Artful Additions
The Fasting Buddha, Pakistan
‘The extreme realism in the treatment of the Buddha’s emaciated body is characteristic of Gandharan interests but not commonly employed in the rest of India, where there is a much stronger tendency to idealize and generalize in the depiction of deified beings. The sinews and bones of the Buddha’s body are revealed beneath the barest [...]
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan
The Fukuoka Asian Art Museum is the only museum in the world that systematically collects and exhibits Asian modern and contemporary art. The works in the collection of the museum are not imitation of Western art or repetitions of traditional works. Instead they seek to overcome the existing framework of art, being made by artists [...]
Edo-Tokyo Museum
The Edo-Tokyo Museum provides a fascinating insight into the history of Tokyo and its people, back to its roots as the small 15th century fishing village of Edo. The permanent exhibitions show artefacts, reproductions and scale models. Among the highlights are a life-size replica of the Nihonbashi Bridge and replica of a Kabuki Theatre accompanied [...]
Museum of Champa Sculpture, Vietnam
Built in 1915, the Museum of Champa Sculpture in Danang displays an intensive and diverse collection of Champa sculpture dating from the 7th to the 15th centuries. The museum was established at the end of the 19th century by the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme Orient with a collection of artifacts gathered in central Vietnam, from Quang [...]
798 Art District Beijing
With more than a half dozen World Heritage temples and palaces on the standard Beijing itinerary one would be forgiven for thinking that the capital lives only in the past. For the more progressive culture vulture there is a fascinating and relatively little known modern art district to the north east of the city center. The [...]
National Bunraku Theatre, Japan
Bunraku is a traditional form of puppetry where narrative and nuance are the stars and which originated in 17th Century Osaka. It’s stylishly presented using sophisticated articulated hand carved puppets between two and four feet in size accompanied by chanting and shamisen music. The most impressive puppets have faces with many tiny moving parts or faces [...]
Konark Temple Sculptures, India
Sculptures abound in Orissa’s Konark Temple, built in the 13th century to commemorate Surya the Sun God. However, the temple itself is actually a giant sculpture of the Sun God riding his chariot and is deemed a World Heritage Site because of the unfathomable intricacy of the carvings. From the gigantic chariot wheels to the [...]
Kabuki theater, Japan
If you’ve never come across Kabuki before you’re probably still familiar with the look of it – the heavily made up faces painted white with their emotions drawn on in symbolic colours, the traditional costumes and complex sets behind actors who appear to be posing like a Japanese screen print? Kabuki is performed almost as a [...]
The Angkor Wat Bas Reliefs
Angkor in Cambodia is home to one of the most unusual and impressive temples in the world; built in the early 1100s under the instruction of the Khmer king Suryavarman, it is surrounded by a huge, square moat and contains a maze of corridors, courtyards and chambers, over which many-levelled towers loom, in representation of [...]
Longmen Grottoes, China
Longmen Grottoes, located in the south of Luoyang, started around the year 493 after the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) moved the capital to Luoyang. Thousands of Buddhas were carved into the rock slopes and cliffs aside the Yi River, and were carved for 400 years until The Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). There are over 2300 [...]
aA Design Museum, Seoul-South Korea
With all the eye-popping art on offer at museums and galleries throughout the South Korean capital, opening a facility devoted wholly to everyday objects sounds like a risky venture. But Seoul’s aA Design Museum has quickly become one of the most talked-about additions to the vibrant Hongdae district. The brainchild of local collector Kim Myong Han, [...]
Nezu Museum, Tokyo-Japan
It may not have the size or status of other Tokyo galleries, but the Nezu Museum now has the style thanks to a three-year makeover at the hands of celebrated Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. First opened in 1941 on the sprawling Nezu family estate in Tokyo’s Minato district, the museum has become as popular for its [...]
Setouchi International Art Festival, Japan
Until recently, the tiny islands of Japan’s Seto Inland Sea were known for their copper and fishing industries, and not much else. But thanks to the vision of reclusive billionaire Soichiro Fukutake, the small archipelago is developing a reputation as a forward-thinking art hub. Aimed at revitalizing the area through contemporary art, the first installment [...]
Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou-China
A cubist landmark by Hong Kong architect Rocco Yim, Guangzhou’s Guangdong Museum of Art offers a fascinating survey of coastal Chinese art and artifacts, from ancient porcelain and ivory carvings to Cantonese textiles; there’s also an outdoor sculpture garden. The museum also promotes education and cultural exchange. The 300-seat auditorium has an advanced projection and video facilities. [...]
ArtScience Museum, Singapore
This waterside addition to Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands complex will feature interactive and multimedia galleries that delve into the essence of creative expression over the ages. The building, a lotus-like structure designed by acclaimed architect Moshe Safdie, could be an exhibit in its own right. Embracing a spectrum of influences from art & science, to media [...]
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