Visiting the JANM Museum

Last Saturday is my second weekend in Los Angeles. Honestly, I went to Little Tokyo just for grocery shopping. Even true, I was looking around because I cant find the store I used to go. Then, I saw the posters hanging in front of a museum like building: “Kokeshi: From folk art to art toy”. Well, I just could not go away when I see creative toys. (So, all the photos are from my cell phone.)

The building actually is the Japanese American National Museum, which holds two new exhibition currently, the Glories Excess by Linkin Park member Mike Shinoda and this toy exhibition. I will say both are worth visiting.

Though I listen to Linkin Park’s songs sometimes, I am not familiar with individuals of the band. So, I am surprised to see this kind of reflection on celebrity culture by a member of such a well-known band. Shinoda’s exhibition has two sections, which are Glories Excess (born) and the Glories Excess (death). The first part was held last year and this second part will be shown in the museum from August 30 to October 4. Under the death theme, he uses skeleton to symbolize the excess and illustrates its relationship with fame, money, sex and other tempting things. Comparing to his paintings, for me, the notes on the wall are more meaningful. He explained his initial interests in this project and explains his understanding on this excess. All the things we are experiencing are actually short and temporal which can not be over-used but we never pay attention to the excess until it is too late. I also like the meaning behind the exhibition, a celebrity’s awareness on the celebrity phenomenon and I think this critical expression should be appreciated.

The toy exhibition is on the second floor, no photos, sorry. Kokeshi (こけし), is a traditional Japanese doll, which usually has two parts, the head and the body. These dolls are all hand-made and painted by local artists. The evolution of the pattern and shape of the doll also convey the historical changes and the expression of the artists. The whole collection includes all sizes of Japanese traditional Kokeshi but also some creative Kokeshi by contemporary artists, a nice combination. I did not buy any Kokeshi souvenir when I visited Tokyo but I got two from the museum store this time.

For more information about the museum and the exhibition, please visit:
http://www.janm.org/exhibits/gloriousexcess/ (August 30~October 4, 2009)
http://www.janm.org/exhibits/kokeshi/ (July 11~October 4, 2009)