During the Edo period, it became the birthplace ofukiyo-ea style of woodblock print thats still influential today.
Japan is also home to beloved artforms likeorigami,Ikebana, andkintsugi.
And today, Japan is still bursting full of creative energy.
Here are six contemporary Japanese artists you should know.
Murakami renders his art in this flat style so that reference the shallowness of Western consumerist culture.
Hes known for his paintings of children and animals that appear both innocent and menacing at the same time.
His subjects often hold weapons, like knives or saws.
However, they were never intended to be aggressors.
Look at them, they [the weapons] are so small, like toys.
Do you think they could fight with those?
I don’t think so.
Throughout his career, Morimura has created and exhibited hundreds of his self-portraits.
She belongs to Murakamis collective,Kaikai Kiki, which means brave, strong and sensitive.
The Tokyo- and Kyoto-based artists work certainly evokes this message.
Takanos whimsical cartoon-style paintings feature female protagonists who explore uncharted territories, as well as their own sexuality.
I hated most designs of devices and buildings and I still do.
I aspired to freedom of spirit and I was very different from others.
I still want to be like that.
Her fixation on repeating dot patterns began when she was 10 years old.
By covering surfaces and entire rooms in dots, Kusama attempts to recreate these hallucinations for her viewers.
