Interview articles from June 2005

Interview archives from June 2005

Guess who everyone's got an opinion about.(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2005... Dear Interview, Proving once more that you can't judge a book by its cover--or a young actor by his hunky exterior--in your April issue Ashton Kutcher reveals himself to be (gasp!) one smart and thoughtful guy. If anyone had told me I...

She-mail.(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2005... Dear Interview, I was so ecstatic to see nightlife superstar Sophia Lamar in the October 2004 issue of your great magazine. She is truly electric--and a dominatrix extraordinaire. Since Amanda Lepore is the most famous of all the New York...

Still pushing the buttons.(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2005... Dear Interview, It's nice to hear that Larry Clark [April 2005] is coming out with a new movie. Since this one is not about skateboarders having sex and doing drugs, he shouldn't have any problems releasing it in the States. Ken Park did...

Alba mania.(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2005... Dear Interview, When a man--any man who loves women--gazes upon the face and figure of Jessica Alba [April 2005], he can't help but have a visceral reaction. She's sultry and provocative, that's obvious. However, your interview revealed...

Don't let the last name fool you.(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2005... Dear Interview, I've never been a big fan of Hilary Swank [March 2005] the actress, but I can't imagine anyone reading Ingrid Sischy's interview and not coming away a fan of Hilary Swank the human being. Either we finally have in our midst...

Polysics.(INTERVIEW'S BENTO BOX OF BANDS)(Brief article)
June 1, 2005... In their uniform jumpsuits and wraparound shades Polysics immediately recall the retro-futuristic impersonality ot Devo but the Tokyo foursomes dance-rock blend goes far beyond typical homage With thundering guitars, effects-laden vocals, and...

Yoshida brothers.(INTERVIEW'S BENTO BOX OF BANDS)(Ryoichiro and Kenichi Yoshida)(Brief article)
June 1, 2005... Sexing up traditional Japanese music may be a tall order, but Hokkaido-born siblings Ryoichiro and Kenichi Yoshida are certainly doing their part. The Yoshida Brothers, as they are known, play the shamisen, a banjo-like instrument dating back...

Guitar Wolf.(INTERVIEW'S BENTO BOX OF BANDS)(Brief article)
June 1, 2005... With their greaser coifs, leather pants, and complete disregard for public safety, Guitar Wolf have been the patron saints of Japanese rock for nearly two decades. Enamored with bands of the New York punk explosion of the late '70s, like the...

Rip Slyme.(INTERVIEW'S BENTO BOX OF BANDS)(Brief article)
June 1, 2005... To get an idea of how popular hip-hop quintet Rip Slyme are in Japan, consider this: On a recent tour of Asia, Destiny's Child sold out two nights at Tokyo's fabled 14,000-seat Budokan Hall; meanwhile to wrap up the tour for their multiplatinum...

Toshi.(THE CROONER)(Toshi Kubota)(Brief article)
June 1, 2005... As a teen Toshi Kubota noticed a Coca-Cola poster on the wall of his father's convenience store in rural Shizuoka, Japan, offering a brand-new LP by the Stylistics to anyone who sent in 25 bottle caps. Young Toshi could only scrounge up 10, so...

Cornelius.(THE POSTMODERN POPSTER)(Keigo Oyamada)(Brief article)
June 1, 2005... Singer, guitarist, and producer Keigo Oyamada, a.k.a. Cornelius, first gained attention in Japan in the early '90s for his work with Flipper's Guitar, a band whose progressive hijacking and repackaging of pop music's past placed them at the...

Elton's tip sheet.(SOUND ADVICE)(Elton John)(Interview)
June 1, 2005... INGRID SISCHY: So, Elton, it's time for spring cleaning--a good moment to give the CDs that have been playing all winter a rest and try some newer releases. What's caught your attention recently? ELTON JOHN: I can't really remember a time...

Tomoko Sawada.(THE ARTISTS TO WATCH)(Brief article)
June 1, 2005... Photographer Tomoko Sawada explores the ways in which images of contemporary Japanese women are created and received through photographic media. By simulating their work environments, hairstyles, and costumes, Sawada exposes the codes of...

Nara.(THE ARTISTS TO WATCH)(Yoshitomo Nara)(Brief article)
June 1, 2005... Yoshitomo Nara decided to become a painter when painting was unpopular. The vulnerability he felt as an art student in Dusseldorf in the early '90s led him to explore the relationship between the demonic and the innocent in his distorted...

Tadasu Takamine.(Brief article)
June 1, 2005... Tadasu Takamine's 2002 video "God Bless America" showed a young couple sculpting the head of a politician out of clay. By transforming his features into a primitive skull, shown via stop-motion and interrupted by images of the couple performing...

Motohiko Odani.(THE ARTISTS TO WATCH)(Brief article)
June 1, 2005... Motohiko Odani's photographs, sculptures, and videos project his vision of an altered nature penetrated by brutal technology. The vision of this machinist dystopia was embodied in his works for the 2003 Venice Biennial. In "Berenice" long,...

Araki.(THE REBEL PHOTOGRAPHER)(Interview)
June 1, 2005... HISHAM BHAROOCHA: How did you become interested in pursuing photography? ARAKI: My father was a geta [traditional Japanese footwear] craftsman, but he was also a semiprofessional photographer, and I would assist him. I had my very first...

Yoko & Takashi.(THE AVANT-GARDE AND THE NEW GUARD HAVE LUNCH)(Yoko Ono)(Interview)
June 1, 2005... "Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture" is the third installment in the "Superflat" trilogy curated by Japan's current art superstar Takashi Murakami. Hosted by New York City's Japan Society and running through July 24, the show...

The Kabuki kid.(BEHIND THE SCENES)(Somegoro Ichikawa)(Brief article)
June 1, 2005... His performance begins long before the audience arrives. Layers of makeup and costume--applied with the same care one would lavish upon a pope for coronation--transform a movie-idol-handsome 32-year-old into a giant of contemporary Kabuki...

Sanaa.(THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE)(Kazuyo Sejima, Ryue Nishizawa)(Discussion)
June 1, 2005... For the past quarter century, the New Museum of Contemporary Art has been an institution for the downtown New York art scene. Recently, with rising rents and an unending influx of commercial properties into SoHo, the museum decided to make a...

View: letter from the editor June 2005.
June 1, 2005... Though the physical work of producing this issue began only late last year, one could say that the seeds of it were planted about 25 years ago, in the early '80s. It was then that I first went to Tokyo, hoping to do a special issue for the art...

Takeshi Kaneshiro: noting can stop this multilingual, multitalented and multi cultural powerhouse leading man of Asian cinema. Not boarders. Not box office. Not even gravity.(Interview)
June 1, 2005... INGRID SISCHY: So, let's start at the beginning. Tell me about your background. TAKESHI KANESHIRO: My father is Japanese, and my mother is Taiwanese. I wasn't brought up in Japan, though. My first time in Japan was when I was 18. IS:...

Chapra: from ethereal songstress to creaming punk-rock diva, she's reinvented herself more times than Madonna-and rewritten the rule book for women in Japanese pop.(Interview)
June 1, 2005... HISHAM BHAROOCHA: When did you know you wanted to become a singer or performer? CHARA: I started singing when I was 19. In the beginning I would just cry about it. There were a lot of amazing musicians I looked up to, but I couldn't do...

Ryuhei Matsuda: for 22-year-old Ryuhei Matsuda words may be scarce, but the noise he's making isn't.(Interview)
June 1, 2005... In last year's Otakus in Love (Koi no mon), a lively if ironic portrait of Japan's manga culture viewed through the prism of a romance, Ryuhei Matsuda played Mon Aoki, an anticorporate manga artist who writes his comics on rocks. He meets cute...

Nigo: if you thought America had cornered the market on bling-bling and ghetto fabulous, you haven't met Nigo. Introducing the man who's made ice cream-colored high-tops one of Japan's coveted items.(Interview)
June 1, 2005... Just over a dozen years ago, a young designer and stylist by the name of Nigo opened a tiny clothing shop in Tokyo and began bringing his passion for American-style urban street wear to Japan's fashion-obsessed youth. Today that line, called A...

Yayoi Kusama: the unforgettable, remarkable life and work of Yayoi Kusama, a visionary who makes one believe in the real power of art.(Interview)
June 1, 2005... Yayoi Kusama has had a life--a good part of it spent as a voluntary resident in a psychiatric hospital, her days devoted to working in her nearby studio--so emotionally resonant and touched by artistic genius it makes one's jaw drop. If ever...