Warriors of Art

I’ve been going through a copy of WARRIORS OF ART: A GUIDE TO CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE ARTISTS from Kodansha International by Yumi Yamaguchi (she covers art for quite a few magazines), and I’m finding a lot to like. Covering 40 names in the contemporary art scene, you know you’re not going to get an in-depth look, but the image-heavy book is perfect for getting a good perspective on the state of modern art in Japan, enough to make you want to follow-up on some new favorites. It covers quite a range, like the KaiKai Kiki gang and the big names you’d expect to be included (Makoto Aida, Yoshitomo Nara, Hisashi Tenmyouya, Akira Yamaguchi), but also serves up plenty of up-and-commers that were new even to me, and are now duly noted (and I’ll be keeping an eye on any future shows by them). You can order the book directly from the Kodansha International website, or through Amazon (and here it is on Amazon Japan).