Clueless on ‘Western sensibility’


I wonder if artist Muramasa Kudo is really as boring as Japan Times staff writer Yuhei Wada describes him to be in the Feb. 2 article “Retaining a ‘Japaneseness’ in Western style art.”

What could be more banal than “asserting,” “retaining” or “reconstructing Japaneseness”? Furthermore, I confess I have no idea what Wada means when he refers to “Western sensibility” and “Western composition.”

It’s nice that Kudo is famous in the United States and that his portraits of “Asian” women are admired by Bill Clinton and Oliver Stone. However, I’m still not sure why I should attend this exhibition or what Kudo and Wada are getting at.

Since Kudo has lived in the U.S. for more than 30 years, I don’t understand why the photo caption for the painting “Arrow,” next to the article, reads “Aiming at a foreign audience.” Is the foreign audience Japanese or American?


brett gross