Winter seems to have come out of nowhere and so staying inside to look at wicked cool modern art is the way to go. The Takashi Murakami show at the giant Gagosian Gallery on 24th Street leaves you with a feeling you’ve entered a kind of upside down Japanese Disneyworld with all the colors and odd creatures you might expect, except entry here is free.
Since we all know that New Yorkers love standing in line for the next big thing, the New York Times shouldn’t be so surprised that people stand in line all day for just 45 seconds in Yayoi Kusama’s bubbly and colorful version of the afterlife at Chelsea’s David Zwirner gallery. Mirrored walls and 75 LED lights enhance the (very trendy) immersive installation, but you can probably manage the same effect by smoking lots of weed.
Um, hi. Thank you Dominique Ansel for giving Japanese tourists a GOOD reason to wake at dawn and stand in a line.
An awesome new gadget store just opened on Bleecker and Cornelia Streets, in case you need to impress someone with an awkwardly large phone case.
This modern timepiece’s retro face remains unlit until you push the time/date button, $215, at AC Gears.
Check out AC Gears, now bridging tech and fashion into spiffy holiday bling.
Jumping on the collaborative band wagon, Japanese parent company Uniqlo teams up with the French preppy brand, Comptoir Des Cotonniers, for this easy, down puffer. Quantities are limited and at $99, you better hurry.
Made from natural materials and great for hot or cold bevvies, this one’s totally up Bloomberg’s alley. Japan’s newest toys without the pricey airfare are available at AC Gears.
Take a new look at the guy credited with discovering America and Native genocide. The Japanese artist, Tatzu Nishi, built a six-story, open-air fictional living room surrounding the marble statue complete with lamps, coffee table and TV. For a closer look at the 75-foot tall Columbus built in 1892 and a premium view of Central Park’s fall foliage, get a free pass here. Exhibit lasts until November 20.
Artists are so lucky. They get to be bat shit crazy and STILL keep folks gagging. Take the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, whose local profile is getting tons of buzz from a Louis Vuitton tribute and a big exhibit at the Whitney. The polka-dot, tendril-obsessed artist has lived in an out-patient psych ward in Japan since the 70’s and now you can see what her voices have been whispering.
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