studio visit!

One of the amazing things about receiving a grant from the Asian Cultural Council is the way they connect current and former Asian Cultural Council recipients. I've been so fortunate to meet up with some really incredible people here and made some good friends in the process. Last week I spent the day with acclaimed artist and fellow enthusiast of medical/biological things Kaoru Motomiya last week to check out the science exhibits at Tokyo University Museum, and Andy and I both had a great time catching the tail end of the Tanabata Festival with incredible audio/installation artist Kianga Ford, who's been doing research through a residency at Tokyo Wondersite this summer.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have a studio visit from Kenichi Yokono, who I mentioned in an earlier post: he makes incredible woodblock paintings that aren't printed, but inked and presented as physical objects in and of themselves, their format and imagery referencing both contemporary manga culture and traditional ukiyo-e prints. The axe at left is a nice example.

Yokono-san brought along his wife Makiko Inoya and their two-year-old daughter Ichiko, and the five of us ate lunch and had a lot of fun running around BankART to see some of the work that's up right now. Ichiko was especially fascinated by the earbuds attached to the Bunrui Bento that Andy and I collaborated on. The bento (below) includes insects, plants, shells, and a tiny embedded version of Andy's konyaku stingray-release video Back/Forth, is accompanied by the lovely (and apparently kid-addictive) music of biologist, musician, and friend Yui Suzuki.