Artworks & exhibitions by Asian artists

Sou Fujimoto Architects’ unique House N in Japan

The choice of location for the House N project is quite symbolic as it sits at the center of an area that is practically dominated by 2-storey, pitched tiles roof, timber huts. To passers-by and everyone who sees it, the question is ‘who lives there?’. The answer to that question is simple – everyone. According […]

Sou Fujimoto Architects’ unique House N in Japan Read More

Yang Fudong’s Coloured Sky – Dream & nightmare of the idealized woman

Photography / 3 minutes of reading

Yang Fudong’s multi-screen video installation titled The Coloured Sky: New Women II was created in 2014 to portray today’s radiantly colored world. Though Yang had racked up a reputation for himself for working with film, The Coloured Sky: New Women was actually the artist’s first piece of color digital film. Composition The multi-screen video installation

Yang Fudong’s Coloured Sky – Dream & nightmare of the idealized woman Read More

This was Cai Guo-Qiang’s impressive installation Inopportune at the Guggenheim

Installations / 3 minutes of reading

Cai Guo-Qiang has been making art since 1985. However, the installation piece that he is perhaps most well known for, or at least helped to propel him to global fame, was his brief but impressive exploding rainbow of fireworks over the East River in 2002. This piece, which was created to commemorate MoMA’s opening in

This was Cai Guo-Qiang’s impressive installation Inopportune at the Guggenheim Read More

Kimsooja-–-Bottari-Truck-–-Migrateurs-2007-2009-feat

Why did Kimsooja crisscross South Korea with her Bottari Truck?

Installations, Performances / 3 minutes of reading

Kimsooja is a celebrated interdisciplinary artist who uses various artistic disciplines and mediums to weave a tale regarding concepts such as migration and cultural issues. Her work has been praised as giving center stage to these issues, and one of these renowned pieces is the Cities on the Move – 2727 Kilometres Bottari Truck, the

Why did Kimsooja crisscross South Korea with her Bottari Truck? Read More

What is Ai Weiwei’s Straight about?

Sculptures / 2 minutes of reading

90 tons of steel reinforcing bars that were destroyed and mangled in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake were essential components of the installation titled Straight by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. The 150 rods of steel rebar used were meticulously straightened by hand after being recovered from the schools that had collapsed as a result of the

What is Ai Weiwei’s Straight about? Read More

Do Ho Suh’s Specimen: Sculptures of toilets & bathtubs

Architecture, Sculptures / 3 minutes of reading

Korean artist Do Ho Suh’s Specimen series draws a lot from his personal experiences as an immigrant from his native country. Do arrived in America in 1991 to study art at the Rhode Island School of Design. His experiences at the school led him to measure spaces to create and establish a relationship with his

Do Ho Suh’s Specimen: Sculptures of toilets & bathtubs Read More

Nam June Paik’s TV Buddhas – His best-known work

Installations / 3 minutes of reading

This renowned artwork by Paik depicts a sculpture of a Buddha from the 18th century posed with a symbolic hand gesture called mudra which is for tranquil meditation. A video camera is placed in front of the Buddha, recording the statue while playing this projected image on a white TV screen that looks futuristic. This

Nam June Paik’s TV Buddhas – His best-known work Read More

Cao Fei’s Whose Utopia? The lives & dreams of Chinese workers

Performances, Video Art / 3 minutes of reading

Cao Fei is no stranger to the subject of Chinese urbanism, and Whose Utopia? is a classic example of her prowess and ingenuity as an artist. Cao Fei’s interest in generating multimedia art that touches on social commentary has placed her as China’s leading artist born after the Cultural Revolution. So, what’s Whose Utopia? all

Cao Fei’s Whose Utopia? The lives & dreams of Chinese workers Read More

Song Dong’s Waste Not – Why obsessive hoarding lead to this project

Architecture, Installations / 3 minutes of reading

Song Dong’s Waste Not is an installation with a story behind it. A testament born of the artist’s mother, Zhao Xiangyuan’s hoardings, the installation consists of tools, plant pots, chairs, empty squeezed out tubes of toothpaste, television sets, all collected over a span of five decades. This obsessive hoarding of items resulted in an accumulation

Song Dong’s Waste Not – Why obsessive hoarding lead to this project Read More

This was Cai Guo-Qiang’s explosion project Fallen Blossoms

Performances / 3 minutes of reading

Cai Guo-Qiang is certainly one of the most prolific artists of his generation. Throughout his career, Cai has made a name for himself as the artist that uses gunpowder and explosives in his works. His exhibitions, which tend to consist of two parts, attract visitors from all over the world. The first part typically involves

This was Cai Guo-Qiang’s explosion project Fallen Blossoms Read More

Takehiro-Ikawa-Decoratorcrab-Mr.-Kobayashi-The-Pink-Cat-2017-wood-fluorescent-paint-400-x-540-cm-Mori-Art-Museum-Tokyo-2019-1-feat

Takehiro Iikawa & the cat that doesn’t fit the frame

Sculptures / 2 minutes of reading

Japan has always been obsessed with cat culture, from the toys it produces to some of its most famous artworks. Japan’s obsession with cats can be traced back to Japanese folklore, where cats were presumed to not only symbolize good fortune but they were believed to have protective powers as well. Why are cats highly

Takehiro Iikawa & the cat that doesn’t fit the frame Read More

Sou Fujimoto’s cloud-like Serpentine Pavilion: What makes it special?

Architecture / 4 minutes of reading

Fujimoto’s temporary structure was created using 20mm white steel poles that were arranged in a complex latticework or interlacing pattern that appeared to emerge from the ground as an iridescent matrix would. Taking up space in 350 square meters of lawn right at the forefront of the Serpentine Gallery, Fujimoto’s structure was delicately balanced with

Sou Fujimoto’s cloud-like Serpentine Pavilion: What makes it special? Read More

Interview with artist Li Wei: From vision to creation

Interviews, Photography / 7 minutes of reading

Li Wei’s work is anything but cautious. In fact, it can be described as peculiar or quirky, depending on your perception of life. Characterized by bodies that are often positioned in near-impossible angles, such as buried in windscreens and toppling off skyscrapers, Li Wei’s bizarre works are distinctive. His popularity and rise to fame were

Interview with artist Li Wei: From vision to creation Read More

Photographer Eiji Ohashi & the beauty of vending machines in Japan

Photography / 3 minutes of reading

There is a hidden burst of magic that resides within a vending machine, all alone in the middle of the night, oblivious of the darkness but, in fact, shining light all around itself. Even more intriguing is the thought of an elderly man who has dedicated his life to travel, wading through rough terrain and

Photographer Eiji Ohashi & the beauty of vending machines in Japan Read More

What is Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Theaters photography project all about?

Photography / 3 minutes of reading

Hiroshi Sugimoto was born in 1948 in Tokyo but later moved to Los Angeles to pursue photography at the Art Centre College of Design. He settled in New York, where he soon began his study of conceptual photography. Over the years, Hiroshi Sugimoto has become one of the most critically acclaimed artists and photographers of

What is Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Theaters photography project all about? Read More

What are Fujiko Nakaya’s fog sculptures all about?

Installations / 3 minutes of reading

Fujiko Nakaya’s work is simply transcendent. Primarily featuring fog, her ephemeral creations are always climate-responsive and influenced mainly by nature. Her works are moving and changing and designed to allow visitors to enter and interact with them. Because the fog installations are always centered on nature, the audience experiences are always varied due to the

What are Fujiko Nakaya’s fog sculptures all about? Read More

Huaxi is China’s richest village. Shi Yangkun took these photos

Photography / 2 minutes of reading

At the middle of the 1980s the collectivization process ended up failing in China. But even so, there are repercussions to deal with and the countryside in particular still retains some of the ideas such as individualism, privatization or marketization. There are villages like Huaxi, Nanjie or Dazhai that continue to be collectivized. This is

Huaxi is China’s richest village. Shi Yangkun took these photos Read More

Visitor in front of work by Chung Sang-Hwa at exhibition Korean Abstract Art – Kim Whanki and Dansaekhwa, Powerlong Museum, Shanghai, 2018-2019 feat

Dansaekhwa: Korean monochrome painting: Everything you need to know

Paintings, Sculptures / 18 minutes of reading

Dansaekhwa is an art movement born in South Korea in the 1970s. The pioneers of Dansaekhwa are born between 1913 and 1936 and avoided any reference to Western realism in their works, creating primarily monochrome and minimalist paintings. Dansaekhwa or Tansaekhwa is a term used to refer to a loose grouping of paintings that originated

Dansaekhwa: Korean monochrome painting: Everything you need to know Read More

Xu-Bing-Book-from-the-Sky-1987-1991-feat

What is Xu Bing’s impressive Book from the Sky all about?

Installations / 3 minutes of reading

The Book from the Sky is one of the most intriguing Chinese art installations of the century and the nifty work of none other than the celebrated Chinese artist Xu Bing. This installation comprises a set of 4 hand-printed books, as well as wall and ceiling scrolls printed in the style of a wood letterpress.

What is Xu Bing’s impressive Book from the Sky all about? Read More

Lu-Guang-Due-to-the-vast-exploitation-of-coal-mines-Holingol’s-meadows-have-been-destroyed-now-bereft-of-cattle-and-sheep-feat

Lu Guang & pollution: Chinese regime doesn’t want you to see this

Photography / 3 minutes of reading

Lu Guang is an award-winning Chinese photojournalist and has done a lot of documentary projects highlighting social, economic and environmental issues and injustices. This renowned photojournalist’s exposures on pollution and environmental destruction have long been underreported in China due to the government’s penchant to mete out punishment to such activists. Due to his work documenting

Lu Guang & pollution: Chinese regime doesn’t want you to see this Read More

Yue-Minjun-Garbage-Hill-acrylic-on-canvas-2003-feat

Do Yue Minjun’s self portraits make you laugh?

Paintings / 3 minutes of reading

Yue Minjun’s style is easily be recognized. His self-portrait oil paintings depict himself in vivid colors while grinning with his mouth gaping. An oxymoron of sorts, the self-portraits evoke feelings of sympathy as well as humor. The depictions of himself in various poses laughing draw numerous diverse interpretations. However, the general consensus is that while

Do Yue Minjun’s self portraits make you laugh? Read More

Stay in touch

Want inspiration in your inbox?