 29th, 13:00, Design Festa Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
(these events are simultaneous)

Entei & Whitesnake is Gregg Lewis and Channing Kennedy respectively, a two-piece post-dronemetal project which came together around the 2004 holidays to record a one-off album, Christmas Illusion 2. Channing (me) runs Cat Jams Label, a ridiculous experimental CD-R label based in Columbia, Missouri, USA; and Gregg and Channing’s other music projects — Swamp Fuck, Animal Family, MC Cat Genius, RAVVEO))), the Diet Soda Supertsars, Sudden Impact 2.0 — have all used the politics of originality, technical prowess, and popularity as touchstones. Christmas Illusion 2, following suit, takes five loosely holiday-themed songs and audio tracks from cartoon soundtracks, video games, and John Cage, and ‘covers’ them, liberally using elements of the original songs, transforming and fleshing them out with drone guitar, prepared synth guitar, real and synth drums, and iBook.

Channing’s friend KOSHIBA Hiroaki, a Japan-based painter who draws influence from Kandinsky and music, agreed to create artwork for the album. Originally slated to come up with packaging, Hiro instead interpreted each of the five songs into an original painting. The group decided that the best way to pair the paintings and the music was to present them as a video; each painting would remain still on the screen while its corresponding track played in its entirety, one after the other, without breaks. The result is akin to listening to a record and staring at the album cover; as the music slowly unfolds, the eye wanders and new facets and details of the painting are noticed, and they in turn bring new connotations to the music. The album’s concrete sounds and remaining vocal samples and pop-structure artifacts also serve in turn to ground the abstract paintings. The end credits include Hiro’s production notes in English and Japanese, and his photos of the paintings taken before the paint had fully dried; after the long staring session, it’s a thrill to steal a glance at the art’s life cycle, to be reminded that the paintings are real and physical.

Also on the subject of media, Christmas Illusion 2 is being released as a numbered run of 40 VHS cassettes, with case artwork by Hiroaki Koshiba (a photo he took of his original CD case design, with his thumb and the ground visible on the edges); unlike DVD, VHS can’t be easily skipped through, reproduced, preserved, or surveyed. An element of uncertainty and limitation is thus present to clear the work of any remaining charges of triteness. The VHS packaging also includes Hiro’s production notes and biography, hidden on the other side of the liner. The show program (for the show I’m about to get to) is designed to slide into the case behind the existing liner, and to complement Hiro’s comments with new thoughts by Gregg and Channing.

On Thursday, July 28th, 10:00 PM U.S. Central Time, Ragtag Cinemacafé will host the release show for Christmas Illusion 2. First, the fifty-minute video will be screened; then local space-folk veterans Jerusalem and the Starbaskets will take the stage and perform live reinterpretations of the songs. At the same time (Friday July 29th, 1:00 PM) in Tokyo, Design Festa Gallery will be hosting Hiro’s ‘Sound Images’ show, featuring the five paintings from Christmas Illusion 2. Before Jerusalem and the Starbaskets begin playing, a two-way video link (using Apple’s iChat AV software) will be opened between the two galleries. Patrons at Design Festa will be able to see and hear the live band playing new interpretations of the music, and patrons at Ragtag will be able to see Hiro, live at the gallery, painting new works inspired by the new music. After the show, the connection will be left open for audience members wanting to mingle across the ocean; Japanese translators will be on hand at Ragtag to assist the process.