Category: Japan

Benesse House Museum Outdoor Works and Park

Posted on by Hijiri

Took me a bit, but this will be my last post from Naoshima. Looking back, I really loved everything and I still have to see the Art House Project and the Naoshima Bath “I heart Yu” so I’m definitely going back there…

Today, I will share some photos I took from the Museum outdoor works and Benesse House Park work — I wanted to spend a little more time! Never enough time.

George Ricky Three Squares Vertical Diagonal , 1972-82:

These were moving by the wind and you can touch them and move them around, too.

Always changing by the weather, by the people… very interesting…

Walter De Maria Seen/Unseen Known/Unknown , 2000

We saw a huge work of Walter De Maria work at the Chichu Art Museum, this seemed like a piece from the work…

Shinro Ohtake Shipyard Works: Cut Bow , 1990

Shinro Ohtake Shipyard Works: Stern with Hole , 1990

These were side by side, right by the private beach. Love the atmosphere and backdrop with the art…

When we got to the Park area, we had a nice lunch and explored a little bit inside of the Park building (wish we had more time) — on the way, we passed this beautiful wall of art, I was so drawn to it. The colors, thousands of mirror-like squares, the patterns… it was really breathtaking. I want a wall like this in my house… someday. :)

Teresita Fernández Blind Blue Landscape , 2009

George Rickey Peristyle V , 1963-95

Another work from George Rickey and these were moving by the wind as well. Very cool and soothing to look at.

and this has been used to represent Naoshima art in a lot of places so I wanted to see it in person.

Yayoi Kusama Pumpkin , 1994-2005

and here it is! Photos taken by me :)

It’s placed in a little pier itself and it looks so awesome! I don’t know why, but it feels very summer vacation to me… doesn’t it?! :)

I will be back, Naoshima!

Benesse House

Posted on by Hijiri

I want to post about the Benesse House we stayed at — great experience all around! There are few parts where you can stay, but we stayed at the Museum room which was a rare and awesome experience. We enjoyed the museum in the middle of the night, too :)

A Kaiseki dinner at the Museum restaurant Issen. I love kaiseki — it is work of art indeed. So. very. pretty. and goooooood.

A Basquiat work:

After the dinner, we went up to the Oval area. Only hotel guests at the museum or the oval can visit this area with a little cable car. These blue doors are to the hotel rooms, there is an oval shaped water fountain in the middle and the top is also oval shaped, opened to the sky.

The sky, the reflections, the lighting… it was beautiful…

Next morning, we went up to this area again for another look. A view from the little cable car you take…

Morning Oval — it looks so different!

You can go up and walk around and look down…

Cool surroundings: fountain.

The rectangle area is like a painting, but that’s a glass wall and crosswalk.

I highly recommend visiting/staying there if you ever have a chance! Thank you to my best friend, Mitchy, too!!! Love you! xoxo

Chichu Art Museum

Posted on by Hijiri

This week, I am going to take you all to Naoshima. This was one of my highlights of the trip, my friend and I spent our whole day and a half at Benesse Art Site — it was amazing! Really enjoyed everything. Must go back there again someday…

It’s a ferry boat ride away from Takamatsu port…

We are going to Chichu Art Museum today…

Pretty flowers were everywhere…

The word ‘chichu’ means ‘in the ground’ and true to its name, the Museum is built almost entirely into the hill. The bold design thus maintains harmony with the natural landscape. The architect used only the most basic materials – concrete, steel, glass and wood – to create this masterpiece. (via SIAF website)

It is designed by Tadao Ando — his work is truly amazing, the space, the concrete, the atmosphere… you have to be there and feel the space to know what I mean, you just get stunned by the whole space! Oh, I loved it.

Inside of the museum is strictly no photography… you just have to go there :) Even though there are only few work from Claude Monet, James Turrell, and Walter De Maria, the each room takes your breath away, I could only say “amazing” over and over again!!

There is a little outside area from the cafe…

and of course the great Seto Inland Sea view…

The building you see is the Benesse House hotel — where we stayed! I’ll talk about that later…

SIAF Special Package Designs

Posted on by Hijiri

There are a lot of gifts and souvenirs at the Setouchi International Art Festival special store in Takamatsu. I especially enjoyed looking at the cool package designs that have been created for the festival. They are all so great! And they are all local specialities that you can’t get anywhere, but in Takamatsu / Kagawa prefecture ;)

An udon package. It’s hard to see from this picture I took, but there is a wavy texture on the package. Really simple, but so cool.

A Kurodaizu Syochu (alcohol) bottle package. You will see more of this soon as I brought one back! Isn’t this lovely?

An ebi senbei (shrimp crackers) package. LOVE that the words “ebi senbei” forms into a shrimp.

and the box is letterpressed or foil stamped — it has a nice impression.

This is for Shoyu Mame. Love the lettering and simplicity. So retro!

Olive soda drink packages. Each has different illustrations.

A (special) Shoyu bottle. I also brought this back — so cute, right? This one also feels “showa retro” and I love it.

and these are called “Uchiwa” — a fan. Love the shape and fun designs.

They had a lot of kinds of Tenugui, too.

I hope you liked them as much as I did!

*****

It’s a long Labor day weekend here in US, I have a very good friend visiting all weekend, it’s going to be fun :) I hope you all have a great weekend!! I will be back on Tuesday :) xo Hijiri