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Curator’s Corner

A National Treasure

Wednesday, July 13, 2016 | Karl Cole

Every so often it dawns on me how artists can be more than the production of their art. They can evolve to be a great gift from their country, their culture, and act as representatives of humankind&rs ...

Curator’s Corner

It's Summer

Monday, June 27, 2016 | Karl Cole

It seems that every year it takes longer and longer for summer to get here. Then when it does get here, it’s gone in a flash! I can’t think of anything bad to say about summer, well, excep ...

Curator’s Corner

Contemporary Bamboo

Monday, May 23, 2016 | Karl Cole

Bamboo (take or dake in Japanese), the fastest-growing woody plant on Earth, has been a cultural underpinning in Japan since forever. It has been used there to make everything from cups and ...

Curator’s Corner

Hand Gestures in Art

Monday, May 16, 2016 | Karl Cole

A couple of days ago while I was crossing the street—with the walk light on—some dope decided he didn’t want to wait for a green light and drove through the red, across my path, not ...

Curator’s Corner

A Look at Rainy May Days

Monday, May 9, 2016 | Karl Cole

Most of May’s weather has been pretty cold and rainy so far, so I thought I’d look at art (which I do every day anyway) to take my mind off of it. Of course, a title including “May R ...

Curator’s Corner

Happy New Year

Monday, January 4, 2016 | Karl Cole

Since I’m feeling lazy this week, I’m showing you Japanese New Year cards (surimono) again. I think they’re lovely, and who wouldn’t want to receive one of these color woodcut ...

Curator’s Corner

National Monkey Day

Wednesday, December 16, 2015 | Karl Cole

I always admit I’m never too old to learn. This week I learned about National/International Monkey Day, which fell on the 14th of December. The commemorative day has only been around since 2000, ...

Curator’s Corner

The Noble Carp?

Friday, December 4, 2015 | Karl Cole

It probably doesn’t occur to most people to view a fish as a symbol of heroic qualities, unless maybe it’s a whale or a shark. In Japan, the carp (koi in Japanese) is a symbol of cour ...

Curator’s Corner

More Wearable Art

Friday, November 20, 2015 | Karl Cole

You may remember that I introduced you to the fiber art of Korean artist Jeung Hwa-Park, whose work is fabulous, back in 2009. Now I’ve discovered this wonderful Japanese artist who bowls me ove ...

Curator’s Corner

Utilitarian Object or Sculpture?

Friday, November 13, 2015 | Karl Cole

First of all, let me clarify the use of “utilitarian” or “decorative arts.” These are unfortunately terms art historians are stuck with from the 1800s art history gods in Weste ...

Curator’s Corner

The Beauty of Wayō Shodō

Friday, October 30, 2015 | Karl Cole

Did you known that the Japanese did not have a written language up until the 400s CE? I find cursive Japanese so incredibly beautiful. The story behind its development is very interesting, and I bet y ...

Curator’s Corner

The Essence of Essence

Monday, August 3, 2015 | Karl Cole

I’ve been reading manifestos by several early modernist artists from Europe recently (Kandinsky, Boccioni, Doesburg), and a recurring thought comes out in all of their writings. It is the idea t ...

Curator’s Corner

A Neglected Japanese Printmaker

Monday, July 27, 2015 | Karl Cole

I’m pretty sure there’s generally a misconception about the ukiyo-e phenomenon in Japanese art. It is certainly one I had until I recently came across hundreds of gorgeous woodblock prints ...

Curator’s Corner

Architecture or Sculpture? You Decide

Monday, March 2, 2015 | Karl Cole

I have been stunned recently by the overwhelming beauty of Hindu-Buddhist temples in Java. I think they rival the beauty of any architecture anywhere else in the world. It is interesting to compare th ...

Curator’s Corner

Survey No. 12: Abstraction

Monday, February 2, 2015 | Karl Cole

In our art history survey, we are now at the end with the 1900s. The big “revelation” in Western art starting very late in the 1800s and flowering in the early 1900s was abstraction. Abstr ...

Curator’s Corner

Survey No. 11: Unknown Impressionists

Monday, January 26, 2015 | Karl Cole

Art in the 1800s brought us the terms Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Realism, covered in my New Slant on Art History. The second half of the century saw a major shift in how artists used art to portr ...

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A National Treasure

It's Summer

Contemporary Bamboo

Hand Gestures in Art

A Look at Rainy May Days

Happy New Year

National Monkey Day

The Noble Carp?

More Wearable Art

Utilitarian Object or Sculpture?

The Beauty of Wayō Shodō

The Essence of Essence

A Neglected Japanese Printmaker

Architecture or Sculpture? You Decide

Survey No. 12: Abstraction

Survey No. 11: Unknown Impressionists

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