A bilingual art magazine that introduces Japanese art and culture, focusing on contemporary art, architecture, fashion, music, and other aspects of Japanese art and culture without borders in both Japanese and English.
“ONBEAT vol. 20”
List price 2,500 yen + tax
Featured Interviews and Cross Talks
《Interview》Keiichi Tanaami
Keiichi Tanaami has been working as a graphic designer, filmmaker, and artist for more than half a century, crossing the boundaries of media and genres. The large-scale retrospective exhibition “Keiichi Tanaami: Adventures in Memory” to be held this summer at the National Art Center, Tokyo, will attempt to unravel the full story of Keiichi Tanaami, the last missing piece of the world-class postwar Japanese artist. Ahead of the exhibition’s debut, we interviewed Tanaami, an artist who creates a world of eccentric ideas, and traced the roots of his work.
《Cross talk/Interview》Min Tanaka+Kohei Nawa
Min Tanaka, a dancer, and Kohei Nawa, a sculptor, met through “Art Camp Hakushu,” which was known as a pioneering regional art festival and a place for cross-disciplinary art practice. In early 2024, they collaborated for the first time on a theater piece, From the Edge, at Yamanashi Prefectural Citizen’s Culture Hall, which was very well received. This summer, the exhibition ARTCAMP Hakushu 2024 will be presented in Yamanashi as another joint project. Here the two, who have known each other for a long time, had a great conversation on dance, creation, their collaboration for From the Edge, and more.
《Interview》“Kyoto City Museum of Art 90th Anniversary Exhibition Takashi Murakami Mononoke Kyoto” (Shinya Takahashi×Akiko Miki)
Takashi Murakami has made a powerful impact on the international art scene by advocating “Superflat,” and has become one of Japan’s leading contemporary artists. In Kyoto, one of the Japanese traditional capitals of culture and art, Murakami will hold his large-scale solo exhibition, for the first time in about eight years in Japan. The exhibition “Kyoto City Museum of Art 90th Anniversary Exhibition Takashi Murakami Mononoke Kyoto” consists of approximately 170 pieces, the majority of which are new works. We interviewed both Shinya Takahashi (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art), who curated this exhibition, and Akiko Miki, who provided curatorial assistance, and approached the crossroad of modernity and tradition which Murakami embodies by his works.
《Interview》 Tokyo Gendai (Magnus Renfrew + Mami Kataoka)
The first edition of the international art fair Tokyo Gendai was held in 2023. Ahead of the second Tokyo Gendai to be held in July 2024, we interviewed Magnus Renfrew, Co-Chairman and Global Director of The Art Assembly, who has demonstrated his skills in organizing art fairs in various regions in Asia, and Mami Kataoka, director of the Mori Art Museum and also director of the National Center for Art Research, which was newly established in 2023 as a base for art promotion.
《Interview》Keiichiro Shibuya
Keiichiro Shibuya is a musician based in Tokyo and Paris who creates a wide variety of works ranging from cutting-edge electronic music, piano solos, operas, film music, and sound installations. He has released many world-first works, including Vocaloid Opera and Android Opera, and continues to explore the boundaries of technology, life, and death through his works. Here Shibuya talked about his musical transition.
《Report》New Energy Tokyo
NEW ENERGY TOKYO is a “creation festival” that crosses the boundaries of fashion, products, food, and art. In February 2024, ONBEAT co-curated the newly launched project “AROUND ART” at the 5th edition, which featured 10 artists exhibiting and selling their works. In this report, we review the scene and interview Mutsumi Watanabe (Conceptor / Creative Director) of Blue Marble, the organizer of the event, to learn more about the thinking and activities which make a stir in contemporary consumerism.
Series
“Hyper Subject Art Report” by Yuko Hasegawa
In the 7th installment of the series by Yuko Hasegawa, an internationally active curator who has been delving into complex topics from an artistic point of view, Hasegawa visits and reports on the Biennale held in Diriyah district, the outskirts of Saudi capital Riyadh, as well as site-specific art projects in the oasis city Al-Ula, with the theme of “Art Strategy of Saudi Arabia in the Middle East.”
《New Series》“Fashion, Art and traditional Craft” by Yoshiko Ikoma
This is a new series by Yoshiko Ikoma, who has been proposing a new generation lifestyle as a fashion journalist, art producer and traditional crafts development producer. In this first edition, Ikoma interviewed contemporary artist Mariko Mori and revealed the secret story behind the production of Mori, which has not been talked about before.
“Value of the Contemporary Art of Japan” by Ryutaro Takahashi
In the 10th of the series, Ryutaro Takahashi, a psychiatrist and contemporary art collector whose collection includes works by prominent Japanese artists like Yayoi Kusama, Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara, introduces Japanese female artist Aki Kondo, recalling his first encounter with Kondo’s work as “I have never been so overwhelmed by paintings since I started collecting.”
“Worth preserving for the 22nd century” by Nobuyuki ‘Nobi’ Hayashi
A series of articles entitled “Worth preserving for the 22nd Century” by Nobuyuki Hayashi, a journalist who covers design, technology, education, and traditions to be preserved for a better future. The fourth article of the series features two attempts which aims to infuse new breath into traditional crafts with the latest technology under the theme of “The efforts by the latest technology research institutes to evolve traditional crafts.”
“Visiting Art Collectors”
In this series of “Visiting Art Collectors,” we talk to some of the hottest art collectors in Japan. The 5th installment is by Takahisa Kamiya, who established the design company SUPER PLANNING and has worked on numerous pop goods and characters. Not only a collector of pop art and gallery owner, but also a contemporary artist in his own right, Kamiya talks about the power of images that transcends text.
In addition, our popular limited sales plan “Featured Young Artists Recommended by ONBEAT” features talented works of up-and-coming young artists.
Artist：Shiho Arai, Kisho Kakutani, Nagisa Kameshita, Yudai Kitaura, Hayato Machida, Maria Mitsumori, Hanae Nakajima, Sibo Nishino, Kei Nojima, Naoko Oku, OLI, Rika Oshima, Masaomi Oura, Maki Takato, Miki Takizawa
Online Artwork Sales: https://studio.onbeat.co.jp/artist-category/onbeatvol20/
