Now on view in the Henry Luce Gallery is “Literati Modern: Bunjinga from Late-Edo to Twentieth-Century Japan, The Terry Welch Collection at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.” The paintings in the show are transporting, and adding another dimension to them are the inscriptions, or poems, written in calligraphy. Exhibition curator Michiyo Morioka and Academy Curator of Asian Art Shawn Eichman talk about this element of the works. You can experience the poetry through Nov. 16.

We’re ahead of schedule! Decades of Abstraction: From the Collection of the Honolulu Academy of Arts is now open to the public. Come by and check out some fantastic Abstract Expressionist paintings and sculptures, such as Robert Rauschenberg’s 1962 combine “Trophy V (for Jasper Johns)” pictured here. All these objects haven’t been on view in a long time and for some, it will be the first time they’ve been displayed. A perfect opportunity to peruse the galleries is during Art After Dark which is happening tomorrow! Hope to see you there.

Film Curator Gina Caruso works her patootie off to keep the Doris Duke Theatre film program in the same loop as any other top art house in the country. Proof: Back in May her Friends of Film Friday cinema program screened “Obscene,” a riveting documentary about publishing maverick Barney Rosset (that’s him pictured in 1967). That film is just opening in New York City now. In case you missed out on the literary/cinematic treat at Doris Duke, read Charles McGrath’s charming review in the New York Times and see the trailer.

You don’t have to miss out anymore. Friends of Film Friday, Season 3, returns Oct. 10. Join and see all 15 movies (become an Academy member and get a discount), rub shoulders with other film fans and meet film directors (Gina got film master Frederick Wiseman and Planet B-Boy auteur Benson Lee to speak at FFF this year). But you don’t HAVE to join to go to an FFF screening. We welcome walk-ins. But why would you pay $15 to see a movie? Because of all the extras—asking the director questions, being part of an informed discussion, seeing a film that’s so new it’s not even in theaters anywhere yet. Same price as a HIFF ticket. In fact, it’s like having HIFF for six months long.

NEW THIS SESSION: There are 15 films instead of 10, and they are shown two a month so you don’t have to commit 10 Fridays in a row to the art of celluloid. We know you have lives. In place of coffee and dessert, your FFF membership will get you a glass of premium wine (no Yellowtail or any other cheap swill). And everyone’s favorite pan-Mediterranean caterers Da Spot will sell delicious dishes. You can make FFF dinner and a movie. 

Kick-off film: “America, the Beautiful,” a documentary in the vein of Michael Moore that explores the insidious results of the beauty industry. It touches on everything from cosmetic surgery to anorexia nervosa, and follows 12-year-old Gerren Taylor (pictured left), on the path to becoming the next Naomi Campbell. Preadolescent in years, she’s a striking woman on the runway, doing the trademark pony prance with aplomb. Yet the vagaries of the fashion and beauty world have her saying “I’m ugly” by the end of the film. Filmmaker Darryl Roberts (check out his blog) will be here to introduce the film and lead what we know will be an animated Q+A. You’ll have questions, believe me. Read the LA Times story on Gerren and” America, the Beautiful.”

Last night was the opening of “‘Ili Iho: The Surface Within” at Bishop Museum. Curated by Maile Andrade, the exhibition invited eight Hawaiian artists to explore four ancestral treasures—a feathered cape, a makaloa mat, kapa and a protest quilt—through their own work. As this blog has mentioned before, many Academy employees are talented artists and Maika‘i Tubbs, the Academy’s coordinator of Bank of Hawaii Family Sunday, has taken his work to a new level for this impressive exhibition that includes Maile Andrade, Carl Pao and Kapulani Landgraf.
read more from "Academy’s Maika‘i Tubbs’ new installation is genius"

“The Dragon’s Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan” opened to the public to much fanfare and excitement on Sept. 19 at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York. A pre-opening gala dinner hosted by Donald and Shelley Rubin, founders of the Rubin Museum, included representatives from the Honolulu Academy of Arts, notably Director Stephen Little, President of the Board of Trustees Lynne Johnson, Trustee Indru Watumull and her husband Gulab Watumull, and Director of Development Karen Sumner. Also in attendance were Assistant Curator John Johnston, Advisor Dr. Reda Sobky, Dr. Little’s fiancée Heloisa Oliviera, and former Deputy Director Susan Sayre Batton. The festive occasion included speeches of appreciation by Mr. Rubin and Dr. Little.
read more from "East meets West: The Dragon’s Gift opens at the Rubin"

Eight months and counting for Artists of Hawai’i 2009. I’m personally excited to work with this year’s juror, Laura Hoptman, Senior Curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City. As one of the leading curators of contemporary art, Hoptman promises to share a singular perspective on the work of artistsin Hawai’i.

The deadline for submissions is Jan. 2, 2009. And like 2007, you will have to submit online. We are holding a Digital Worshop for those of you who need help with their submissions. That will be held on Nov. 1, 2008 and you’ll have to sign up with me. All this information is available on the prospectus.

I look forward to seeing the entries that will be coming in!

The members’ opening for Literati Modern: Bunjinga From Late-Edo to Twentieth-Century Japan went off beautifully. The Academy tried something new, starting the event at 5pm with a brief tour led by exhibition curator Michiyo Morioka. It was a hit, people flowed through the Luce Pavilion into the gallery to hear Michiyo speak so eloquently about these amazing paintings that take you on mental journeys.

Friends of Terry’s flew to Honolulu for the debut of his collection at the Academy. In attendance were Asian-art history luminaries such as William Rathbun (pictured above right, he’s on the left next to Terry’s partner Steven Shanaman), the former curator of Asian art at the Seattle Museum of Art and an early mentor of Terry’s.

Last Sunday’s episode of “Mad Men,” that moody chronicler of the 1961 Zeitgeist, covered the launch of Pampers (”At 10 cents a pop you’d expect to be able to use it more than once.”), where the term “cuppa Joe” came from (the founder of Martinson’s Coffee), and Abstract Expressionism. Advertising honcho Bertram Cooper has acquired a painting, and some of the staff sneak into his office to see it. It turns out to be a Rothko, similar to this one (the whole episode radiates with oranges, echoing the work). “What’s it s’posed to mean?” “So it’s smudgy squares, huh?” “Maybe there’s a brochure here somewhere, something that explains what it means.” That’s the response. Until one of the copywriters says: “Maybe you’re just supposed to experience it. It’s like looking into something very deep. You could fall in.” Bingo. You can have a similar experience when the Academy reinstalls its Clare Booth Luce Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art with “Decades of Abstraction: From the Collection of the Honolulu Academy of Arts,” which focuses on Abstract Expressionism, America’s first big impact on international art. Abstract Expressionism is the art equivalent of jazz—a pure American artform. The exhibition opens Oct. 2.

On Sept. 5 the Art Center at Linekona opened its textile exhibition—one of 27 happening in the city to coincide with the Textile Society of America Symposium. (Six of the exhibitions are at the Honolulu Academy of Arts!) Guest curator Mary Babcock (pictured below, right) of the University of Hawai‘i and Art Center Curator Carol Khewhok invited fiber artists from around the world to be part of Tattered Cultures: Mended Histories, and the results are stunning. The same night saw the opening of “Whisper-Romance III: Recent Joomchi Works by Jiyoung Chung” (pictured, above left). You can see the innovative works of both exhibitions through Sept. 28.  

The museum is all abuzz putting the finishing touches on “Literati Modern: Bunjinga From Late-Edo to Twentieth-Century Japan, The Terry Welch Collection at the Honolulu Academy of Arts,” opening to members tomorrow and to the public on Thursday. I had the honor of walking through a bit of the stunning exhibition with Mr. Welch and guest curator Michiyo Morioka, both of whom have an aura of warmth and calm—just like the paintings that have inspired them. That is Terry and Michiyo standing next to a trio of scrolls by Hirai Baisen. Two Dr. Seussian depictions of snowy branches flank a warm, vibrating sun. The story behind this collection, how it came to call the Academy home, and the extensive conservation work that went into the paintings will all be explained in the upcoming international symposium on literati painting the Academy is holding on Sept. 13. It’s FREE, and you don’t want to miss it.

The paintings in this show are all about the literati ideals—nature, companionship, being mindful of the here and now—and Terry Welch embodies them. He lives in a garden sanctuary in Woodinville, outside of Seattle. When you hear him speak on Saturday, you’ll know why he and bunjinga are a perfect fit. 

The exhibition opens with this magnificent six-panel screen, which encapsulates the literati concept. “Drawing Pure Spring Water to Compare Tea,” painted in the early 1800s by Yokoi Kinkoku, shows an idyllic gathering for drinking tea on a platform set over a mountain stream. “Regardless of the type of tea, a requisite for any such gathering was the finest quality water, and mountain spring water drew the highest esteem,” explains Michiyo in the exhibition catalogue. “Having an occasion like this in the mountains was largely a daydream, yet such a splendid depiction would have created a delightful atmosphere in the room with tatami mats where one could have tea while embraced by this fantastic landscape.”

From this jumping off point, later artists took the literati ideals and ran with them, creating paintings that will “blow the roof off your head,” says Terry Welch. Come and be transformed.