<research> Japan (2)
Chisai researches contemporary art world. This article is after 2011 in Japan.
When translating from English to Asian languages, the nuance and atmosphere are mixed. English "art" has two types in Japanese.
One is 美術 BIJUTSU, it includes painting, sculpture and printmaking. They are the names of the departments of Japanese universities and look like 20th century art. Another one is アート ART, it has contemporary art (photo/video and installation), craft and design. From the Japanese perspective, there are three categories: concrete, abstract, and conceptual.
If you go to the Art Fair Tokyo, you will understand it well. Art fairs in other countries now sell works by popular artists. There are few such trends in this art fair. No galleries sell works from Yoshitomo Nara or Takashi Murakami. A banana does not put on the wall. And you'll be surprised to see that there are many domestic galleries and many "art?" shops like traditional Japanese culture and jewelry.
In 2016, I realized clearly, "Sales products and memorable artworks are different, and the popularity of selling and the popularity of art are different. However, I can see there are only products for sale here."
Since Covid-19 started, I have been watching online symposiums about art fairs. An art fair organizer said, "art fairs in Japan are run at the government's budget, and galleries and customers are almost all Japanese. Is Domestic demand growing? I envy Japan!".
When I heard it, I remembered that galleries and customers bow to each other. It seems that etiquette is necessary in Japan to shop. I won't go to this art fair anymore.