Love this photo by Antony Marshall, who snapped beautiful pictures of our gallery collection on his recent visit. We found him here on Tumblr.
A hidden gem in the Civic Center neighborhood, our galleries are great to get lost in. This particular piece is a Chinese spirit guardian, one of a pair, from approximately 500-535, made of painted low-fire ceramic. Spiny backed, strange, slightly grotesque, and almost comical, these figures were meant to protect the tomb from unwanted visitors.
The gorgeous colors of fall make us hungry, and we’re thankful for these autumnal foods in our netsuke (tiny Japanese sculptures) collection.
Whatever you do on Thanksgiving, we hope it’s with loved ones and with good eats.
For more on our netsuke, click here. They’re a little bit like old school cell phone charms. Our netsuke collection is quite stellar.
Creepy (Taken with Instagram)
This is by Motohiko Odani. We recommend you check his stuff out. You can see his masks at our museum, in Phantoms of Asia.
Do a Google image search and you won’t be disappointed.
You really need to see this in person in our Phantoms of Asia exhibition to fully appreciate and get the full effect. Here is a detail from a large, textured, and intense work by Raqib Shaw; it’s as beautiful as it is horrific, depicting what I can only quickly sum up personally as an orgy of mutilation and pleasure. This painting is called Absence of God VII, made in 2008 with acrylic, glitter, enamel and rhinestones on board.
The London Telegraph calls Raqib Shaw “a vibrant artist destined for greatness.” Born in Calcutta, Shaw grew up in Kashmir, where he was influenced by the distinctive amalgamation of Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian cultures. Since 1998, Shaw has lived and worked in London, where his profound love for the visual and poetic cultures of East and West continues to influence his art. Taking themes from Milton’s Paradise Lost, Shaw summons a world of cultural contradictions, and draws from personal experience, self-knowledge, and dream psychology. Of his own process, he says it is “suggestive of shamanic practices where people dance wildly or use channeling to establish contact with the other side.” Dense in information and heavily populated with fantastical creatures, his work, with its intricate detail, rich color, and jewel-like surfaces, provides contrast to the intensely violent and sexual nature of its imagery.
Absence of God VII (detail), 2008, by Raqib Shaw (India). Acrylic, glitter, enamel and rhinestones on board. © Raqib Shaw. Courtesy of White Cube, London. Photo: Todd-White Art Photography.
A tiny detail from a beautiful, grotesque, huge painting by Korean artist Hyon Gyon. We’ll post sneak peek details daily. You can see the entire thing at our PHANTOMS OF ASIA party on May 17.
And no, that’s not real hair. Just looks like it.