PUBLISHER
Blue Kingfisher

BOOK FORMAT
Paperback, 6.5 x 8.75 in. / 246 pgs / 16 color / 80 bw.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 4/30/2012
No longer our product

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: SPRING 2012 p. 158

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9789881506412 TRADE
List Price: $24.95 CDN $27.50

AVAILABILITY
Not available

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BLUE KINGFISHER

Before and After Superflat

A Short History of Japanese Contemporary Art 1990-2011

By Adrian Favell.

Any discussion of Japanese contemporary art inevitably leads to the pop-culture fantasies of Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara and the other artists of the Superflat movement. But Japan as a whole has changed dramatically after stumbling through a series of economic, social and ecological crises since the collapse of its “bubble” economy in the early 1990s. How did Murakami, Nara and Superflat become the dominant artistic vision of the Japan of today? What lies behind their imagery of a childish and decadent society unable to face up to reality? Written by a sociologist with an eye for sharp observation and clear reportage, Before and After Superflat offers the first comprehensive history in English of the Japanese art world from 1990 up to the tsunami of March 2011, and its struggle to find a voice amidst Japan’s economic decline and China’s economic ascent.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
— Prologue: Tourists in the Japanese Pavilion
— Little Boys and Tokyo Girls: The Rise of Superflat
— Artist in Wonderland: Takashi Murakami
— The Little Prince: Yoshitomo Nara
— Tokyo Girls Bravo! Kaikai Kiki and Mariko Mori
— Utsukushii Kuni: Yokoso Japan!
— How to be A-Zillionaire: Commerce, Design and Art in the Superflat World
— The Art Entrepreneurship Theory
— Nara as Businessman
— The World is Flat
— The Creative Surplus
— Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? The Tokyo Art World in the 1990s
— Tokyo 1991-1995: The Birth of the Cool
— Ginza Days, Omori Nights: The Birth of a Contemporary Art Scene
— Art and Money: The Birth of a Contemporary Art Market
— When Will Aida Be Famous? Before and After Zero Japan
— Art & The City: How Art Replaced God at the Heart of Neo-Tokyo
— The Tower of Power: The Mori Story
— Yokohama: From Triennial to Debacle
— What are Contemporary Art Museums in Japan Really For?
— Echigo-Tsumari and Rural Art Festivals: Rise of the Northern River
— After the Gold Rush: The New Japanese Art Scene in the 2000s
— China Mania
— The Zero Zero Generation
— Aida’s Children
— Space for Our Future
— Epilogue: After the Tsunami
— Epilogue: Sources and Acknowledgements
— Epilogue: Cast of Characters / Index

Featured image, by Tsuyoshi Ozawa, is "Vegetable Weapon: Saury Fish Ball Hot Pot / Tokyo" (2001).

PRAISE AND REVIEWS

Art in America

Janet Koplos

This book was written for me -- or those like me who wish they better knew the ins and outs of the Japanese art world of the last 20 years. The surprise, however, is that it's written by an English sociologist who lives and teaches in France. Adrian Favell sees his profession as an advantage. He notes in the acknowledgments section, for example, that his five-year research project was nonhierarchical: he interviewed everyone from gallery assistants to museum directors. His emphasis is on context, although art objects themselves are not overlooked. That's an interesting approach, since most Japanese insiders have been relatively close-mouthed. Either there has been a change in recent-years or Favell is particularly adept at drawing people out -- or at reading between the lines.