Wednesday evening here at The MAC was Art Talk night, and The MAC's own staff member Autumn Lopez returned to give her second talk on Contemporary Japanese Art.  Her first talk focused on the Superflat artists of Japan.  This follow-up talk focused on the female artists of the Superflat movement and others.

I took Japanese 101 in graduate school, but it is still a bit much to take in so many japanese words and names!  KaiKai Kiki,  Chiho Aoshima, Chinatsu Ban, Aya Takano, Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, superflat, anima, manga, otaku, shōjo....  My head was swimming!

The art and video clips Ms Lopez showed transcended my aural limitations.  And her talk went a long way to make the work seem accessible, serious (and humerous) and personal.

here are two links to start exploring if you missed the talk:

http://www.kaikaikiki.co.jp/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takashi_Murakami

and we've posted images on our flickr photostream at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/themacdallas