Katsuya Kamo at Omotesando Hills in Tokyo

Culture

Katsuya Kamo was a brilliant artist who created what he called “head sculptures” for runway shows for Junya Watanabe, Jun Takahashi’s Undercover, and Anrealage. He also occasionally worked with Chanel and Haider Ackermann. You have seen his iconic pieces that contributed to the overall image and runway awe of those brands even if you did not know Kamo’s name.

Masahisa Fukase at TOP Museum Tokyo

Culture

Every art form has a notion of a cult work, that is something that is not widely known but develops a following, often amongst the cognoscenti. As I was developing my interest in photography, one of the first cult works recommended to me was a book called The Solitude of Ravens by the Japanese photographer Masahisa Fukase. Around 2008 I snagged one online for thirty bucks or so, just before they went up in price tenfold. Without knowing anything about Fukase, the Ravens series immediately drew me in with its arresting depiction of the forlornness of nature via the birds in the title. I felt their pull anew on my recent visit to Japan – somehow on this trip I kept noticing ravens every day.

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UNDERCOVER 25-YEAR RETROSPECTIVE IN TOKYO

Culture, Fashion

If you find yourself in Tokyo in the next few months be sure to visit the 25-year retrospective of Undercover, called Labyrinth of Undercover, which opened last weekend. We were privileged to get a preview of the exhibit last Friday. The show is divided into several spaces. The first part lets the viewer immerse himself into the videos of Undercover shows. The videos are decidedly low-fi and unedited, so you can spend a lot of time in those rooms getting lost (in the best sense of the word) in the footage.