An amazing exhibition is taking place at EAST 301 these days. Here you can see a huge variety of paintings, all drawn by just one very nice and obvioiusly very talented japanese artist. You can see the influence of european artist like Gustav Klimt in some of the drawings, but I can tell you every pice here has still it’s very own style. I am still impressed, how a single person can come up with such various and good work. Take a look at it yourself – I promise, you won’t regret it!

Until the 16th of september you have the chance to see a fantastic photo exhibition at EAST 303. The two exhibiting artist traveld through various asian countrys ( India/Kalkutta, Pakistan, Nepal, China and Birma) and took very touching and authentic pictures of the people and the everyday life there. I especially liked the way, how some persons in the pictures seem to communictae with the camera, so that it is as if they come to live through the images and look you directly in the eye… – so this exhibition is definitively an eye-opening experience!

These days at East-203 is a very interstig exhibition of paintings, illustrations and sundries from two japanese artists. Wanting to express their inner feelings and show everyday life at the same time, the results are vivid images of nice and powerful girls. Don’t miss this!

What an exhibition: deep blue paintings of whales, crazy T-Shirt designs, computergraphics with lovely girls and last but not least there is even some chocolate! All this is shown by three talented Japanese art students who are exhibiting for the first time at the Design Festa Gallery. Don’t miss this opportunity to see their work!

Five students of photography are having a groupexhibition at Design Festa EAST-303 these days. Restricted theirselfes to Nikon film-cameras, they show pictures that captured moments of their personal everyday life in Tokyo: streets at night, children eating lunch, friends sharing lollipops, a trip to the beach and a special moment with an ostrich.
Although the stiles of the pictures are very different, each of them has it’s own beauty and there is a lot to see – I really liked the variety of this exhibition.

Since I saw the expressive postcard with an image of a lonely girl standing in a crowd of robots that announced “LOTS IN TOKYO” I was really looking forward to this exhibition – and I can tell you, all expectations were met!
The illustrations of hongkongnese artist Debi ng in WEST 1-B are showing, what she has experienced during her one-year stay in Tokyo to study japanese. Saying, that she took the word LOTS for the title because it sounds close to LOST, her artworks are expressing the feeling of loneliness one might experience as a foreigner in a giantic city like Tokyo. At the same time she shows moments of happiness and joy in Tokyo – as at the Sumida-River Hanabi or at a park with her new friends.
I liked this exhibition very much and think it is really worth having a look at!

Three very kind and gifted students from Hosei University and Nihon University are having an exhibition at WEST 1-F today. Fitting for the hot weather, they decorated the room in a way, that somehow reminds me of a cool and relaxed american beachcafe. While presenting their paintings with stylized american hip-hop stars like Snoop Dogg, one of them is playing melodic hip-hop music, which makes you want to stay a while and relax.
If this is what the revolution feels like – count me in!

In Design Festa East is a multi-media effort of the Temple University, who is a regular exhibitor of the Design Festa Event. The exhibition deals with the english abilities of most japanese students and shares some ideas about how the language system in Japan could be changed.

Design Festa is known for showing exhibitions of artist from all over the world…
So this week we have a group exhibition of six talented students from the art school in Paris! They are showing their impressive works – drawings, photographs, media works and installations – in the Design Festa EAST. All together they turn room E 303 into a perfect Nouveau Réalisme installation that reminds me of the french avantgarde of the 60ies. You should have a look on it…

Bon voyage!

Akira Takayanagi has just begun the process of beautifying the area above the outside stairs of EAST. New staff member from Germany, Jire, Nigel and I went and had a look and a bit of a chat. Akira actually painted the outside of the Design Festa Gallery in 2002. Have a look at the photo in the middle – triggering any memories anyone? I’m just a new kid myself, but we get lots of visitors coming through who remember previous gallery facades. Akira also appears at the Design Festa Big Sight every year, doing a massive wall painting. And yes, he’ll be there in November this year too!