Art Space Tokyo: An Intimate Guide to the Tokyo Art World

Book Overview

This beautiful guide to Tokyo’s most exciting art galleries is a must-read for art lovers planning trips to Tokyo or looking to understand the art scene in contemporary Japan from the comfort of their armchairs. In-depth interviews with curators and essays by leading art critics finally bring these exciting art spaces to life for an English-speaking audience.

More information online at: http://artspacetokyo.com

Book Specifications

• 12 highly detailed, beautifully rendered maps of neighborhoods both on and off the beaten path in Tokyo
• insider information into the best cafes, restaurants and shops in these neighborhoods
• over 50 beautiful pen and ink illustrations of the art spaces and interviewees
• lavishly bound in cloth with a silk screened cover and thick, high-quality papers throughout

Reviews and Press

“Much of the charm of the guide is in the little observations, the sly asides and the high and wide originality of the artists, whom Mod and Rawlings capture and pin to the page like a collection of polychromatic butter?ies. This gorgeous book is a working guide, but it’s also a work of art. ”

— GRAPHIC SPOTLIGHT, Kirkus Review

“... an unexpectedly stunning bit of cultural travelogue from Chin Music Press.”

— KHOI VINH, Subtraction

“A new guide to the Tokyo art scene points the way.”

— BENJI LANYADO, The Guardian

“Art Space Tokyo ... is a gem of a publication satisfying a longstanding need for English-language material on the terrain it tackles.”

— NEILTON CLARKE, Art Monthly Australia

“Lovely design with care and an eye for detail make it a total must have piece in my opinion.”

— ULESHKA ASHER, WorldChanging

“[I]nsight into the city's world of contemporary art ... readers are treated to a variety of revealing interviews with gallery owners and art fair operators, among others, as well as essays by art critics and other specialists.”

— CRISTOPH MARK, Daily Yomiuri

Extended Description

Art Space Tokyo is the first book of its kind to capture with both a critical and broad sweeping eye the current state of art in Tokyo. Art Space Tokyo introduces readers to twelve of the city's most distinctive and exciting galleries and museums through a compilation of interviews with the directors and curators of each of these spaces. Readers are given rare insight into why these spaces exist, how they became what they are and where they're heading. Furthermore, through other interviews with the directors of auction houses, art fairs, collectors and media figures, as well as six essays by art specialists, Art Space Tokyo delves into the complexity of Tokyo's resurgent contemporary art scene.

Editorial and Design

Editor and co-author Ashley Rawlings is a specialist in postwar Japanese art. After graduating with a BA in Japanese studies from the University of Cambridge, he moved to Tokyo in 2005, where he worked as a freelance editor, writer and translator. His writing on the Tokyo art scene has appeared in several Japanese and international printed and online publications, including The Japan Times, ART iT, ArtAsiaPacific and Artforum.com. He is now based in New York, where he works as features editor of ArtAsiaPacific.

Designer and co-author Craig Mod (craigmod.com) is a Tokyo based print designer and online developer. He is a cofounder of Chin Music Press (chinmusicpress.com), an independent press putting out beautifully made books on Japan. He is also a cofounder of Hitotoki (hitotoki.org), a website creating literary experience maps imbuing otherwise anonymous cityspaces with individual experiences. He was awarded a Fabrica fellowship in 2005 and served as a judge for the 85th ADC awards.

Photos, art maps, and detailed information at: http://artspacetokyo.com