Looking at Art

Japanese artist Tanabe Chikuunsai IV pushes the boundaries of bamboo art. He dramatically breaks the scale that we expect of the medium with soaring, twisting forms that stretch from floor to ceiling. His dramatic, immersive environments evoke the bamboo forests where these works began their lives.

Discover how an ancient bronze vessel in the shape of a rhinoceros from Shang-dynasty China may have been created via a piece-mold technique.

Ogawa Machiko’s artistic connection to raw natural beauty is linked to her time living abroad with her anthropologist husband as well as to the seaside landscape of her hometown of Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido. “It is my passion for the earth that drives my continual search for the essential in art. The vessel form, with both interior and exterior space, enables me to best pursue this quest — it is not about making vases. Rather, I am inspired by the concept of emptiness within the whole.”
* Ogawa studied ceramics with three Living National Treasures in Tokyo and at the Ecole des Arts et Metiers in Paris, then continued her studies in Burkina Faso in West Africa and in South America

Artist Kwangwoo Bae demonstrates the process of making Korean mother-of-pearl lacquerware.

There are many performing arts in Bali, and one of the most famous today is a type of dance called Legong dancing which involves mostly young girls who are trained from a very young age. The Bali: Art, Ritual Performance exhibition is on view at the Asian Art Museum from February 25–September 11, 2011.

The Barong is one of the most prominent images seen in the performing arts of Bali. This video features the Calonarang, a dance drama intended to chase away evil and purify a village.

Use animal templates to make a mix and match game where you create new mythical creatures.

Magnolia and quince, from the Flowers of the Twelve Months: March, approx. 1670-1710, by Yun Bing (1670-1710). China; Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). The Avery Brundage Collection, B65D49.d.

During the Edo period, Nanga (southern painting) or Bunjinga (scholar or literati painting) artists took a form of Chinese painting as their model. Learn more.